Portaferry lifeboat station honoured

Portaferry lifeboat station honoured

1 January 2013

CREW members and shore helpers of the Portaferry RNLI Lifeboat Station have been awarded Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medals for their many years of lifesaving work. 

The medals were presented by her Majesty’s Lieutenant for County Down, Mr. David Lindsay, at a function held in the lifeboat station at Portaferry on Saturday.

Receiving the medals were Brian Bailie, Sinead Breen, Jonathan Brownlee, Colin Conway, Graeme Ellison, Colin Hagan, Jackie Harrison, Leonard Lawson, John Murray, Marko Petric, Jeremy Rogers and Simon Rogers.   

Mr. Lindsay thanked the recipients for their many years of lifesaving work and said the medals were well deserved.

Brian Bailie, the Lifeboat Operations Manager of Portaferry Lifeboat, said: “The presentation of these Diamond Jubilee medals is an acknowledgement of the dedication of our volunteer lifeboat crew members and shore helpers to the saving of lives at sea.

“Weekly training is an essential part of their lifesaving work and these awards recognise their commitment to spending many hours afloat or ashore on such exercises each year. It also serves as a recognition of the tremendous support given to our volunteers by their families, friends and employers.

“Since Portaferry Lifeboat Station was established in 1980 our volunteer lifeboat crew have saved many lives and brought a multitude of others to safety ashore. This presentations are just one celebration of the lifesaving work by volunteer RNLI lifeboat crews throughout the UK and Ireland.

Portaferry RNLI Lifeboat Station is a Blue Peter lifeboat station and is the home of ‘Blue Peter V’, an Atlantic 85 inshore lifeboat.

Since 1958, four fund-raising appeals by children, through the BBC Blue Peter television programme, have raised monies to fund 28 lifeboats at several lifeboat stations around the UK.

Portaferry is the only Blue Peter station in Ireland. Blue Peter V is the third lifeboat to be presented to the station by BBC Blue Peter since December 1986.