RNLI

Today, we celebrate 200 years of saving lives at sea. Since we were founded on 4 March 1824, our lifesavers have saved over 146,000 lives – that's two lives every day on average. Whether that’s lifeboat crews launching at a moment’s notice, lifeguards patrolling our beaches, or our water safety teams sharing lifesaving skills at home and overseas, we’ve strived to save every one. We’re able to do this thanks to two constants in our 200-year history: our selfless volunteers, who give their time and commitment to save others, and the kindness of supporters like you, powering our lifesavers for 200 years and counting. Thanks to you, we can always answer the call. We’d love to hear your stories, thoughts and memories of the RNLI as we celebrate our 200th anniversary 👇 #RNLI #RNLI200 #200Years #SavingLivesAtSea #Volunteers #ThankYou #LifeboatCrew #Lifeguards

Our crew are always in training 🤓 The team at Redcar have been on an exercise over at Saltburn Pier. Over the past year there have been a few shouts to the area so it's important they're as prepared as possible for any future calls to the area. The training involved rescuing a crew member with a potential back injury - all pretend of course, but valuable practice using the PS1 stretcher. These exercises mean our volunteers are calm and confident when they have to respond to a real call to save members of the public. Our crew always do their homework and we love them for it - it saves lives! 💙

Meet the smallest boat in our fleet - the inshore rescue boat (IRB)! In emergencies, every second counts. Compact yet powerful, the IRB excels at speedy rescues, launching straight from the beach and cutting through surf at up to 26 knots. It carries 2 to 3 lifeguards and is built to handle everything from calm waters to heavy swells. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at our lifeguards in action. They undergo rigorous training to master the IRB, including fitness tests, boat handling, surf navigation, rescue techniques and teamwork with other rescue services. Do you, or someone you know, fancy learning these skills? Applications for the 2025 season open in December. Find out more 👉 https://lnkd.in/ewhKupS6 Photos by Harry C. 📸

Today is #999Day and this year we proudly celebrate 200 years of lifesaving 🙌 Watch Carl's rescue - an experienced windsurfer who found himself nearly 5km offshore when his equipment failed. Thanks to his quick and calm 999 call, RNLI Exmouth volunteers were able to reach him and take him back to the safety of the beach. Carl said, “If I didn’t have my phone, the story would have been very different.” Drop a shout out in the comments to recognise someone who works in the emergency services 💙👇 #RNLI200 #EmergencyServices #Lifesaving Emergency Services Day.

Every other minute someone in the world drowns. This International Day of Charity, we're shining a light on our work to reduce the silent epidemic that claims an estimated 235,000 lives every year; many of them children. The causes of drowning vary from place-to-place, it's therefore essential to find localised solutions and test appropriate interventions. Working with partners and global leaders in drowning prevention we seek to share our 200 years of lifesaving expertise. We do this by raising awareness, conducting research and testing community-led interventions. In Bangladesh 40 children drown every day. Cox's Bazar is a huge and popular sandy beach that had a drowning problem due to lack of swimming and rescue skills. We’ve been working with SeaSafe, a Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh (CIPRB) initiative, since 2012 to build a lifeguarding and community safety service for Cox’s Bazar - so far saving over 200 lives. School visits and swimming lessons help to give children the skills they need to further reduce the risk to life. Our Future Leaders in Lifesaving course has welcomed search and rescue (SAR) colleagues from countries including Morocco, Indonesia and Brazil. It gives organisations everything they need to plan and develop a SAR service, from risk assessments and resource planning to training and operations. People have the opportunity to knowledge share and give peer-to-peer guidance. Several years ago, we supported Tanzania Sea Rescue (TSR) through training and mentoring. TSR were later able to pass on their experience at a Future Leaders event. Tanzania has a large fishing community and people are exposed daily to hazards but few can swim. Like a lot of fishermen in Zanzibar, Ali Hamdu has been involved in serious boating accidents. 'The second time it happened only three of us survived. Nine people died' recalls Ali. Compared to farming and other labour, fishing pays a meaningful wage, forcing many to pay the ultimate price for supporting their families. We're working with The Environmental Management and Economic Development Organisation (EMEDO) at Lake Victoria, to improve water safety amongst fishers through community projects. Want to know more about our work or how you can help save every one? Click the link 👇 https://bit.ly/3X42yj7 #DrowningPrevention #InternationalDayOfCharity #PartnershipWorking #RNLI #International

Our ground-breaking collaborative research project aims to dispel the myth that ethnicity prevents people from floating. The damaging narrative that people from Black and Asian communities are less buoyant than people from white communities has led to a belief that people from these communities can't float. We’re working with the The Black Swimming Association (BSA) and University of Portsmouth with the aim to prove definitively that there is no physiological reason why people from ethnically diverse communities can't confidently float in water. The research will examine floating techniques, as well as the body composition of individuals, to understand whether biological factors contribute towards their floating ability. Danielle Obe, co-founder and Chair of the BSA, told us: ‘Water safety and aquatic activity are not just recreational pursuits; they are essential life skills that everyone should have equitable access to. It’s a myth that some groups of people are physically less able to float but it’s a myth that most definitely exists predominantly in relation to Black communities. This relationship so many of us have with water, our swimming ability (or lack of) and our bone density goes back generations.’ In England and Wales, 21% of people from African, Caribbean and Asian communities live within 1 km of waterways. But the most recent Active Lives data highlights that 96.5% of Black adults and 81.8% of Black children in England don’t participate in swimming activities regularly, nor do 95.8% of Asian adults (excluding those who identify as Chinese), or 79.4% of Asian children. In addition, data from the National Child Mortality Database shows that children of African, Caribbean and Asian heritage in England have a 3.5 times higher risk of drowning, compared to White children. ‘The real challenges are social and cultural. By uncovering these challenges, we can better understand the unique experiences, perceptions, and needs that must be addressed to not just inspire, but to empower all communities to find their own place in the water safely. It’s important to us that this study is being led by the community, for the community. It will help challenge the negative stigmas, narratives and relationships that our communities have with the water.,’ concludes Danielle. One community participant is Olympic swimmer Alice Dearing. Even Alice, a highly experienced swimmer, has discovered that she doesn’t float how she assumed. Her discovery gets to the heart of how this research can help us to reach people with our Float to Live messaging – by refining our language and campaign materials to ensure that our water safety advice is effective for all our communities. We know float advice has saved lives but we want to make sure it speaks to and for everyone. #WaterSafety #OurSwimStory #DrowningPrevention #ParternshipWorking #FindYourFloat

