National Coast Guard Day

August 4th is Coast Guard Day honouring the courageous work of coast guards all around the globe. Did you know, for example, that when Hurricane Katrina struck the Atlantic coast of America in August 2005, the US Coast Guards saved over 33,500 lives!

It got me thinking about another excellent charity - RNLI 

Royal National Lifeboat Institution

Saving Lives at Sea

** The RNLI was founded back in 1824 by Sir William Hillary.  It is the oldest lifeboat service in the world.

** In WWII, between 27 May and 4 June 1940, nineteen RNLI lifeboats sailed to and from Dunkirk to assist with the evacuation of 338,000 stranded servicemen.

** Today there are 238 lifeboat stations around the UK and Ireland, covering 19,000 miles of coastline.  They include four on the River Thames, and five inland stations – at Loch Ness in Scotland and Carrybridge, Enniskillen, Lough Ree and Lough Derg in Ireland.

** RNLI has 445 lifeboats (including 7 hovercraft) in service.

** Lifeboats are predominantly orange because it makes them more visible on the water.

** When someone is in danger in the water, every second counts.  Lifeguards are often the first on hand to help. All RNLI lifeguards hold an internationally recognised beach lifeguard qualification. As well as having vital lifesaving skills, they must be able to complete: 
• a 400m pool swim in under 7½ minutes 
• a consecutive 25m underwater and 25m surface pool swim in under 50 seconds 
• a 200m beach run in under 40 seconds.

** Most lifeboat crew members are volunteers - ordinary people who simply and selflessly want to save lives at sea. When the pagers go off, they drop everything and are regularly called away from their families, their beds and their work, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

** Every year, these volunteer life-boat crews and lifeguards help and rescue thousands of people and have saved over 142,700 lives since 1824.

Donate to the RNLI and help save lives

https://rnli.org/support-us/give-money/donate