£1m training fund helps Inverness lifesavers learn vital skills

Two volunteer crew members at Kessock RNLI lifeboat station have had a vital part of their crew training funded by Lloyd’s Register Foundation.

Dean Allan (26) and James Lynch (23), both from Inverness, this week travelled to the RNLI College in Poole, Dorset, to complete the charity’s crew emergency procedures course.

Dean was inspired to join up as a volunteer crew member for the charity after seeing the lifeboat crew training in the local area and wanted to offer something back to his local community.

James, a structural engineer, has volunteered for the past five years at both Loch Ness and Kessock lifeboat stations.

The course sees volunteer crew being trained in a variety of subjects such as how to deal with fires aboard lifeboats, how to abandon ship in the event of an emergency, team survival swimming, coping in a life-raft in simulated darkness, how to right a capsized inshore lifeboat, and the importance of lifejackets. It also includes sessions on the correct use of flares, fire extinguishers and throw bags.

Dean said: "This has been an eye-opening course that has really instilled in me the importance of the training that we receive as RNLI volunteers. Some of it, I hope I never need to use, but the very nature of being an RNLI volunteer is you have to be fully prepared for every scenario at any time and this course is embedding those vital skills."

The joint training took place in the Sea Survival Centre at the RNLI College, where they were joined by other RNLI volunteer crew members from around the UK and Ireland.

The training was funded by Lloyd’s Register Foundation, a charitable foundation that helps to protect life and property by supporting engineering-related education, public engagement and the application of research. The foundation has committed to funding the RNLI’s crew emergency procedures course for a second five-year period until December 2020. This additional funding of £1.06 million brings their total support for RNLI crew training to just over £2.46 million since 2008.

More than 3000 RNLI volunteer crew members have now received the training thanks to Lloyd’s Register Foundation’s funding.

James Kilburn, RNLI's lifesaving delivery training manager, said: "We are so grateful to Lloyd’s Register Foundation for funding this vital part of our volunteer crews’ training.

"Their support is very important to us and it’s fantastic how, so far, over 3000 of our crew members have benefitted from Lloyd’s Register Foundation funding this part of their training. As only one in ten of our volunteer crew members comes from a professional maritime background, the crew emergency procedures course is crucial in giving our volunteers the training they need and helping keep them as safe as possible while carrying out rescues. It gives volunteers the confidence to save lives even in the most challenging conditions."

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