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Upcoming 200th Anniversaries

 
There are a couple of big SAR birthdays coming up this year. Two national volunteer marine search and rescue organizations are celebrating 200 year anniversaries in 2024. 

The Royal National Lifeboat Institute in the British Isles will celebrate
An RNLI Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat
a birthday on 4 March 2024 . The RNLI continues to be an outstanding example of volunteers providing a marine search and rescue service. The first stations associated with the RNLI in Britain were established in 1824. However many coastal communities already had independent volunteer lifeboat stations.

By the way, one of our Station 60 members was a member of the RNLI in Morecambe Bay before he came to the Comox Valley. 

The RNLI is similar to RCM-SAR in many ways. In particular the individual stations are run mainly by volunteers and the institution is a registered charity. Their lifeboat stations are all around the coastline of the British Isles. 

In addition to running the lifeboat service, the RNLI has assumed the responsibility for training and providing lifeguards for many of the public beaches. 

Also in 1824, across the North Sea, the Dutch established the Koninklijke Nederlandse Redding Maatschappij (KNRM). In English that is the Royal Dutch Rescue Society. On November 11, 2024, the KNRM will celebrate its 200th anniversary. 

The KNRM also has many similarities to RCM-SAR. The lifeboat stations are run by volunteers and the KNRM is a registered Dutch charity.  

Like the RNLI, the KNRM has a program to train lifeguards provide them on public beaches. The KNRM also provides a multilingual radio medical advisory service to shipping worldwide and beach trucks to provide lifesaving services on selected public beaches. 

Some KNRM Volunteers

Both agencies will devote the whole year to a series of anniversary celebrations. 

If you happen to travel in either Britain or the Netherlands during 2024, drop by a lifeboat station and wish them "Happy Birthday"... and maybe leave a small donation.

Comments

  1. Chris BeechJanuary 29, 2024 at 1:42 PM

    It's amazing to me to think how the members from before the age of the internal combustion engine era performed the tasks they did. To row or sail through heavy seas and still be able to affect a rescue at the end of it. Truly extraordinary individuals. Happy Anniversaries

    ReplyDelete

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