Emergency Windscreen Sign

Hovercraft Returning to Station

Hovercoming back from a Shout this summer
Pictures courtesy of Hugh Barklem

'Silly' season over.

Now back to training.

We call it 'silly' season but only because in the summer you get the odd day when the pager won't stop and it starts to drive us all a bit crazy.
Even though the pressure on the Lifeboats has dropped a little,with the schools re-opening this week and the slight autumnal nip in the air, we still maintain a full duty crew over the weekend at the Pierhead because H-004 any last throe of summer will bring the seafront back to gridlock.

At this time of year our thoughts return to training. Like all RNLI stations we have an on going programme of bringing crews on. We have to constantly prepare ourselves against retirements through injury, illness or age and other unexpected circumstances and the Lifeboats have to be filled with adequately trained crew to go to sea 365 days of the year.

Thanks to the volume of shouts Southend has our current batch of trainees had a good exposure to some real Shouts and they all rose to the occassion in fine form.

So our training programmes,running through to Christmas will include discussion on any problems encountered that they may not have felt sure about.Recovery of H-004 over the sea wall
The fact that our trainees, who come from all walks of life, bring new eyes and experience to the station is not lost on us and this is an asset that sometimes yields useful knowledge.
Even though we say as a rule when on the Lifeboat, do what the Helmsman asks, when it comes to the debrief in the pub afterwards all ideas are welcome. Whether they be dismissed on the spot or considered for wider dispersal we positively encourage such exchange. Oh yes, Southend Lifeboat is open to some blue sky thinking anytime.
And besides, we just love taking the Mick when someone comes up with a classic!