Missing Link
Fit ten words into the grid so each one connects up with the words on either side eg - wishing well - done. Read down the letters in the shaded squares to spell out a county.
IT sounds like they are enjoying a leisurely catch-up with old friends. But for Sam Jones, Anne Scott, Joanne Wibberley and Joanna Stebbings, nothing could be further from the truth.
They jokingly dub themselves the “ladies who launch”, but the truth behind that play on words couldn’t be more serious.
All have the role of Launching Authority for the RNLI, and of the 46 lifeboat stations in
Scotland, they are the only four women to hold the critical position, deciding when those boats take to the waters to save lives.
For Sam, who is based at Tobermory, being involved at all is a world away from the life she used to lead.
She spent a decade as a senior clerk at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, before leaving in 2010 to set up a photography business in Tobermory.
“I knew the coxswain, but when he asked if I fancied coming along to join the crew, I really wasn’t sure it was for me,” Sam, who is fifty-two, says.
“I grew to love it as they were a lovely bunch of people and the training was great.
“I think only about ten per cent of crews have a maritime background, so you really don’t need experience to join.”
Sam spent seven years as crew, and with the boat responsible for hundreds of square miles of often wild seas off Scotland’s west coast, she certainly saw her share of dramas.
“The roughest I experienced was a fishing boat rescue one morning.
“We were due to go out training that day, but as I lay in bed I could hear the wind howling and I wasn’t looking forward to it.
“Then the pager went off. We were out for eleven hours in sixty-mile-per-hour winds.
“We got a line to the boat and started to tow it to where another boat was going to take it in. But the rope broke and suddenly you have this boat in real trouble close to the rocks.
“We managed to get the rope to them again and we were being tossed around for twenty minutes to get them out.
“If anybody who has been lifeboat crew says they have never been scared I think they are lying.
“You are also frightened of letting your crewmates down. At the end of that day, we saved three lives.”
Sam was just one call-out short of a half century when she was asked to take over as Lifeboat Operations Manager.
That means she leads the team, looks after all operational activities and authorises the launch of the lifeboats.
With the lives of both the crew and the public in her hands, Sam is more than aware of the responsibility, but it gives her satisfaction.
“I remember visiting lifeboat stations on family holidays in Cornwall,” Sam says.
“So even though I have a doctorate and a law degree, if my parents were still alive I know the thing they would be most proud of is my involvement with the RNLI.” ■
SAVING lives has been a family affair for Joanne Wibberley, who moved to Kinghorn from Cumbria with her family in 1999.
Her husband, Paul, joined the RNLI soon after, and Joanne followed suit in 2004.
“Our boys were a bit older then so they could follow me down to the station when we got a shout,” Joanne says. “I enjoy the sense of family in the RNLI, that we pull together when we need to and always look after one another.”
All who serve find there are many call-outs that live long in the memory.
For Joanne that includes the rescue of a seven-yearold boy who had drifted away on an inflatable, and saving three men who had been about to give up hope when they were plucked from the water.
Joanne became Lifeboat Operations Manager in 2018 and, while she loves the role, she admits she misses the tranquillity and wildlife at sea in nice weather.
“The thing I don’t miss is heading out in the middle of a dark, stormy night when you can’t see where you’re going,” she says with a smile.