LIFEBOAT OPEN DAY

Christopher Heffernan at the wheel of the Castletownbere Lifeboat

Castletownbere Lifeboat Station had a very successful open day on Sunday afternoon last. The 52 ft all weather lifeboat ‘Roy and Barbara Harding’ was alongside the pier from 12 noon until 4.pp pm. and over 350 members of the public thronged to come on board and meet the crew and view the boat at close quarters.

It is amazing to thinks that a fishing port as busy as Castletownbere had no lifeboat service until only four years ago. Prior to that leisure and commercial craft in the area had to rely on the services of Valentia and Baltimore lifeboat stations. However, after many years of campaigning by locals, including Fundraising Secretary Mrs. Sheila O’Driscoll, a lifeboat station was established in Castletownbere by the R.N.L.I.  in October 1997. Since its inception, the Castletownbere Lifeboat has answered over 60 emergency calls to vessels in difficulty.

The station provides a 24 hour lifeboat service necessary to cover search and rescue requirements to 50 miles out from the coast. In the year 2000,  Irish lifeboats launched 756 times and assisted 788 people ashore – an average of 66 people a  month.

The crew are all volunteers and unlike other emergency services do not get paid for their time.. Each lifeboat station however employs a full time mechanic. Traditionally the lifeboat crew was manned  by fishermen but this has changed dramatically in recent decades. With fishermen at sea it is now necessary to draw crew from all walks of life,  and the Castletownbere crew is no different. Crews undergo training at three different levels – they have weekly training on board the lifeboat; crew members undergo specialised training at R.N.L.I  Headquarters at Poole in the U.K. ; and the R.N.L.I. sends mobile Training  units to Castletownbere to train crew in specialised areas such as First Aid, Navigation, Radio Operation, etc.

Running the lifeboat service is an extremely expensive operation. If all running costs are taken into consideration, it costs the R.N.L.I  £5,800 each time the Castletownbere Lifeboat is launched. The Lifeboat fundraises on an ongoing basis and depends entirely on voluntary contributions for its income. For every £1.00 raised, the R.N.L.I. only spends three pence on administration – the greatest part  of funds raised is spend on maintaining and replacing the lifeboat fleet., Locally, the lifeboat fundraising is well supported through individual fundraising events and the weekly lotto run jointly with CoAction Beara. This lotto is very well supported locally and yields over £12,000 to each organisation.

The fourth annual open day saw many visitors  come aboard the boat from as far a field as the United States, Germany and the U.K.  The fancy dress  competition was won by the Nee Family from Eyeries, Beara and  the results of the Esat Digifone competition  were as follows: Speak Easy Phone- Eoghan Power, Curryglass, Waterfall; Speak Easy Phone – Rosemary Phelan, Kildare; Esat Umbrella – Laragh Stevens, Cnocan na Bhaid, Castletownbere.  The Lifeboat also issued complimentary R.N.L.I. key-rings and pamphlets on sea safety to all visitors. The Honorary Secretary of Castletownbere  Lifeboat Station commented that ‘it was the most successful open day to date for the station’

The Nee Family, Eyeries, who won the Fancy Dress Competition

Crew Member Willie Russell with his daughter Jessie