Demonstration day at Burnham RNLI station (From Burnham and Highbridge Weekly News)

Demonstration day at Burnham RNLI station

7:00am Saturday 13th October 2012 in News

AROUND 50 children from Burnham RNLI’s Storm Force descended on the lifeboat station for an exciting day of demonstrations.

The young team, aged between three to 13, came from Somerset, Bristol, Avon, Glou-cester and Wiltshire to see the launch of Burnham’s two life-boats from the beach, D-Class Puffin and Atlantic 75 Staines Whitfield.

Tony Deahl, Burnham’s education visits officer, said: “The children enjoyed learning about Burnham’s sea rescue services and observed some excellent demonstrations of the skills of our crews.

“I am indebted to all those volunteers who made the experiences of these youngsters so enjoyable.”

After a thrilling demonstration of lifeboat speed and manoeuvrability, two crew members went overboard for a rescue drill.

They fired smoke flares and were ‘rescued’ by the two lifeboats.

The crews then showed how a casualty can be transferred from one boat to another at speed.

The crew of Staines Whitfield demonstrated a net recovery before both lifeboats were returned to the Lifeboat Station to allow the children a closer look.

The event also included a visit to Burnham’s Coastguard Rescue and independent BARB hovercraft stations.

The morning finished with an exciting demonstration of the versatility of the hovercraft over both land and water on Bunham’s beach.

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