Hoylake News, Views and much more!
Ian Davies, Hoylake RNLI writes:
As you may have noticed, at the Lifeboat station we are flying our RNLI flag at half mast to show respect to the passing of Mr JM Brumfitt who was a crew member from 1965 for at least 5 years. This symbol of respect is a tradition at Hoylake RNLI Lifeboat station where the flag is flown from the passing away until the funeral of past and present crew members.
Hoylake RNLI crew, (left to right) Geoff Ormrod, Dave Dodd, Dave Whiteley, Steve Armitage.
As reported by John Curry, Lifeboat Operations Manager in the RNLI press centre.
Hoylake RNLI Lifeboat Station is delighted to announce that four of the crew have been awarded a bar to their twenty year long-service badges.
The RNLI has for some time been thinking of recognising service beyond the original twenty year service badge, and in the last week has announced the names of the serving crew, who in some cases have doubled this service time in the interest of saving lives at sea.
At Hoylake, four serving crew members qualify for the bars. Two long serving members: David Dodd MBE and Geoff Ormrod qualify for the forty year bar. Both men have served with distinction as Coxswain of the Hoylake Lifeboat.
At present, David holds the position of Head Launcher and Geoff is Shore Crew. Both men have served well in excess of forty years.
Two other serving members of the crew: Deputy Second Coxswain Steve Armitage, and last but certainly not least, is the present Coxswain of the Hoylake Lifeboat David Whiteley.
Both these men have been awarded the thirty year bar, and again both have served well in excess of this time.
The Hoylake RNLI Lifeboat Station is very proud of its history of saving lives at sea, and all four men are no exception. Despite the hardships experienced on occasions, and the ever present danger of being at sea in heavy weather conditions in a small, but extremely seaworthy craft, none would have had their life any other way.
They are all dedicated lifeboat men and, despite the hardships, have found their roles of lifeboat crewmen to be both rewarding and not without times of great pleasure and fun within the camaraderie of the Lifeboat Service at Hoylake, which to a man they have been proud to serve.
Many thanks to Ian Davies for some Hoylake RNLI news:
Yesterday afternoon there was small ceremony of wreath laying to mark the 201 years since the 1810 Hoylake Lifeboat Disaster.Pictured in front of the memorial outside Hoylake Lifeboat station are (l-r) David Dodd MBE former Coxswain and now Head Launcher, Geoff Ormrod former Coxswain and now Divisional Assessor, Howie Owens Lifeboat Crewman, Andy Dodd 2nd Coxswain and station Mechanic and holding the wreath is John Curry Lifeboat Operations Manager.
The Lifeboat was “out on a shout” on Tuesday 20th December 18:25Hrs to assist one of the pilot vessels Petrel as she had lost an engine and was taking on water.
Tug O War on Boxing day at 12:00 noon the score so far is 17 wins to the Sailing Club and 16 to the Lifeboat so you can expect it to be a bit lively as the Lifeboat Crew make every effort to bring the scores equal.
Hoylake RNLI will be one of the first lifeboat stations in the country to receive an innovative new class of RNLI lifeboat, the Shannon.
The £1.5m Shannon (example pictured) will replace Hoylake’s Mersey class lifeboat, the Lady of Hilbre, when it comes to the end of her service in three years. The new lifeboat will be partly funded by the proceeds of a major appeal run by the charity between 2007 and 2009 which also helped pay for Hoylake’s new RNLI lifeboat station.
John Curry, Hoylake RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager, said: “Everyone at Hoylake lifeboat station is delighted and extremely honoured that we are to receive one of the first of the new Shannon class of lifeboats. Some of the crew saw the prototype of the vessel in action and were impressed by her capabilities so we are sure the Shannon will enhance our ability to save lives.”
‘We are fortunate to have a marvellous new lifeboat station here at Hoylake and the arrival of the Shannon will make the building complete. People in this area were extremely generous when we appealed for their support to raise funds for our new station and lifeboat and so we are very much looking forward to demonstrating what the appeal has helped provide for the Wirral coast.”
