RNLI Day At Cowes Week

 

I felt compelled to put pen to paper to share this excellent experience and relay my sheer gratitude for being able to contribute to this essential and worthwhile charity.

It all started with a phone call from the RNLI’s National Campaigns and Events Manager, Andy Whyte, who wittingly suggested I might like to volunteer for the day to help raise funds for the charity, ultimately a key client of Coleman Marine and as a keen yachtsman; someone who may at some point need to use the RNLI’s service.

Following his compelling request, I arrived at their stand in Cowes, bright and early, albeit with no idea what was expected of me.

I donned a very stylish RNLI t-shirt which I was led to believe was designed in Milan (only joking). I was handed a roll of stickers, a nice big collection bucket and my authorization collection card and ID and asked to use the entire yacht racing speak and charm I could muster and get on with the important job of collecting donations!

Not long into the day and I was on the high seas with lots of willing volunteers driving the RNLI’s Tamar class life boat simulation machine. Parents and kids alike had great fun carrying out a simulated rescue of a stricken sailor and learnt all about the RNLI’s training programme, with a little bit of water thrown in for good measure.

Interestingly, I hadn’t realized that only 1 in 10 lifeboat crew now joins the RNLI with a professional maritime occupation making training vital. The £1,000 per year it costs to train each crew member highlights the need for the wide range of fund-raising initiatives needed to ‘keep the RNLI afloat’ and as I was reminded by Andy, a worthy reason for my days volunteering.

Later on in the afternoon the ‘get your kit on’ competition commenced with a number of teams competing for the acclaimed title of ‘fastest dresser’.

This was a huge amount of fun which ultimately involved the unsuspecting competitors getting soaked (obviously all in order to experience the often cold and wet conditions faced by volunteer crew members!) and ultimately raised awareness for the RNLI and went some way to collecting funds for the charity.

Early evening arrived and Andy and I donned a full set of RNLI oillies and mingled amongst the party goers with a new set of empty collection buckets.

Our mission… to fill the collection buckets in time to enjoy the spectacular Red Arrow air show and Cowes firework display.

This was possibly one of the hardest parts of the day, not least because I am normally one of the partygoers, but the kind comments and huge  support for the RNLI was overwhelming.

I felt proud to be representing the charity, but very quickly realised that my small contribution was a ‘drop in the ocean’ compared with the wonderful work they do.

The donations from the day go towards the RNLI ‘train one, save many’ campaign, to help raise the funds needed to train volunteer lifeboat crews and lifegaurds. Please visit www.rnli.org.uk/tosm to learn more or even donate!

Look out for me at Cowes next year with a collection bucket, helping to raise money for the 1000’s of lifeboat volunteers putting their lives on the line to save others!

Steve Handy

 

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