See Shoreham Harbour Lifeboat arrive for The Worthing Society's bicentenary tribute to the RNLI and Worthing's brave fishermen who saved lives at sea

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Transcript

00:00 [wind]

00:02 It's the only day, the only days this year that we've had a lot of wind ice.

00:08 We've had a few, a few days of wind today and Sunday is their training day.

00:14 So we've got a lot of wind, it's difficult, there's so little bit of ice in the water.

00:19 We won't be making it to their training, so it's a bit hard to, to come and see them.

00:26 [wind]

00:28 [wind]

00:40 [wind]

00:52 [wind]

01:18 I'm so grateful to them making this trip for us today and to stand offshore

01:25 in honour of all their colleagues and all the worthy lifeboatmen and fishermen

01:32 from 1832 right the way through.

01:36 [wind]

02:05 It's a wonderful tribute I think to have that on the front, just standing offshore

02:10 for our anniversary today in a very lovely salute.

02:15 [wind]

02:32 Nice one there pointing the crab to the Zab Memorial Park.

02:37 [cheering]

02:45 We're stationed here from 1854 with a lifeboat house.

02:52 After operating successfully for 11 years, the RNLI took over the running of the station,

02:59 building a new lifeboat and a new lifeboat house.

03:04 Since 1824, volunteer crews around the country have launched the lifeboats

03:11 more than 380,000 times, sailing more than 100,000 miles.

03:18 Lifeboat crews towed vessels loaded with explosives, navigated minefields,

03:24 and rescued those from enemy planes. The RNLI has a one crew pledge to say.

03:31 I'm Susan Belton, Chair of the Worthing Society, and the Society is delighted and honoured

03:38 to hold an event in tribute to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution by centenary

03:45 and also jointly to honour the Worthing lifeboatmen who were mainly, or they were just fishermen,

03:53 who went out in the very early days in open boats.

03:57 And what a contrast with the high technology craft that we have today.

04:02 I think it's very important that this part of our maritime heritage is recorded and is honoured.

04:09 So we're hoping that events like today will really help people to be aware.

04:15 The worst disaster was the Lallarook disaster in 1850,

04:20 when 11 lifeboatmen were lost trying to rescue the schooner, and there were 38 widows and children.

04:28 I think that's really what spurred on the town to commit funds for a lifeboat in 1853.

04:37 The RNLI later took over, but it was still our Worthing fishermen who were going out as crew

04:46 and who were making such a wonderful contribution to our maritime history.

04:51 When the RNLI was founded 200 years ago, never before had there been such a need to organise a rescue service

05:02 covering our extensive British coastline, a coastline with more than 2,000 shipwrecks every year.

05:11 Worthing itself had its fair number of wrecks, but calls for a lifeboat to be stationed here went unneeded,

05:20 even when 11 local fishermen drowned on a rescue mission to the Lallarook we've just heard about,

05:27 at the height of a violent storm in 1850.

05:31 So Worthing ventured alone and managed to raise sufficient money for an independent self-righting lifeboat.

05:40 It was built at Little Hampton and stationed here from 1854 with a lifeboat house.

05:51 After operating successfully for 11 years, the RNLI took over the running of the station,

05:58 building a new lifeboat and a new lifeboat house.

06:03 Since 1824, volunteer crews around the country have launched their lifeboats more than 380,000 times,

06:14 saving more than 144,000 people.

06:19 That equates to two lives every day over the past 200 years.

06:25 Over the course of the Second World War, the RNLI continued to operate

06:31 and saved as many as 6,376 lives.

06:37 Lifeboat crews towed vessels loaded with explosives, navigated minefields and rescued airmen

06:46 who'd been shot down, including those from enemy planes.

06:50 The RNLI has a one-crew pledge to save, without judgement, every person it can,

06:58 staying true to Sir William Hillary's vision when he founded the institution.

