RNLI 200 Voices

110. The Price of Charity: George Davidson

In his book, The Price of Charity, JP Gallagher calls the RNLI a unique organisation. In this 1970s recording a former Kirkcudbright coxswain explains why
What makes lifeboat volunteers leave their beds in the middle of the night to go to the aid of someone they don’t even know? Former Kirkcudbright RNLI Coxswain George Davidson gets to the root of the ethos shared by all those responsible for a lifeboat’s launch. And reminds us that this dedicated group extends way beyond the lifeboat station.
200 Voices is produced by Adventurous Audio for the RNLI   
Soundtrack composed and performed by Jon Nicholls   
The RNLI is a charity celebrating 200 years of saving lives at sea - find out more at RNLI.org/200   

109. Baptism by Hurricane: Graham Drinkwater

Holyhead volunteer Graham Drinkwater MBE on helping to save 19 lives at 19-years-old
Graham Drinkwater’s first ever lifeboat rescue takes some beating. On 2 December 1966, at just 19-years-old, the Holyhead lifeboat volunteer went to the aid of the crew aboard the stricken Nafsiporos Greek cargo ship in a raging storm and 100mph winds.
Graham shares his memories of the rescue, being on the lifeboat alongside Harold ‘Hurricane’ Harvey – and bringing the survivors ashore in time for a Christmas party at the local hotel. The rescue earned Graham a Bronze Medal for Gallantry – an award he never expected.
200 Voices is produced by Adventurous Audio for the RNLI   
Interview by RNLI’s Eleanor Driscoll   
Soundtrack composed and performed by Jon Nicholls   
The RNLI is a charity celebrating 200 years of saving lives at sea - find out more at RNLI.org/200   

108. Defying the Odds: Natasha Lambert

The sailor who overcomes cerebral palsy to raise thousands for the RNLI
Determined. Courageous. Dedicated. All words that describe Natasha – a sailor from the Isle of Wight, born with athetoid cerebral palsy – whose sailing adventures have helped raise an incredible £28K for the RNLI.
Natasha’s condition means she needs help 24 hours a day, but sailing gives her a great sense of freedom. It’s something she can make decisions about independently – and we hear why it means so much to her. Learn about the sailing school that she set up to help people with similar needs to experience the same feeling of freedom she enjoys.
200 Voices is produced by Adventurous Audio for the RNLI   
Interview by Adventurous Audio 
Soundtrack composed and performed by Jon Nicholls   
The RNLI is a charity celebrating 200 years of saving lives at sea - find out more at RNLI.org/200   

107. A Rare Breed: Dic Evans

RNLI Gold Medals don’t come along very often. Nor do men like Dic Evans, who earned two of them. Travel back to 1966 and angry Anglesey seas
In this archive recording, RNLI lifeboat volunteers recall the dramatic rescue of the crew who were on board the Greek cargo ship Nafsiporos during a violent storm on 2 December 1966. One of the lifesavers was the late Moelfre Coxswain Richard ‘Dic’ Evans, who received a Gold Medal for Gallantry for the rescue – the highest accolade awarded by the RNLI.
Also braving the hurricane conditions that day were the late Lieutenant Commander Harold Harvey (RNLI Inspector for Lifeboats for the North-West) and Moelfre crew member Captain J D Jeavons, who recalls an order to break out the rum to ‘preserve body and soul’ after the arduous rescue.
Read more about what happened on the night of the Nafsiporos rescue.
200 Voices is produced by Adventurous Audio for the RNLI   
Soundtrack composed and performed by Jon Nicholls   
The RNLI is a charity celebrating 200 years of saving lives at sea - find out more at RNLI.org/200   

106. A Beautiful Thing: Ronnie Delany

Ireland’s legendary Olympian says the RNLI really is about saving every one
In December 1956, Ronnie Delany won a gold medal in the 1500m race at the Olympics in Melbourne. Now 87, and a Vice President of the RNLI, Ronnie takes pride in how he competed for an all-Ireland country as an athlete, and in how, through his work with the RNLI, he’s supporting an all-Ireland charity.
He talks of how the RNLI is apolitical in Ireland, of extraordinary friendships he’s made, and says the charity’s commitment to saving lives at sea is ‘a beautiful thing’.
200 Voices is produced by Adventurous Audio for the RNLI   
Interview by Adventurous Audio
Soundtrack composed and performed by Jon Nicholls   
The RNLI is a charity celebrating 200 years of saving lives at sea - find out more at RNLI.org/200   

