Cullercoats RNLI proud to host regional Women in Search and Rescue event
A training event was held at a North Tyneside lifeboat station at the weekend, aimed at bringing together local women volunteering with the RNLI to support their skills development and role progression on station. Crew members from across the region, covering Berwick to Hartlepool, were invited to C
The RNLI attracts and welcomes volunteers from all backgrounds but currently only 13% of operational roles are held by women. In leadership roles, that drops to 6%.
Volunteer crew member Karen Pearce, whose day job is Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion for Newcastle Hospitals, explained: ‘We know barriers to women in many spaces still exist – on an individual level through confidence and visibility, organisationally through culture and opportunity, and through the societal expectations still placed on them. It’s on all of us to ask: what role do we play in removing those barriers?’
Cullercoats RNLI celebrated its first launch with an all-female crew in December 2022 and has continued to recruit women into all roles at the station. Lifeboat operations manager Dr Kay Heslop said: ‘While we have several women on the crew at Cullercoats RNLI, we know this isn’t the case everywhere. The RNLI ethos of One Crew reminds us that when we launch, we launch together – equal, united and with a shared purpose’.
At the event, volunteers practised the wide range of skills required in boat and shore crew roles, including boat handling, casualty recovery, safe launch and recovery of the lifeboat and what to do in the event of an emergency, such as the lifeboat capsizing while on service.
For further information, please contact Sarah Whitelaw, volunteer lifeboat press officer, Cullercoats RNLI: [email protected]
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The RNLI is the charity that saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,700 lives.
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