Londoners Magazine

Caomhan Keane meets a Londoner living to work with the RNLI…

When you think of the work done by The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) you envisage daring high sea rescues, with giant waves tossing our heroes about like a Caesar salad.

What is overlooked is the work of the inshore lifeboats and the job possibilities that lie therein. While the majority of the people who risk their lives during the 8,000 rescue operations each year are voluntary, there are some paid positions available at the three life boat stations along the Thames.

One person to hold such a job is Colin Rotchell,34, helmsman of the Thames Lifeboat. Sixteen years with the Institution, Rotchell (or Chalky as he is known) has been full time since 2001.

“I started volunteering as a crewman at Harwich because my dad was in the merchant navy and he’d always been around the lifeboat, always supported it and probably would have been a crewman himself had he not been away so much. So I knew the crew, knew what happened and decided that that’s what I wanted to do.”

As one of only 30 full time crewmen in the country, Chalky admits that the Thames lifeboat is different to the set up in the rest of the UK. The frequency of calls to his station at Tower, as well as to Chiswick and Teddington, means they need to be constantly manned by two full-timers and one volunteer.

“It’s the same job [as the coastal stations] but in a very different location. A different environment. The boats we use here are specific to the river.”

With little high action rescues, 60-70 per cent of them involve people who have tried to harm themselves. The rest of the time they help ships that have broken down, come to the aid of people who have taken ill while on the river or who have fallen from its banks.

Were he to sum up his job in one sentence it would be to “command the lifeboat and her crew during search and rescue operations”. But he is also responsible for the lifeboat station when the station manager isn’t available; training volunteers alongside boat and station maintenance. While he is involved in rescue and resuscitation, as helmsman he is primarily responsible for the boat itself.

How quick you climb the career ladder depends on how much time you can dedicate to your training. After four or five shifts you’re fully trained to go to sea. After one year as probational crew you train intensely for a week at the RNLI’s training complex in Poole, where you go through all the aspects of being a crewman. After a few years as competent crew you can return to Poole for a further week where you learn all you need to know about how to handle the vessel. A rigorous first aid course is also part of the training, as you need to be able to operate machines such as defibrillators.

Demand for volunteer work at the station was so high that the station manager had to do away with the waiting list as there was so little turn around on it.

“We are highly visual on the river. A lot of people with an interest in boating who work in London or people with connections to coastal stations who have had to come to London for work, apply for positions with us.

For some people the danger might be part of the attraction. For others it’s just part of the job. For Chalky the main attraction it is getting to go out there when the bell goes and saving someone’s life. “To have a job where you get a reward like that is pretty amazing.”

Like every job it has its drawbacks and his commitment to the RNLI has seen him drop everything, including commitments to his wife Nat and son Oscar, when his pager goes off.

“I’ve left my family in the middle of all sorts of dinners, functions,

once even in the middle of the supermarket….but its part of what we do. It might grate a little, test their patience, but to do something like this, especially if you’re a volunteer, you need that family support.

“It’s a major commitment to the station and people need to be aware of that when applying. Its hard being away from home, for you as well as for them, but you need to know what you’re getting yourself in for when you join the service.”

It’s a hard life but it’s the only life for some. As Chalky says

“There are days when I’ve been at sea and I’ve thought ‘what am I

doing here’. But then you always go back for more because you know what you’re doing there. And so the pager goes off and you head off again.”