Exmouth RNLI to appear on Great British Railway Journeys
Exmouth RNLI will feature on the BBC Two programme Great British Railway Journeys on Friday 1st February at 6.30pm.
Television crew and presenter Michael Portillo joined the charity’s volunteers for filming on what turned out to be an extraordinary day for the Exmouth RNLI volunteer crew last summer.
South West RNLI Public Relations Manager, Tamsin Thomas was co-ordinating the project on the 26 May: "A hot, sunny day in Exmouth kept the RNLI lifeboat volunteers in the town busy. In a space of four hours the crew of the D class inshore lifeboat attended to ten incidents. The emergencies alone illustrate the commitment of the station’s volunteers.
"As the crew volunteers onboard the Mersey class all-weather lifeboat Margaret Jean launched on exercise as part of the BBC filming, the inshore lifeboat crew started out on what was to be an extraordinarily busy four hours. At 11.49am they retrieved a windsurfer, diverting on route to check on a kayaker who they discovered wasn’t in trouble. Then at 12.38pm they headed back out to sea to a kite surfer who was brought ashore cold and exhausted but otherwise unhurt.
"One minute after arriving back at the beach, the RNLI volunteers were off again to another kite surfer who was suffering from a head injury having been hit by his board and who it turned out, had been in the water for 20 minutes. The crew brought him back to the station where he was met by local coastguard representatives and treated by a paramedic. Several more kite surfers and wind surfers were then rescued, caught out by the prevailing conditions.
"It was humbling to watch the RNLI volunteers cope with both the filming and the emergency call outs. They simply dealt with it all in a thoroughly professional way and I look forward to seeing the result of the filming when the programme airs on 1st February."
Assistant Producer of Great British Railway Journeys, Rebecca Hevingham, said: "Exmouth is part of the London Paddington to Newton Abbot Journey, which airs from Monday 28th January. Exmouth was towards the end of that journey, so that would mean it would go out on Friday 1st February at 6.30pm on BBC2."
