Hovercraft Returning to Station
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
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.
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!
