< Go Back New Lifeboat Mechanic appointed at Lytham St Annes Posted: Feb 4, 2016
New Lifeboat Mechanic appointed at Lytham St
Annes Ben McGarry takes over
at the Lytham St Annes Lifeboat Station
Lytham St Annes Lifeboat Mechanic Ben McGarry (photo RNLI / Nigel Millard)
The
RNLI has appointed Ben McGarry as Station Mechanic to succeed Martin Jaggs who
has left the post to take up a new role working as Divisional Operations
Manager for the Sea Charity’s England Central Division area.
Ben,
who lives in Lytham, joined the local crew in 2011 and recently has worked
extensively for the RNLI as a relief Mechanic while still being a crew member
at Lytham St Annes when home at weekends.
The Relief Mechanic role involved travelling around various stations in
the UK
and Republic of Ireland to fill in for the local
Mechanic if they were unavailable through illness, holiday or other unforeseen
circumstances.
Ben
has also been involved with the new Shannon class lifeboat trials and
evaluation work and also with delivery passages of new lifeboats to their stations. When not carrying out those
duties he helped to maintain the relief and training fleet of lifeboats based
at RNLI Headquarters at Poole. This has
given him great experience in maintaining lifeboats and their equipment which
will be the major part of his work at Lytham St Annes although he will also be
responsible for looking after the two tractors and Land Rover and the two
boathouses.
He will become the Station’s
only full time person, necessary due to the amount of work involved and the
need to be available 24 hours a day, as the rest of the crew are all volunteers
who give up their time and expertise to save lives at sea.
Ben
becomes only the fifth person to hold this important position at the Lytham St
Annes Station since the first motor lifeboat arrived 85 years ago in 1931. He follows on from his dedicated
predecessors, Harry Evans (1931 – 1939), George Harrison (1939 – 1979), Tony
West (1979 – 1995) and Martin Jaggs (1995 – 2015) in performing this vital
role.
As
well as the Lifeboat Mechanic, Martin Jaggs was also the Lifeboat Coxswain and
this role was been filled from the 1st January 2016 by Gary Bird who
joined the Lytham St Annes crew in 2004 after 30 years on the Hoylake and West
Kirby crews.
David
Forshaw
Notes
to editors
Lytham
St Annes lifeboat station was founded in 1851 To learn more
about the station, go to:
www.rnli.org.uk/rnli_near_you/north/stations/LythamStAnnesLancashire/ RNLI media contacts For more information please contact David
Forshaw, Lytham St Annes Lifeboat Press Officer on 07904 685 206 or Peter
Whalley, Lytham St Annes Deputy Lifeboat Press Officer on 07872 026395 orAlison
Levett, RNLI Media Relations Manager, North, on 01642 750585 or 07786 668912 or
at
RNLI
online
For more information on the RNLI please visit www.rnli.org.uk .
News releases and other media resources, including RSS feeds, downloadable
photos and video, are available at the RNLI Press Centre www.rnli.org.uk/press
Key
facts about the RNLI
The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a
24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates over
230 lifeboat stations in the UK
and Ireland
and has more than 100 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK. The RNLI is
independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and
legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824 its
lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 137,000 lives.
A charity
registered in England and
Wales
(209603) and Scotland (SCO37736). Charity number CHY 2678 in the Republic of Ireland.
