Features and Review

On a superbly sunny afternoon teams took to the Marina for the finals of the raft race with the Sea Anglers raising the trophy after out splashing the Fire Fighters crew.

There were plenty of stalls with fun and games outside the Lifeboat Station such as the Wang –o- Wellie promising a signed and mounted RNLI Wellie Boot to the person able to throw the furthest Wellington boot into the Marina and the coconut shy offering fresh coconuts to the winners.

One of the highlights of the afternoon was the cake auction where Lifeboat crew members who had lovingly crafted large cakes, many with an RNLI theme, saw rapid bidding by the crowd in response to auctioneer Ron Campion. Prior to the sale the cakes were also judged, declaring a first for the sardines in the can by Nigel Coulton which sold for £20. Second prize went to Richard Fowler's Crabber, whilst the wooden spoon went to the cake entitled ‘probably the best cake in the world', by Coxswain Mark Criddle and Deputy Launching Authority- Jon Welch was extremely pleased to acquire the 4 Swiss rolls turned into Carling cans.

Jon Welch said, “We moved the event to the Lifeboat Station and it has been a great success, its felt more like a village fete. We've had a fabulous week with the Breitling Wing Walkers on Wednesday and the Royal Navy Raiders parachute team, who are all volunteers jumping into the harbour on Friday ,just after a superb Lifeboat demonstration in which the boat got right up to the side of the Marina and took away a causality in the crowd.” Jon went on to say, “There are three aims to Torbay lifeboat Week, which are to raise awareness of the Torbay Lifeboat, have fun and raise funds. This year we are grateful to Inter-LineTorbay, AG Care, Brixham Town Council, Berry Head Hotel, 4 Most Financial Advisers, Breakwater Bistro and the Prince William Restaurant for sponsoring the week.”

Throughout the afternoon visitors were able to go on board the Torbay All Weather Lifeboat and ask the crew questions that helped build a picture of one of the busiest RNLI Stations in the country with over 100 ‘Shouts' or launches a year. With 2 paid members of the crew notably the Coxswain and the Mechanic, the rest of the crew are all volunteers and everyone who is able has a few minutes to get to the station when their pager goes off, where the Coxswain selects the most suitable crew for the task. At present there are two paramedics and a doctor in the team who have chosen to be crew members, whose skills are very useful and just as the afternoon was coming to an end Jon Welch got the call from the Coastguard.