Rescuers call an SOS

9:04 PM Sat 10 Jan 2009 GMT

'Rescue at hand after keel loss' .

It sounds like a real disaster, but it's just the UK's magnificent volunteer rescue organisation calling for help to keep their organisation's spinnaker flying. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution charity is aiming to raise ?1 million on its largest annual fund-raising day (RNLI SOS day) on January 30 to help provide training and equipment to its lifeboat crews.

Themed SOS, the project has so far inspired dozens of interpretations of the famed emergency call SOS (originally 'Save Our Souls')

When it sometimes seems that half the world is crying out for government help, this 185 year-old organisation is entirely voluntary and has saved countless lives in its long history, currently rescuing an average of 22 people each day. So here's how the people of the British Isles are so far trying to support their well-loved rescue organisation:

Later on the beach before sinking after keel loss - .. .

Soup or Sweet, Sponsor our Sport, Songs of Scotland, Sizzle our Sausages, Stroll or Sprint, Sample our Snacks, Saving Office Sanity, Sample our Spongecakes, Saluting our Schools, Season of Silliness, Sharing our Stories, Stepping out Style - it goes on and on....

Up on the east coast of Scotland, Tommy Yule (36), the coxswain of Arbroath lifeboat, first volunteered as part of the Arbroath crew when he was 17. He became coxswain in 2004.

Tommy commented: 'As a fisherman I recognise the importance of the lifeboat service and first volunteered after being invited along by colleagues who worked in the boatyard. Helping people out of a difficult situation and saving lives gives you a real sense of well-being.

Calling SOS - .. .

'One rescue which sticks out in my mind was when we rescued three people from a yacht in thick fog. The yacht was being pounded by the waves and breakwater.

'We were able to get the three crew off the yacht onto the inshore lifeboat, helping to save their lives. However it can also be a very difficult role. For example, last year we were asked to search for an ex member of crew, a friend and colleague, who had fallen overboard from his fishing boat. Not being able to rescue someone is very hard.'

He continued: 'The RNLI relies on public donations to be able to train and equip lifeboat crew like myself. This is why I would like to appeal to people to organise or donate at an SOS event to help someone like me continue to save lives at sea.

'I would also like to thank the local community for its ongoing support. I appreciate these are hard times and am grateful for anything you can do.'

You don't HAVE to join an event to donate, and you don't have to be in the UK - you can do it from any place and in many ways, so click here! to find out how.

To learn more about the campaign, click here.

by Brian Forsyth, Arbroath/Sail-World Cruising

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