Village pledges to fight lifeboat station closure

RESIDENTS of the Borders fishing village of St Abbs, home of the UK’s largest diving area, have vowed to fight on to save their lifeboat station from closure despite being told there is no point by RNLI charity chiefs.

Determined locals formed an action group at an emergency meeting and insisted they would continue to campaign to stop the closure after the summer “right to the bitter end”.

It was revealed last week that the RNLI met with St Abbs station master Alistair Crowe to be told the campaign was futile because the charity’s decision was final. However, when he took these comments to residents of the village it only made them more determined to battle on.

He said impending closure would “rip the heart” out of the community and put lives at risk but the RNLI is determined to forge ahead with its plans, with cover being provided by Eyemouth several miles away instead.

Mr Crowe, who has been a volunteer for 50 years, said: “The local community were unanimous in their decision to ramp up the fight to save the lifeboat station.

“There were another three incidents over the weekend involving two canoeists and a diver. We were not called out this time, but it was very close.”

The RNLI said the decision was final and thanked all the volunteers and the community of St Abbs for their years of dedication.