Author: Simon Lamble

Ferryside Lifeboat is excited to announce the formation of its own Charitable Trust to better serve the Search and Rescue needs of those using the waters of Carmarthen Bay and the surrounding area.

Following long and fruitful discussions with its parent organisation, St John Ambulance Cymru, it has been agreed by both parties that, to better serve their core objectives, it would be mutually beneficial for Ferryside Marine Division, St John Ambulance Cymru, (Ferryside Lifeboat) to separate from the wider SJ family and move forward as a separate entity. 

For Ferryside Lifeboat, this will mean becoming an independent lifeboat organisation, but for those it serves, the intention is that there will be a seamless transition with no discernible difference in on-water operations. Throughout this process, Ferryside Lifeboat will continue to provide a 24 hour a day,  365-day a year Search and Rescue service as a declared facility within HM Coastguard’s Search and Rescue remit. 

St John Ambulance Cymru will continue to work with volunteers at Ferryside Lifeboat to ensure a smooth transition. The agreement between the parties will involve the transfer of vital assets including the lifeboats, 4×4 and trailer – and the first aid charity for Wales will continue to support Ferryside Lifeboat’s clinical governance and first aid training.

Ferryside Lifeboat has already engaged in discussions with representatives from our partner organisations in HMCG and the River Towy Yacht Club, and there will be open events announced in the coming weeks where Ferryside Lifeboat will invite members of the public to answer any questions they may have.

Lifeboat team members have been working to complete all the required steps to form a new charity, with the help of the Carmarthenshire Association of Volunteer Services and St John Ambulance Cymru, and an application has already been submitted to the Charity Commission.

St John Ambulance Cymru Chief Executive, Richard Lee said:

“We would like to thank the marine volunteers in Ferryside for their work. Their skills and capabilities are a one off within St John in the UK and the creation of a standalone charity which recognises their expertise will allow them and St John to concentrate on the core operational activity of both charities.  

“We look forward to working with Ferryside Lifeboat to support the charity with casualty care training and clinical governance activities as it establishes itself.”

The new chair of Ferryside Lifeboat, Anthony Rees said:

“In 2035 our Ferryside Lifeboat will be celebrating its incredible 200-year anniversary. Through its history, the stewards of the boat have changed many times, but the boat has always remained – serving its community and honouring its promise to protect lives at sea. 

“As we enter this next exciting chapter of Ferryside Lifeboat’s story, we know that our boat will continue to build its legacy and serve its community for many, many more years to come.”

We’re very pleased to say that the review process that the lifeboat crew, St John Cymru, and HMCG have been working through has now been fully completed and all of Ferryside Lifeboat’s assets are available for service 24×7.

We want to massively thank our community, volunteers and friends for their patience and support and we’re incredibly proud to be able to continue serving them.

It is with sadness that we yesterday had to say goodbye to one of our longest serving crew members, Ship’s Dog, Blue.

Blue will be very much missed around the lifeboat station, even though we will now be able to eat our bacon sandwiches in safety.

Fair winds and blue sky Blue!

Over the last week a number of Ferryside Lifeboat crew were suffering from the nerves and anxiety of taking a driving test again.

These weren’t normal car tests though, these were for the Category H class of vehicles – to allow our crew to drive our new tracked launch vehicle – the Talus

Although the Talus will primarily used to travel up and down the slipway to launch the lifeboat, as the public are allowed to use the foreshore, all drivers must hold an appropriate driving licence to comply with the law.

We had hoped it would be possible to conduct the entire test on the foreshore and the beach, however it is a strict DVSA test requirement that the crew must go onto a public road and mingle with the traffic – and so for a few days, the Talus was a familiar site on the Ferryside roads.

For most of the crew this was the first driving test in many years, so revising the highway code, obscure road signs and polishing out the few bad habits that had crept in over the years, was a priority in the weeks before.

The good news is that all passed their tests, and we now have 12 crew fully qualified to drive the vehicle.

We really appreciate the patience of the village whilst these tests took place, and we’re sorry if we caused delays and disruption to your day!

Not the ideal weather, but a windy Easter Sunday was the date allocated to Ferryside lifeboat by the HM Coastguard helicopter rescue service to get to know the crew and craft of the helicopter team from St Athan.

Everyone got involved with the helicopter, an AugustaWestland 139 (an additional larger helicopter, an AW189 is on order) and some of the crew spoke afterwards of their experiences and emotions from the day…

Anthony Rees

“Organising a training session with a helicopter is not an easy thing to do. You’d think it might be easy for us being one of the UK’s oldest lifeboat stations, but it is not. However, it is a necessity and so we persist.

On the day there was a fantastic turn out from the crew, and all involved put in a maximum effort in order to extract the most from our short time with Rescue 187. As the Senior Coxswain I am immensely proud of all of them and I hope that the people of this community are too! The fact that Ferryside gives up so many people who are willing to risk their lives at sea, for free and in their spare time, simply astounds me.

It struck me that the training exercise was actually a great representation of what it is like to be lifeboat crew. You spend 99% of your time training, organising, cleaning or being bored in meetings; but then the pagers go off (normally whilst you’re eating your tea) and all of a sudden you are spending the remaining 1% of your time bashing into a gale force 7, whilst being thoroughly excited and terrified all at the same time.”

Cath Marks

“For those of you who may already know, manoeuvring a vessel in the limited safe zone under a helicopter is challenging.  As one of the helms on the Freemason during this helicopter training exercise on Easter Sunday what occurred to me, was the level of trust as volunteer lifeboat crew we have with each other.

Unnaturally my eyes in the manoeuvre had to be focused clearly on the helicopter at all times, not straight ahead. This meant the crew told me what was happening around me, the sea state, my positioning and where the winch and winch man were, all done in strong winds and a choppy swell. Thanks guys for this excellent training especially Ant for organising it with the crew of Rescue 187. With this level of training under our belt, it builds even more confidence in our abilities to try and save lives at sea.”

Dave Atkinson

“Though I will hopefully never be in a situation to be airlifted into a coastguard helicopter, having experienced being airlifted by rescue 187,  I’m in a better position of understanding to reassure casualties / those being rescued of what to expect. Also meeting the crew of the helicopter was great as putting a face to a voice at the other end of a radio always helps.”

Prior to the day, the crew had studied helicopter theory training and seen an instructional video provided by HM Coastguard, but all readily admitted, it’s not the same as the real thing!

National Coastwatch Worm’s Head has posted some photos of Ferryside Lifeboat on a training exercise on the River Towy.

The training took place on the Towy at high tide by Carmarthen bridge. The exercise simulated a casualty in the water who’d let off a distress flare.

The boat quickly came alongside and recovered the casualty safely – to the relief of the crew member who had ‘volunteered’ to jump in the rather cold water!