Buckie RNLI lifeboat stalwarts honoured for decades of lifesaving service
A group of volunteer lifesavers have been honoured for their decades of stalwart service.
Buckie RNLI lifeboat coxswain Davie Grant and a total of four members of to crew were presented with King’s Medals by Area Operations Manager Carlos Hamlet in recognition of their years of selfless dedication to saving lives at sea.
Mr Grant was honoured for just over 30 years of service to the charity, while Mike Rennie (22), Graeme Gault (12), Gavin Hyne (18) and Stuart Mack (10) joined him in receiving medals.
At the other end of the timescale, Bruce Scott was welcomed onto the crew and handed his pager by Mr Hamlet. He did not have long to wait to see action, his first call-out coming just five days after.
There was also something of a baptism of fire for Mr Grant after he assumed the mantle of coxswain back in 2021. Just 72 hours after completing his final handling test, he and his colleagues were paged by the Coastguard at 9.15pm on Sunday, August 1 in response to a Mayday call from a yacht three miles north of Lossiemouth.
His three decades with the RNLI have sped by, although there have been many changes to adapt to down the years.
Mr Grant said: “It’s been very quick, I don’t know where the years have gone, to be honest.
“I’ve seen a lot of changes and been on a lot of shouts [call-outs].
“One of the biggest changes has been to the training package for crew. The RNLI now has a training college at HQ in Poole an the courses there are second to none, they’re world-leading.
“There’s been big changes to the boats themselves. I started out on the Arun class Charles Brown then on our current Severn class lifeboat, the William Blannin and there’s a big difference between the two. The Severn is 10 knots faster - she has a top speed of 25 knots compared to 15 knots, which is a fair difference - and the displays are digital rather than analogue. The new Shannon class is a lot more advanced again.
“The pace and nature of a lot of the changes has been surreal. They make running the boat easier and give a greater sense of safety but the challenges are still there. You need to understand the sea and how a situation can change very, very quickly.”
Leaving the Army was to provide the initial inspiration for Mr Grant to begin his 30-year association with the RNLI. Not wanting to be confined to a purely nine to five routine, he wanted something else in life to give him a buzz. He decided to pop along to one of the lifeboat crew’s twice-weekly training sessions with the “rest being history”.
It certainly is not a move he has regretted.
Mr Grant continued: “It’s been very satisfying, overall.
“Of course, there’s been the good and the bad; there’s been many jobs I’d like to be able not to remember.
“However, there’s been many shouts where we’ve done some good; this feeling is second to none, knowing that a person might not be here if it hadn’t been for the crew.
“I’d definitely recommend becoming a crewmember. These days you don’t need seagoing experience to join. All of the seagoing experience I’ve got is through the RNLI and, as I said, our training is world leading.”
He went on to speak of his pride in the crew, including those recognised for their long service.
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“I’ve seen so many crew working their way through the ranks over the years.
“I remember Gav [Hyne], for example, when he started as a new crewmember and now he’s a qualified coxswain/mechanic. It gives me a lot of satisfaction to watch the crew progress through the ranks.
“I’m very proud of all of the crew, their dedication and professionalism.”
Buckie RNLI lifeboat station’s Lifeboat Operations Manager, Anne Scott, hailed the commitment of the long-serving crew.
She commented: “I’m delighted to see these crewmembers rewarded for their long and dedicated service.
“Without the unswerving and selfless commitment of our volunteers the RNLI would be unable to perform our mission of saving lives at sea.”
To find out more about the work of Buckie RNLI, including joining the lifeboat crew or the shore-based fundraising team, visit the station’s Facebook page.
