An Eastbourne crew member has been awarded a prize in the RNLI Pentax Photographer of the Year competition at the opening day of the London Boat Show.

Eastbourne volunteer RNLI crew member Hayley Beddows was highly commended for her photograph. She took it while involved in a rescue last May to assist in re-floating a 34ft wood German yacht which had run aground on the beach at high tide on Eastbourne seafront.

When on-scene, the all-weather lifeboat was taken in astern close to the casualty bow where a towline was passed to the inshore lifeboat crew members who had boarded the casualty from the beach and made the tow fast. The casualty vessel was then re-floated and the casualty skipper was then transferred back onto his vessel by the inshore crew from the beach. All rigging and sails were made secure, the vessel was checked for water ingress and towed back to Sovereign Harbour where the skipper was checked over by Paramedics.

Hayley Beddows said: ‘I am delighted to receive this award – it’s great for Eastbourne lifeboat station and helps put us on the map.’

Eastbourne Lifeboat crew member Ian Pattison called to assist the emergency services on the East Coast.

Ian Pattison, an Eastbourne crew member, is also a part of the RNLI Rapid Response Unit These RNLI crew members are volunteers specially trained to rescue in swift water and inland flood situations.

The team was alerted and moved overnight to help in the Norfolk area during the flood emergency.

The team of 20 would have used five inflatable lifeboats should people have become cut off by rising floodwater. The RNLI also help other emergency services, transporting doctors, vital equipment and other resources, getting to areas that emergency vehicles can no longer access.

Ian drove to Ipswich to the RNLI Divisional base, where the Rapid Response Unit (RRU) assembled and received their instructions for the operation.

Ian was then sent with his team to Norwich where they joined the other members of the rescue services

( Ambulance Fire brigade etc ).They  were then given details of the situation and shown maps of the area’s that would be affected if the flood emergency came into effect.

The predicted storm and high tide had already created some flood conditions.

 As well as the RRU  the two RNLI rescue lifeboats usually based at South Broads had relocated with nine volunteers to the fire station at Lowestoft in readiness to assist.

The emergency was called off after the tides receded and the high winds dropped.

Ian was trained five years ago to be a part of the Rapid Response team with other members of the Eastbourne lifeboat crew. He attended a five day training course in swift water and inland rescue and is keen to carry on his on going training and career as part of this elite team of rescue workers.

Ian was part of the rescue services that attended the emergencies in Lewes and Uckfied in the year 2000. (Visit www. eastbournernli.org.uk) history page.

Ian Joined the Eastbourne Lifeboat December 1999. and is now a valued member of the Eastbourne RNLI.

FORMER MAYOR HANDS OVER A VERY LARGE CHEQUE.

 On Tuesday, 16th October, at the Sovereign Harbour Yacht Club, a cheque for more than £32,000.00 was handed over to Paul Metcalfe, Lifeboat Operations Manager,Eastbourne Lifeboat and Paul Wilson the Chairman of the Eastbourne Lifeboat Management Group.  The cheque represents the money raised by Councilor Colin Belsey during his year as Mayor of Eastbourne in 2006/2007. 

Councilor Colin Belsey said “I am delighted and amazed at the sum of money we managed to raise during the Mayoral Year.  The input from the people of Eastbourne to the local Lifeboat seems to have touched so many people. It goes to prove once again that we are a nation of givers at heart and the people of Eastbourne have proved that.  Boxing Day, at a very cold Bandstand, raised over £1,000 in two hours and the Morris Men were the only ones who were warm!  The support from local clubs, schools and numerous other organizations has been out of this world and Anna, the former Mayoress, did her bit by raising a substantial amount from her own events.  I thank the people of Eastbourne from the bottom of my heart - you have all helped to make what was a lovely year to a fantastic one, thank you”.

This is the largest amount of money raised during a Mayoral Year by one Mayor.  During the past year Councilor Belsey has attended many events, fetes and has also held a Charity Ball.  His daughter, Anna, parachuted out of an aero plane at 10,000 feet and held a Halloween party at one of Eastbourne’s nightclubs.

Lifeboat Operations Manager, Paul Metcalfe, said "We are very proud and pleased to have been chosen as the Mayor's Charity during his year in office. It has been an absolute pleasure to have supported the Mayor and Mayoress throughout the year in raising this very large sum of money. This donation is a tremendous boost to the funding in running an RNLI Lifeboat Service here in Eastbourne and the saving of life off the Sussex coast".  

2007 RNLI Regatta

Once again we were blessed with good weather and this year’s event was very well attended both by participants and the public, who came along to watch and give their support.

The three days of off-shore sailing were a real success, with more than forty contestants divided between the three classes every day.

There was a power boat event at sea, and in the outer harbour events and facilities for inshore water activities such as the rowing boat race, dingy sailing, kayaking and the tender racing attracted a good crowd. However, without doubt the event which drew the biggest crowds was the fishing boat parade and race with crew and public participation.

The live music kept people entertained in the afternoon and evening, with bands, folk singing, discos and impersonators all adding to the atmosphere.

