Volunteers are the beating heart of lifesaving charity

OUR congratulations to Andrew Medley on his appointment as new Torbay RNLI coxswain.

He follows in the footsteps of volunteers who have distinguished themselves in that role during the 200-year history of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and the significance of the responsibility Mr Medley takes on was not lost on him.

He said: “Volunteering for the RNLI at Torbay lifeboat station has been the most fulfilling experience of my working life, and I feel enormously privileged to step up to the full-time coxswain role.”

One of his first tasks as coxswain was to sign a pledge on behalf of the lifeboat station promising to continue saving everyone in danger at sea for the next 200 years.

“It’s an important symbol that reflects our continued commitment as we mark this special anniversary year,” said Mr Medley. “By signing this pledge and passing it on from one incredible RNLI community to the next, we also hope it will inspire the next generation of life-savers.”

Last year the RNLI saw more than 1,500 lifeboat launches across the UK and Ireland in 2023, saving 72 lives. In the South West the RNLI saved 38 lives and that includes people who were saved by the charity’s beach lifeguards and whose efforts to keep us safe deserve recognition too.

The efforts of the volunteer crews – and the RNLI’s importance and value to communities close to the sea – have also been rightly praised in Parliament by South Devon’s two MPs. Long may the RNLI continue its sterling work.