The Shannon has been designed in-house by RNLI naval architects who have harnessed cutting-edge technology to ensure the new lifeboat meets the demands of a 21st century rescue service and to allow the charity’s volunteer crew to do their lifesaving work as safely as possible in all weather conditions.
The new lifeboat features twin water jets instead of conventional propellers, allowing her to operate in shallow waters and be highly maneuverable, giving the crew greater control when alongside other craft and when in confined waters. The water jets also reduce the risk of damage to the lifeboat during launch and recovery, or when intentionally beached. She will be the first RNLI all-weather lifeboat to run on water jets instead of propellers.
The Shannon’s seats are designed to protect the crew members spines as much as possible from the forces of the sea in rough weather. Additionally the Shannon incorporates SIMS (System and Information Management System) which allows the crew to monitor the lifeboat from the safety of their seats, again reducing the likelihood of injury to the volunteer crew members during search and rescue operations.
With a top speed of 25 knots, the Shannon is faster than her predecessor the Mersey, which has a top speed of 17 knots. The introduction of the Shannon will be the first step in enabling the RNLI to fulfil its commitment to ensure that all its operational all-weather lifeboats have a top speed of 25 knots – a crucial factor when lives are at risk.
The Shannon can be launched and recovered from beaches independent of slipways and harbours and a new RNLI tractor and carriage is also being developed to accompany the Shannon. Like all RNLI all-weather lifeboats, the Shannon is self-righting and will return to an upright position in the event of a capsize during extreme weather or sea conditions.
The new class of lifeboat will undergo full sea trials later this year, with the first operational Shannon class lifeboats going on station in 2013.
Hoylake RNLI attended a shout over the weekend. Crew member Ian Davies reports:
The crew of Hoylake lifeboat were paged at 04:02Hrs Saturday 2nd April to a vessel that had run aground on Taylors bank which is about 10 nautical miles north of the Lifeboat station. The vessel the Georg Lou-N which is a scallop fishing trawler had 7 people on board one of which the mate was Scottish the rest were Latvian, the 25 metre 120 ton vessel had suffered gearbox failure that had caused it to drift in the Queens channel by channel marker buoy Q12 on its passage out of the river Mersey. You can see from the pictures that she had deployed her port beam to counter balance her list, after getting a line onto her, she was towed to Langton lock with New Brighton Lifeboat assisting as a support vessel. Once at Langton Lock a sister trawler was able to assist with her berthing, Hoylake lifeboat returned to station at 14:00Hrs.
The Hoylake RNLI lifeboat The Lady of Hilbre returned to the station on Thursday after a refit and was back in action just a day later. Crew member Ian Davies reports:
A 34ft Yacht on passage from Douglas in the Isle of Man to Liverpool with 3 persons on board, became disabled after its steering gear failed, Liverpool Coastguard tasked RNLI Hoylake and New Brighton Lifeboats to the casualty which was drifting in the Crosby Channel approach to the port of Liverpool.
New Brighton Lifeboat was first on scene and put a crew member aboard and then took the vessel in tow as the casualty was in the middle of the River and there was a significant amount of traffic in and out of the River Mersey at this time.
The weather was West North West 6 – 7, and after the tow line parted, Hoylake Lifeboat “Lady of Hilbre” under the command of Coxswain Dave Whiteley made fast their tow rope with the assistance of the member of the New Brighton crew and towed the casualty to the safety of Liverpool Marina.
With the Yacht safe, RNLI Hoylake Lifeboat returned to station at 0110 12/06/2010, RNLI New Brighton Lifeboat was tasked to another incident further up the River Mersey.
Ian Davies (Hoylake RNLI) sends in news of a final refit for The Lady Of Hilbre and a hoax call.
On 31/01/2010 as Hoylake Lifeboat The Lady of Hilbre was launched to undertake a passage to Holyhead for a refit, her replacement also a Mersey class RNLI Lifeboat Royal Shipwright was just entering Hoylake Lifeboats patch, with the transfer of call sign and equipment completed, Royal Shipwright now assumed the guise of Hoylake Lifeboat and continued on her way to Hoylake Lifeboat Station.
