25 of Yarmouth RNLI’s volunteers – both on and off shore – received their King’s Coronation medals, presented by His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of the Isle of Wight and President of the Isle of Wight Lifeboat Board, Susie Sheldon, last Thursday (17th April).
To mark the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III, a special commemorative medal is being awarded to serving frontline members of the police, fire, emergency services, prison services and armed forces that have completed 5 full calendar years of service.
Lifeboat Operations Manager, Tom Carlstedt-Duke opened the celebration held at Yarmouth Lifeboat Station, welcoming guests and family of the crew, firstly thanking them for their continued support before introducing The Lord-Lieutenant, who then gave a speech that included how special it was to be part of the Isle of Wight’s Lifeboat board as it’s the only board in the UK that coordinates with other stations and guilds.
The Lord-Lieutenant then presented the medals in alphabetical order to both members of the All Weather Lifeboat crew, and to Jeremy Wilcock, Yarmouth’s former Lifeboat Operations Manager, who also at this celebration received a thank you vellum from the Chief Executive for his services to the Lifeboat Station and the RNLI.
2 other vellums were presented to Charlie Anderson and Ian Hutchings for over 10 years of service and Vicky Tribe received a thank you letter for several years of service, which was accepted on her behalf by her mum and RNLI shop volunteer, Sue.
After photographs were taken in front of Yarmouth RNLI Lifeboat 17-25 ‘Eric and Susan Hiscock ‘Wanderer’, attendees were then treated to a wonderful spread provided generously by one of Yarmouth’s newest recruits and Manager of the Wheatsheaf of Yarmouth, Adey Evans.
Whilst at the event, it was worked out that the number of years combined between all those at Yarmouth who received medals totalled up to roughly an incredible 380 years of service!