We're opening our archive to show you some of our favourite historic letters for World Letter Writing Day. There's something special about seeing someone's writing - you can imagine them sat at their desk putting their thoughts to paper. In the case of our founder, Sir William Hillary’s letter, you can witness the RNLI coming to life! And in Robert Peel's letter of 1824, we can read the acceptance of our first Royal Patron, His Majesty King George IV. Another of our treasures is a letter from Mary Roberts, a stewardess on board the Titanic, describing life on board the ship. She survived the disaster only to work on the HMHS Rohilla, which sank in 1914. Thankfully, Mary was one of the 144 survivors rescued by us. A number of writers and celebrities appear. Explorer Edmund Hilary writes that he feels connected to our founder and cause and would like to visit one of our lifeboat stations if invited. Enid Blyton writes in reply to us about an essay competition in 1952: ‘should you, say, want one of your true and really wonderful stories written up for children to comment on, then I’ll do it with pleasure.’ The then Poet Laurate, John Betjeman declined to write a poem for our 150th anniversary as his 'muse is wilful and reluctant.' Other famous names include Valerie Singleton, John Noakes and Peter Purves. Their typed letter celebrates the lifesaving impact of the Blue Peter inshore lifeboats - these had a celebrity all of their own! And a pun from comedian Spike Milligan allows us to see his personality coming through. These letters offer a glimpse into how our history is weaved into the nations we operate in, and into people's lives. It's a story that's still being written; we continue to receive hundreds of letters a year. #WorldLetterWritingDay #RNLI #Archives #HistoryUncovered #History #RNLI200

Our Shannon class lifeboat can reach 25 knots and handle hurricanes. But how is it made? We’re taking you behind the scenes of our All-weather Lifeboat Centre, Poole with Daniel Sharp, Production Control Manager to find out 👇 Step one and two: Composite builds, 24 weeks We create the hull and wheelhouse, using SPRINT™ composite material. It's laid into empty moulds and cooked overnight under vacuum pressure. Our boatbuilders then glue and bond bulkheads and stiffeners into place. Our boat is removed from moulds. Next, we install the lifeboat’s composite furniture. ‘That’s things like cupboards and vent boxes in the engine room,’ explains Daniel. The hull and the wheelhouse are still separate, but the team temporarily put the hull and deck joints together to make sure they’ll be a perfect fit – known as dry fitting. Next, around 1,500 fibreglass pads and fixings are accurately positioned and glued onto the surfaces of the structure so that more components, like pipework and electrical boxes, can be fitted once the boat is painted. Think flatpack furniture! Step three: Painting, 7 weeks The hull and wheelhouse are then painted inside and out. The hull bottom is painted with an abrasion-resistant ice-breaker paint to prevent hull wear during beach recoveries. Daniel explains: ‘Antifoul is added, a paint that prevents marine organisms from growing.' Step four and five: Fit outs, 24 weeks Next, the components are fitted to the hull and wheelhouse, using the fibreglass pads and fittings. All the hull cables are installed and made ready to be fitted. A collapsible mast is also fitted to the wheelhouse, and capstans and bollards are fitted on the deck. ‘A bollard is a metal pole for towing,’ says Daniel. ‘A capstan is similar but motorised – it has a winch on top.’ Then our lifeboat moves onto the final build stage. First, the wheelhouse is glued to the hull to create the hull-to-deck joint. The deck then has fendering (big rubber bumpers), stanchions (vertical poles which hold up the guardwires on the perimeter of the boat to stop people falling overboard) and cleats fitted. We install windows and add decal decorations. The wheelhouse electronic cables are also fitted, with cables going in and coming up from the hull. ‘The hull and wheelhouse are connected as a system, so it all works as one boat,’ says Daniel. Finally, the seats are installed – and the boat is powered on! Step six: Launch and trials, 7 weeks A small ceremony to celebrate our Shannon getting wet for the first time is held, and the two Scania UK Power Solutions engines are fired up! The lifeboat then begins its harbour acceptance trials and sea trials. These trials include an inclining experiment to check the stability of the boat and to ensure the boat could self-right. Finally, our lifeboat is handed over to it's new crew for approximately 50 years of lifesaving service ⭐ #Engineering #Manufacturing

"...just keep swimming..." 🎵 Thank you to everyone who supported and took part in the 24-hour Swimathon to raise money for the RNLI! With over 100 swim slots booked in our sea survival pool, there was an incredible mix of lane swimming, a water polo match, rescue board racing, and even a few mermaids making a splash 🧜♀️. Together, everyone covered an impressive 100,000m (that’s 4,000 lengths) over 24 hours. Well done, everyone! 👏

August’s roundup might just be our favourite yet 😍 We love seeing your photographic interactions with our volunteers, crew, and lifeguards in action - keep them coming! Have you got any RNLI stories from the summer? We’d love to hear them - share your experiences below 👇