Funding for vital lifesaving training helps volunteers

A pair of new volunteer lifeboat trainees at CHISWICK RNLI Lifeboat Station have had a vital part of their crew training funded by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation (LRF).

Graham Hill and Tim Hughes, recently travelled to the RNLI College in Poole, Dorset, to complete the charity’s trainee crew course.

A key part of the course is the sea survival element, which enables new volunteer crew to be trained in a variety of crucial subjects including:
• how to ‘abandon ship’ with a 4m jump into water
• team survival swimming and coping in a liferaft in simulated darkness
• how to deal with fires aboard lifeboats
• how to right a capsized inshore lifeboat, and
• the importance of lifejackets

Wayne Bellamy, manager of Chiswick RNLI, explained that the sea survival element of the training course has been funded by the LRF, a UK registered charity that invests in science,
engineering and technology for public benefit, worldwide.

They are funding the sea survival element of the trainee crew course for a five year period from January 2011 to December 2015 and this additional funding of nearly £1M brings their total support to just over £1.5M.

Wayne said: ‘The training took place in the Sea Survival Centre at the RNLI College in Poole,
which has to be seen to be believed. Our volunteers can expect to face all manner of
conditions – sometimes the worst of what nature can throw at you. So the RNLI insists on giving them the most realistic experience of what it can be like. The centre includes a powerful
wave tank and a fire-fighting simulator, and conditions of wind, rain and total darkness can be
created, allowing trainees to experience first-hand some of the scenarios they may encounter
at sea as lifeboat crew.’

Allen Head, Divisional Operations Manager for the RNLI said: ‘The support given by the
Lloyd’s Register Foundation is hugely important to the RNLI. We are extremely grateful that it
has chosen to fund sea survival training, which teaches vital core skills to our volunteer crew.

‘This training is central to allowing the RNLI and its volunteers to stay safe while on rescue
missions. It equips volunteers with essential sea survival skills; providing them with the
courage, poise and self-confidence to save lives even in the most perilous seas.’
This donation is just the latest in the LRF’s relationship with the RNLI, which was recognised
in 2010 when it received the Group Supporter Award from HRH Prince Michael of Kent in
recognition of its valuable support of the charity.

The Lloyd's Register Foundation (LRF) is a UK registered charity and sole shareholder of
Lloyd’s Register Group.

July 18, 2014