IN THE absence of our President, Brian Ireland chaired our meeting on Thursday, September 3. Following news of members, Brian welcomed our guest speaker, Frank Austin who spoke about the outstanding work of the RNLI.

Frank, who lives in Cheltenham and who worked as a photographer for a variety of holiday magazines and brochures, has been involved with the RNLI for some 43 years. It was through his wife, who lived in Newlyn in Cornwall that he became a lifeboat crew member and was involved in three rescues.

He took us through the history of the RNLI which dates back to 1824 and described the many rescues over the years from the times of the rowing boats to some of today’s high speed craft capable of over 60 miles per hour. He spoke about the Louise, which was hauled over Porlock Hill and down into Lynmouth, a distance of over 20 miles, about the Solomon Brown which was lost with all hands, about the 7 lifeboats that helped the Dunkirk evacuation (of which only two returned) and of the role of the RNLI in the Tewkesbury flooding of 2007.

Frank answered all our questions and informed us that to maintain the 228 lifeboats and 215 lifeboat stations, the RNLI need to raise £384,000 a day! He said that most of the money comes from bequests. He stressed that all of the lifeboat men and women are unpaid volunteers.

Our next meeting will be on September 10 when we shall hear about Trivia and then on September 17 we shall meet at the Fleece at Bretforton to hear about the Bell Tower restoration. Please do feel free to join us every Thursday at 10am at the Evesham Boathouse.

CHRIS DONOUGH