105. A Scots Gaelic Story: Michael Ian Currie

Speaking in Scots Gaelic, a Mallaig RNLI crew member reminds us that not all who need saving are in the water. Welcome to Na Garbh Chriochan (The Rough Bounds)
The train line in these parts – on Scotland’s west coast – is known as the Harry Potter line, and is considered one of the most scenic in the world. It’s where film-makers shot the Hogwarts Express scenes. The area – opposite the Isle of Skye – is a remote wilderness with a daunting landscape. Hence the name it goes by: The Rough Bounds.
Many places in this part of the world are only accessible by boat. In Scottish Gaelic, RNLI Mallaig Coxswain Michael Ian Currie recounts a call out to a lighthouse on the island of Ornsay. On this particular evening, the danger wasn’t the conditions – it was diabetes.
200 Voices is produced by Adventurous Audio for the RNLI
Interview by Adventurous Audio
Soundtrack composed and performed by Jon Nicholls
The RNLI is a charity celebrating 200 years of saving lives at sea - find out more at RNLI.org/200

104. Where I Belong: Pip Hare

There are more men that have walked on the moon than there are women who have completed the world’s toughest solo sailing race. Pip Hare is one of those women
The Vendée Globe sailing race is as much about mental strength as physical strength. It requires participants to race around the world, non-stop and alone. And Pip Hare is just the eighth woman on Earth to have completed it. In this episode, the speed-sailing record-holder reveals what it takes to get through it.
Pip may have been alone aboard her yacht, but she doesn’t underestimate the value of her team – like RNLI crews, she places complete trust in both her colleagues and her vessel. Hear Pip talk about the importance of being a role model in the world of ocean racing – something that has traditionally been male-dominated. As Pip says, the sea doesn’t care what you look like.
200 Voices is produced by Adventurous Audio for the RNLI   
Interview by the RNLI's Katie Beney
Soundtrack composed and performed by Jon Nicholls   
The RNLI is a charity celebrating 200 years of saving lives at sea - find out more at RNLI.org/200   

103. Trained and Trusted: Dagfinn Paust

Captain of the student rescue service at Atlantic College from 1971 to 1972, Dagfinn Paust recalls the teenagers who saved lives on a treacherous stretch of coast 
The old RNLI lifeboat station at the innovative Atlantic College in South Wales was run by a student crew for 50 years. Dagfinn Paust, a student at the college from 1970 to 1972, shares his memories of college life, about which he’s co-written a book with fellow ex-students Phil Green and Anne Perkins, called ‘Trained and Trusted – what teenagers can do if you let them.’
Dagfinn shares a rescue he’ll never forget, when he saved the life of a young boy cut off by the tide. It was a rescue conducted in darkness, in rough seas and when he was just 18 years old. 
200 Voices is produced by Adventurous Audio for the RNLI   
Interview by Adventurous Audio
Soundtrack composed and performed by Jon Nicholls   
The RNLI is a charity celebrating 200 years of saving lives at sea - find out more at RNLI.org/200   

102. Facing Fear: Matias Wapinski

Putting lifeboat crew through their paces in thunder, lightning, and rain – it’s all in a day’s work for RNLI Sea Survival Centre trainer Matias Wapinski
From training as a rescue swimmer in Argentina, to being a dive instructor in Iceland and a lifeguard in the UK, Matias Wapinski’s credentials are impressive.
They’re skills he puts into practice to train volunteer RNLI crew from all over the UK and Ireland, in the Sea Survival Centre at the RNLI College. He talks about the determination and commitment of the crew he meets – and about how sometimes the training pushes them to face their worst fears.
200 Voices is produced by Adventurous Audio for the RNLI   
Interview by Adventurous Audio
Soundtrack composed and performed by Jon Nicholls   
The RNLI is a charity celebrating 200 years of saving lives at sea - find out more at RNLI.org/200   

101. The Old Man and the Loch: John Maclennan MBE

How do you find a lone rower who’s in a small boat? In the Outer Hebrides? At night?
During John Maclennan’s 25 years as an RNLI crew member, Stornoway volunteers saved 122 lives. He has battled hurricanes, and knows how it feels to be on a boat when it falls the height of a house. But one rescue in particular has stayed with him.
An 80-year-old man was missing after he had gone out alone in a small boat on Loch Shell. The crew had searched all night, and their hopes were fading. Then John decided to turn on the searchlight one last time…
200 Voices is produced by Adventurous Audio for the RNLI
Interview by Adventurous Audio
Soundtrack composed and performed by Jon Nicholls
The RNLI is a charity celebrating 200 years of saving lives at sea - find out more at RNLI.org/200