Gas workers do their bit for the RNLI

Staff from a gas network depot in Ashford volunteered their services for a day to help the RNLI.

Six Southern Gas Networks (SGN) employees from the company’s depot in Wotton Road, Ashford, spent the day on board the Trent class vessel Esme Anderson at Ramgate lifeboat station to carry out essential maintenance work.

They cleaned and refreshed the lifeboat’s paintwork, polished brass and oiled the equipment used for lifting the inshore lifeboat, before cleaning and painting the steps leading up to the boathouse.

The idea for volunteering at the lifeboat station came from SGN project manager Mark Bray, who has been a volun- teer RNLI crew member at Ramsgate for five years.

He said: “Our lifeboats are exposed to the sea’s hostile and corrosive conditions on an almost daily basis, so it’s vital they are maintained to the highest standards.

“As part of SGN’s Community Action Programme, we get one day a year on company time to make a difference in our local community. Helping out at the lifeboat station seemed like the perfect use of our time.”

While at the lifeboat station, the volunteers also presented Ramsgate RNLI with a cheque for £500 from the company’s Into Action fund, which supports employees who give up their time to help in their local community.

The SGN team: Jeff Birchall, Paul Hewitt, Stefan Dalton, Karen Goldsmith, Dave Lewis and Mark Bray on board the RNLI’s Esme Anderson lifeboat at Ramsgate