Page 121 - Country Homes & Interiors (August 2019)
P. 121
loca l Her o
From Far leFt
Gemma takes a
well-earned break
during an intensive
training exercise.
Gemma and crew
leave Aberystwyth
harbour on a rescue
call out. BELOW The
RNLI’s Flood Rescue
Team, made up of
volunteers from
across the country
and all walks of life
❝Saving people’s lives
with the RNLI is
hugely rewarding ❝
Sailing has long been Gemma Gill’s passion,
but it’s her years spent volunteering with the
RNLI that gives her true satisfaction
Sailing has always been in my nationalities. We are like the largest today, I operate boats in rivers,
blood. i was born in the seaside family in the Uk, working closely encountering hazards from cars
town of north berwick, scotland. together and relying on each other. to lamp posts, bins to barbed wire,
My parents were keen sailors and, there is a huge bond of trust and even the odd dead sheep. it’s
when i was a baby, they’d pop me between volunteers. part of my work for the rnli’s flood
safely in a basket on their boat, the moment the pager beeps is rescue team, which i was asked to
before heading out to sea. i loved always an adrenaline rush. friends join in 2015. our role is to help carry
the feeling of wind in my face and and colleagues soon got used to out search and rescue operations in
being out in the fresh air. aged 16, me disappearing erratically during the Uk, wherever severe flooding
i crewed on the tall ships and have meetings and meals out. i’ve puts lives at risk. People are normally
fantastic memories of sailing around attended many memorable, often frightened and upset about leaving
the Uk and europe. dangerous, calls. two of those their homes and belongings,
I can be helming a lifeboat with featured on Saving Lives at Sea – particularly cherished family
a helicopter hovering overhead a bbc series about rnli rescues. photographs. however, with water
while a casualty is pulled to safety one very dark, stormy night in levels rising, it’s our job to evacuate
in choppy seas. i joined the royal 2009, I arrived at aberystwyth the occupants safely and swiftly. a
national lifeboat institution when lifeboat station to hear terrible couple of call-outs have occurred
i went to aberystwyth University, as screaming. it turned out that a during the festive season and to
i’d always been passionate about man had been washed off the see christmas trees floating
FeatUre Janet McMeekin PHotoGraPHS eleri roberts,
the charity’s work. i discovered the harbour wall, where huge waves in people’s murky, waterlogged
training was exceptional. after were breaking. the sea was really living rooms is heartbreaking.
qualifying as a crew member, i learnt rough and, before the lifeboat went last year, I became one of only
to helm the lifeboat and, later, drive out, we were briefed about what to 14 full-time lifeboat trainers in
the lifeboat tractor. after graduating, do if the vessel capsized. thankfully, the country. i'm based at the rnli
i stayed in aberystwyth for 18 years, minutes later, the police informed us headquarters in Poole, Dorset, and
my role involves training lifeboat
that the man had been washed up
juggling my rnli duties with jobs in
Phil griffith, Mark barker I love the diversity of the rNlI. It’s very special to meet those who to support the new generation
teaching and social services.
crew volunteers. i find it a privilege
inside the harbour and was alive.
coming through. it’s like no other
Volunteers come from all walks of
wouldn’t have survived if we
hadn’t rescued them. i find it so
job in the world.
life, including mechanics, farmers,
accountants and paramedics. they
humbling when they shake my hand,
Feeling inspired to become a volunteer
or introduce me to their children.
are all different genders and
for the rNlI? Visit rnli.org/volunteer
coUntry hoMes & interiors 121
