Barra Island RNLI volunteers need your help

Volunteer crews on Barra (Barraigh) have been quietly saving lives at sea for generations. These lifesavers help provide a ring of protection right around the Western Isles that extends along hundreds of miles of coastline and many miles out to sea. But it’s time to replace their station. Can you help give our brave volunteers the modern facilities they deserve?

Why we need your help

‘The easiest way to describe our current lifeboat station building is a converted garage,’ says John MacNeil, the Station Coxswain/Mechanic. ‘It’s been partitioned up. There’s a very, very small workshop at the front, an office for crew meetings and admin, and a crew changing room that’s small and lacks privacy.’

'I’m so excited about getting a new lifeboat station,’ says RB MacKinnon, who John is helping to train. ‘If you were to come in and see the station, you’d find it hard to imagine how we do all the work we have to do there.

‘To service any of the rescue equipment we carry onboard, like the salvage pump, we first have to get it up to the workshop. That involves lifting and carrying, and manoeuvring around corners and up a flight of concrete steps. That makes it a bit of a chore.’

What you can help us achieve

The station volunteers have had their say and this has influenced the lifeboat station design.

‘It will give us everything we need to future proof lifesaving on Barra,’ says Lifeboat Operations Manager Raghnall MacLean, who is looking forward to the new lifeboat station every bit as much as the crew. ‘The lifeboat station, though roughly on the same site as the existing building, will be at the same level as the lifeboat pier so there will be no need to carry heavy loads up and down steps.

‘There’ll be a second level above with a lift in between. Also a crew room, showers, a training room, overnight accommodation, a boathouse for the boarding boat and spare rooms for crew meetings. Being able to train the crew in our own training room at the lifeboat station will be a major improvement.’

The difference your donation will make

By donating today, you can help us reach our £50,000* target towards a new lifeboat station for Barra’s brave lifesaving volunteers. Your kindness will make you a lifesaver too. 

You’ll be helping to create a warm, welcoming space for your lifeboat volunteers. You could help the crew save precious seconds during time-critical rescues. You could help give them a larger changing room with separate cubicles for men and women, so all the crew will be able to get kitted up at the same time. There’ll be no waiting, no delays.

With your help, the crew will get a secure, covered storage area for their boarding boat, which will protect it from the elements and prevent costly repairs. The mechanics will get a new workshop too, more accessible and more spacious, and fully equipped for all those lifeboat maintenance tasks that they can’t easily do now.

You’ll be there for the crew in other ways too: helping them enjoy a cuppa from their new kitchen when they return from a shout, and – something they’ve not had before – access to a hot station shower.

Thank you from everyone at Barra Island RNLI – you’re a lifesaver!