Thirty years as a female lifeboat crew member
Vivienne Grey, one of Britain’s first-ever female RNLI lifeboat crew members, chats to Yours about 30 years on the rescue frontline
After rescuing a young brother and sister who’d been swept out to sea on kayaks, Vivienne Grey handed them safely back to their parents with a huge sense of relief.
“The look on their faces was priceless,” recalls the 55-yearold primary school teacher from Pembrokeshire, who has been a volunteer lifeboat crew member at her local station for the past 30 years.
The moment was also a poignant reminder why, as a loving mother to two sons herself, she regularly risks her own life to help save other people’s families – and often animals – from drowning along the Welsh coastline around Little and Broad Haven.
“It puts things in perspective,” admits Vivienne, who was one of the first women to become an RNLI lifeboat crew member in 1990 and has since been involved in more than 170 ‘shouts’ andhas directly saved eight lives.
“There’s no better feeling than going out to sea and helping someone or saving their life,” she adds.
Growing up just a stone’s throw from Little and Broad Haven lifeboat station, the RNLI has always been a big part of Vivienne’s family’s life.
“You’d hear the sound of the flares being fired by hand – a whoosh and a bang followed by a second whoosh and a bang – and know the crew were needed down at the station.
“As a child of nine or ten, I used to go down there, where Mum and Dad both volunteered, and help push the lifeboat down the slipway to launch it by hand. Everybody in the village did. There was no tractor launch back then. And there were always regatta days and other events. It was an exciting part of local life,” she recalls.
After four years at university, Vivienne returned home to begin her teaching career. And when lifeboat crew members were being sought, she and two of her childhood friends volunteered.
“We were the first female crew
‘You have to remember you are leaving your children safe and potentially going to save other people’s children’
members to join the RNLI in Britain. It was quite a big thing. They were different days and there were a lot of people back then who didn’t think it should be allowed – though there was no hostility towards us at the station.”
Sadly one of the other women has since died and the other moved out of the area, but Vivienne has remained there ever since, living just across the car park from the station.
Although she says she doesn’t panic when in danger, motherhood did make
her a little more cautious.
When her sons Owen (now 26) and Byron (19) were younger, her late mum, Mary, who was a station fundraiser, used to look after them when Vivienne was called out.
“I suppose I did worry more after they were born, but you have to remember that you’re leaving your own children safe and warm at home and you are potentially going to help save somebody else’s children. When you see the relief on people’s faces, you know why you do it.”
A runner and former rower and hockey player, Vivienne, who also volunteers for HM Coastguard along the same stretch of coastline, has been swimming since the age of six.
“I’ve always been sporty, but I’m nothing special,” she insists. “Saving lives is a whole team effort and I’m not in it for any personal glory.” The number of accolades she’s received indicate others think her lifesaving work – which involves being on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year – is pretty special.
As well as receiving an MBE from Prince Charles in 2017 for her services, she’s also had an RNLI letter for gallantry and silver and gold awards for 20 and 30 years’ service. Next month, however, her time on the lifeboat crew itself will be over, due to RNLI restrictions regarding age. Will she miss it?
“Yes! It will be very strange when the pagers go off and I won’t be running to the station to go out on a shout,” she says.
She will be proudly leaving that to younger son Byron, who signed up as a crew member as soon as he could. Owen was unable to join for medical reasons. “I now understand how my own mum used to feel; how she used to worry when I went out and how relieved she was when I came back safely,” she says.
Not that Vivienne will be giving up her volunteering work altogether. “I will never give up,” she promises. “Initially, I will train for a different role as a deputy launch authority, a role my father Malcolm also holds at the station. I’ll also still be responsible for crew training and help with fundraising.
I won’t ever stop.”
Her own mum, who was made an honorary life governor by the RNLI, helped fundraise for more than 40 years. “So I still have at least another ten years to go to catch up with her record!” she laughs.
■ The RNLI charity relies on voluntary donations to ensure they have the very best kit and training to save lives at sea. If you would like to make a donation, visit RNLI.org/donate