News Item

Increasing demand for local independent life boat Humber Rescue

February 2011

Humber Rescue are saying lives will be lost due to the reduction of operation time of Bridlington's Humber Coastguard Station.

It is ridiculous to think a station at each end of the country can cope with the service demand in their area and at the same time cover the needs of the North Sea and the Humber. Without the local knowledge how would an officer in Aberdeen know where places like Trent Falls and Dead Bod shed are?

Humber Rescue responded to 120 call outs in 2010, making them one of the busiest lifeboat stations in the UK.

Dave Roberts (07831 858994), chairman and coxswain for over 21 years said “The demand is constant on the crew of 20 volunteers, not just responding to call outs but keeping the organisation going with maintenance, training and the never ending fundraising”.

Humber Rescue is an independent life boat charity that relies totally on local people and businesses to help fund the running costs of £30k+ per year and this year we have seen an additional challenge to replace the ageing main rescue boat at a cost of £75k. The current boat has responded to over 1000 call outs in the last 12 years.

The call outs each year are all recorded on Humber Rescue's website and are a mix of anything from people/animals stuck in mud, boats running aground/getting into difficulties, supporting the recovery of evidence for the police and unfortunately the recovery of bodies.

Humber Rescue covers the Rivers Humber, Hull, Ouse, Trent and Ancholme, and we are also on standby for national flood rescue as a DEFRA flood response team.

Humber Rescue are an RYA training Centre offering powerboat training to other rescue services and local boat owners, the River Humber is reputed to be the 2nd most difficult navigable river in the world and a perfect place to learn and improve your boating skills.

Humber Rescue would like to thank the many people that have supported us over the passed 21 years and ask for your continued support especially in the current recession to enable us to carry on delivering this rescue service.

For more information visit the boat house on a Sunday morning or take a look at the Humber Rescue website or send us an e-mail at humberrescue@humberrescue.karoo.co.uk.