This is the first year we had experimented with trade stands. From feedback, next year promises to have an even larger number of stands.

As always the event could not have taken place without the harbour management company, premier, or the other sponsors and donators who once again were outstanding in their support.

The volunteer helpers from the RNLI, MVS, Police Cadets, and the Sea Cadets all worked very hard to ensure the regatta’s success.

I am pleased to announce that this year the event raised approximately

£20k towards the Eastbourne RNLI.

A major thank you to all concerned.

From Paul W. Wilson (Chairman RNLI Regatta committee)

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2007 Lifeboat Regatta pictures and results of races

go to bottom of left side of page

The Eastbourne RNLI Shop is seeking additional volunteer counter staff

shifts three and a half hours per week. to include some saturday or sunday working.

For further information please telephone Alan Bennett on 01323 505864.

Captain John Banfield received an award from RNLI for his valuable

support of the Lifeboat Services.

A state of the art Weather Station has been purchased and fitted at Eastbourne Lifeboat Station with funds raised by Former Mayor Councilor Colin Belsey.

Councillor Colin Belsey says, "Anna and I were delighted that we could give a lasting gift to commemorate our Mayoral year. Not only will it remind us of a lovely year, but, will help to continue the saving of lives off our coast. We are delighted to help in such a way."

The Davis vantage pro 2 Precision weather station will give local information which is updated every 2.5 seconds.  The weather data is collected from a nearby location and transmitted by wireless to the base station at the all Weather Lifeboat Station Operations Room at the Sovereign Harbour.

The new weather station is solar powered and records local weather conditions including.

• Wind speed

• Direction

• Humidity

• Barometric pressure

• Rain fall

Eastbourne Lifeboat Station Lifeboat Operations Manager Paul Metcalfe says, "This is a superb state of the art piece of equipment and will greatly assist us with information on local weather conditions to enable us in making decisions on which of our two Lifeboats is required to launch."

The new equipment will allow the Launching Authority, the Coxswain and lifeboat crew to be updated with local weather information when a request is made from the Maritime Rescue Co-ordinating Centre at Dover Coastguard to launch a lifeboat.

The Inshore Lifeboat Crew at 999 weekend

Both Eastbourne lifeboats on exercise

with "Whiskey Bravo" the Coastguard Helicopter

at the 999 show.

Spot the people in the sea

Monday 11th June

Sovereign Motorcycle Club Made its annual visit to the Lifeboat Station and handed over a cheque for £150 to Mark Sawyer the Coxswain of the Lifeboat.

The money was raised through club donations. After the presentation the club was given a tour of the station and a talk on its work.

Picture of Keith Murphy (on the left; known by the lifeboat crew as SPUD) receiving a long service medal from Paul Wilson Chairman of the Lifeboat Management Group.

Spud joined the lifeboat in 1984. He signed up at Ron Wheelers retirement party.Spuds Father In Law. (Ron was Coxswain of the Eastbourne Lifeboat from 1981 - 1984).

For 2-3 years Spud was a shore helper, then he spent thirteen years on the Inshore Lifeboat, and the last seven years as a full crew member on the All Weather Lifeboat.

One of his most memorable shouts was the Paperchase rescue in 2003.

There is also a photo of him on the history page helping with the rescue of a sailing boat (Gullmaid) in 1992.

The society of Eastbourne artists held a three day Art Exhibition at the Landsdowne Hotel over the Mayday bank holiday weekend.

The total amount raised over the weekend for the Eastbourne Lifeboats was £350.00 This came from the raffle of a painting donated by the clubs President Mr N Englefield, Donations from program sales and collecting boxes.

The exhibition was opened by Mark Sawyer (Coxswain of the Eastbourne Lifeboat) at 11.00 on the saturday and  was asked to draw the winning raffle ticket on the monday at 18.00 where the photo and cheque presentation took place. In the photo from left to right are Mr L Ayres Chairman, Mr N Englefield President and painting donator, Mark Sawyer and the club treasurer Mr T Welton.

A Cheque presentation was made in the beer garden at the Windsor Tavern on Sunday 6th May. A cheque for £350.00 was presented by Landlord Steve Leach and his wife Debbie to the Eastbourne Lifeboats, this was raised by the customers of the pub who filled a large bottle with money. They chose the lifeboat as many of the regulars are keen boat anglers and know that without such donations we would not be able to provide our life saving service.

Ellis Building Contractors, the Eastbourne based construction company, have demonstrated their commitment to the local community by donating £200 to the Eastbourne R N L I . The money was raised when the Ellis team successfully paddled their way around Eastbourne Pier during the annual raft race. Alan Duggan, the raft race team captain, presented the cheque to Paul Metcalfe Eastbourne Lifeboat Operations Manager and Dan Guy  full time mechanic / Deputy Second Coxswain on Thursday 11th October at the Lifeboat Station. Mike McLean, Ellis Operations Director said ‘Ellis are extremely delighted to present this cheque in support of such a worthy and historic organisation’. Alan Duggan, the raft race team captain, is pictured presenting the cheque with Mike McLean and the rest of the team..