Cullercoats RNLI crew member’s first shout minutes after receiving pager
When trainee crew member Becky Maw received her pager on 9 April, having successfully completed her shore crew assessment earlier in the evening, she had no idea how soon she’d need to respond to it.
Naval architect Becky joined the Cullercoats crew in October 2024, beginning her RNLI journey as shore crew, which involved her learning the required skills to safely launch and recover the lifeboat, training alongside the boat crew to prepare her for dealing with emergency situations.
Whilst learning how to switch on her pager, Becky was startled to hear the lifeboat station’s operations manager announce that the lifeboat had received a tasking request from the Coastguard less than 30 minutes after receiving her pager.
Cullercoats RNLI's Atlantic 85 lifeboat was taking part in a routine weekly training exercise at the time that it was diverted to assist with an ongoing incident involving a person in the water.
Recognising the need to act fast, Becky quickly put her training into action and prepared the boathouse for receiving a casualty who was likely to be suffering from the effects of the cold.
Recalling the event, Becky said: ‘Whilst it’s been fun learning the new skills as part of my training plan, the value of it quickly became evident when the pager sounded. It suddenly became very real and made me realise the importance and quality of the training as I was very prepared to respond.'
Having recently moved to the area, Becky was keen to get involved with her local lifeboat station and join the volunteers in Cullercoats who are available to assist those in danger on the water 365 days of the year. Becky is eager to continue her training and now has ambitions to join the lifeboat crew.
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