As the recovery procedure was just beginning, Rhyl RNLI Lifeboat reported hearing the spoken words Mayday and Quebec One, Rhyl Lifeboat was tasked to the River Dee along with West Kirby inshore Lifeboat. Hoylake and New Brighton RNLI Lifeboats were tasked to Quebec 1 which is a navigational buoy at the entrance to the River Mersey where both rescue craft were designated search patterns by Liverpool Coastguard who were coordinating the search.
After searching for 3 hours with nothing being found or heard again it was decided to stand the four RNLI lifeboats down and assume that this call was a hoax.
Royal Shipwright is expected to be stationed at Hoylake for the next 3 months while the 19 year old The Lady Of Hilbre has her last refit of her operational life and then completes sea trials before returning to station as Hoylake Lifeboat.
It has been announced that an inaugural Service of Remembrance is to be held at Hoylake Lifeboat Station on Tuesday 22nd December 2009 at 11.00a.m (all are welcome to attend).
The Service is to be led by The Rev’d Martin Flowerdew Vicar of Hoylake and Lifeboat Chaplain. Music to be provided by Port Sunlight Lyceum Brass. The Hoylake Lifeboat and West Kirby Inshore Lifeboat are expected to be on show and Refreshments are available in the Boathouse after the service.
This service will commemorate the bravery of 8 men who perished on the 22nd December 1810 whilst going to the aid of the people on board the ship Traveller which had been driven on shore in the Mersey.
Whilst the rescue and subsequent loss of life had been local knowledge passed through the generations, it is only through research carried out in 2004 that the details of the event and the names of those who died have been verified. The dead men, all local to Hoylake, or Hoose as it was then known, were John Bird aged 40 years, his sons Henry Bird aged 18 years and John Bird aged 16 years, and nephew Henry Bird aged 18 years. In addition Joseph Hughes aged 38 years, his brother Richard Hughes aged 36 years and Richard’s son Thomas Hughes aged 16 years also died. It has not been possible to verify the identity of the 8th man who drowned.
The Service of Remembrance which will also the mark the official opening of the Hoylake 1810 Memorial Fund, which has been set up with the purpose of providing funds for the installation of a permanent bronze memorial to these men who so bravely gave their lives in order to save others. The memorial is to be sited outside the new Hoylake Lifeboat Station on a plinth which is already in situ and it is planned that this will be installed prior to a further dedication ceremony to be held in December 2010, on the 200th anniversary of the event. Any donations to this fund would be much appreciated.
Cheques should be made payable to “Hoylake 1810 Memorial Fund” and should be sent to one of the two trustees of the account, Mr. John Curry, 15 Devonshire Road, West Kirby, Wirral CH48 7HR.
Ian Davies, a crew member at Hoylake RNLI and a regular contributor here at HoylakeJunction.com has been in touch to let us all know about a memorial service taking place this week that has links to Hoylake.
(Ellan Vannin is Manx for Isle of Man)
Ian says:
[there is] a memorial service taking place this Thursday (3rd December) to remember all those who lost their lives on the SS Ellan Vannin disaster in 1909 (more news here).
The connection to us at Hoylake Lifeboat is that we attended the disaster in the NNW hurricane and we actually have a picture of the lifeboat returning in full sail from that unsuccessful service 100 years ago on show as part of our history in pictures. The Ellan Vannin sank in the area roughly looking between the last two turbines (east or right looking from Hoylake promenade) of the Burbo Bank wind farm at the entrance to the Queens channel. The ferry service departs Liverpool landing stage @ 10:00HRS on Thursday.
I happened to be driving along the prom yesterday lunchtime when I spotted the Lady Of Hilbre lifeboat sat in the sand. But she wasn’t beached …it looked like the crew were testing out a launch and recovery rig/trailer type thing (excuse my poor nautical knowledge).
Somewhat larger than the other boat that’s still sat in the sand a bit further along the beach.
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