07:03 I'm Susan Belton, Chair of the Worthing Society, and the Society is delighted and honoured

07:11 to hold an event in tribute to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution by centenary

07:18 and also jointly to honour the Worthing lifeboatmen, who were mainly, or they were just fishermen,

07:26 who went out in the very early days in open boats.

07:30 And what a contrast with the high technology craft that we have today.

07:35 I think it's very important that this part of our maritime heritage is recorded and is honoured.

07:42 So we're hoping that events like today will really help people to be aware.

07:48 The worst disaster was the Lallarook disaster in 1850, when 11 lifeboatmen were lost trying to rescue the schooner

07:58 and there were 38 widows and children.

08:01 I think that's really what spurred on the town to commit funds for a lifeboat in 1853.

08:10 The RNLI later took over, but it was still our Worthing fishermen who were going out as crew

08:19 and who were making such a wonderful contribution to our maritime history.

08:24 When the RNLI was founded 200 years ago, never before had there been such a need to organise a rescue service

08:35 covering our extensive British coastline.

08:38 A coastline with more than 2,000 shipwrecks every year.

08:43 Worthing itself had its fair number of wrecks, but calls for a lifeboat to be stationed here went unneeded,

08:53 even when 11 local fishermen drowned on a rescue mission to the Lallarook we've just heard about,

09:00 at the height of a violent storm in 1850.

09:04 So, Worthing ventured alone and managed to raise sufficient money for an independent, self-riding lifeboat,

09:13 built at Little Hampton, stationed here from 1854, where the lifeboat is.

09:23 After operating successfully for 11 years, the RNLI took over the running of the station,

09:31 building a new lifeboat and a new lifeboat house.

09:36 Since 1824, volunteer crews around the country have launched the lifeboats more than 380,000 times,

09:47 saving more than 144,000 people.

09:52 That equates to two lives every day over the past 200 years.

09:58 Over the course of the Second World War, the RNLI continued to operate and saved as many as 6,376 lives.

10:10 Lifeboat crews towed vessels loaded with explosives, navigated minefields and rescued airmen who'd been shot down,

10:21 including those from enemy planes.

10:23 The RNLI has a one crew pledge to save, without judgement, every person it can,

10:31 staying true to Sir William Hillary's vision when he founded the institution.

10:36 I'm Susan Belton, Chair of the Worthing Society, and the Society is delighted and honoured to hold an event

10:46 to pay tribute to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution by centenary,

10:52 and also jointly to honour the Worthing lifeboatmen, who were mainly, well they were just fishermen,

10:59 who went out in the very early days in open boats, and what a contrast with the high technology craft that we have today.

11:08 I think it's very important that this part of our maritime heritage is recorded and is honoured,

11:15 so we're hoping that events like today will really help people to be aware.

11:21 The worst disaster was the Lallarook disaster in 1850, when 11 lifeboatmen were lost trying to rescue the schooner,

11:30 and there were 38 widows and children.

11:34 I think that's really what spurred on the town to commit funds for a lifeboat in 1853.

11:43 The RNLI later took over, but it was still our Worthing fishermen who were going out as crew,

11:52 and who were making such a wonderful contribution to our maritime history.

11:57 When the RNLI was founded 200 years ago, never before had there been such a need to organise a rescue service,

12:08 covering our extensive British coastline.

12:11 Over the course of the Second World War, the RNLI continued to operate, and saved as many as 6,376 lives.

12:23 Lifeboat crews towed vessels loaded with explosives, navigated minefields, and rescued airmen who'd been shot down,

12:33 including those from enemy planes.

12:36 The RNLI has a one crew pledge to save, without judgement, every person it can,

12:44 staying true to Sir William Hillary's vision when he founded the institution.

13:02 The RNLI is 200 years old this year, which is a massive milestone really.

13:08 That's all been built up from various bits like Worthing Lifeboat previously,

13:12 various other ones around the coast.

13:15 The RNLI is 160 years old next year.

13:17 That's going to take away everything that's been done around the coast,

13:20 and all the good things that are done to keep us hopefully going on for another 200 years.

13:24 Moving forward.

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