We’re very pleased to say that the review process that the lifeboat crew, St John Cymru, and HMCG have been working through has now been fully completed and all of Ferryside Lifeboat’s assets are available for service 24×7.
We want to massively thank our community, volunteers and friends for their patience and support and we’re incredibly proud to be able to continue serving them.
It is with sadness that we yesterday had to say goodbye to one of our longest serving crew members, Ship’s Dog, Blue.
Blue will be very much missed around the lifeboat station, even though we will now be able to eat our bacon sandwiches in safety.
Fair winds and blue sky Blue!
Ferryside Lifeboat’s new rescue hovercraft was delivered on Saturday following its initial sea trials, and has now been handed over to the crew to start training on the craft before it goes fully operational.
The craft was a little busier than expected though when, whilst it was undergoing trials, the lifeboat received a call regarding a quad bike that had sunk deep into mud on Llansteffan beach. With the tide too low to launch the main lifeboat, Keith Smallwood of Vortex Hovercraft was able to successfully ferry 4 lifeboat crew across the river and mud in the new machine to deal with the problem.
The lifeboat crewmen were then able to dig around the quad bike and then pull it free safely before the tide came in.
The hovercraft, which was the result of a grant from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, is expected to go fully live late in 2017.
Over the last week a number of Ferryside Lifeboat crew were suffering from the nerves and anxiety of taking a driving test again.
These weren’t normal car tests though, these were for the Category H class of vehicles – to allow our crew to drive our new tracked launch vehicle – the Talus
Although the Talus will primarily used to travel up and down the slipway to launch the lifeboat, as the public are allowed to use the foreshore, all drivers must hold an appropriate driving licence to comply with the law.
We had hoped it would be possible to conduct the entire test on the foreshore and the beach, however it is a strict DVSA test requirement that the crew must go onto a public road and mingle with the traffic – and so for a few days, the Talus was a familiar site on the Ferryside roads.
For most of the crew this was the first driving test in many years, so revising the highway code, obscure road signs and polishing out the few bad habits that had crept in over the years, was a priority in the weeks before.
The good news is that all passed their tests, and we now have 12 crew fully qualified to drive the vehicle.
We really appreciate the patience of the village whilst these tests took place, and we’re sorry if we caused delays and disruption to your day!
Hard to believe but that is now twenty-nine years of Garden Crawls!
Thankfully this year we were spared the heavy rain of 2016 and consequently we had a fantastic response in visitor numbers. There was a serious shortage of parking spaces within the village, so thank you very much to the committee at ‘Calon y Fferi for allowing us to use their car-parking space, a real bonus.
There seemed to be a constant stream of visitors coming into the Village Hall, buying programmes, raffle tickets and merchandise. Whilst the ladies organising the teas found themselves working in what amounted to a sauna in the kitchen area. They eventually raised a record £377 from their tea, coffee and cake sales a really fantastic effort. Thank you so much. Also thanks to Fraser who raised £124 from a merchandise stall outside his house and Mrs Field a new resident of the village who ran a Garden Sale on the day raising £100.
Live music has become such an integral part of the Garden Crawl and this year we were so lucky to have three events as part of the Crawl. Classical Music provided by Norman and Brenda at Bronteg, Jazz from ‘Silver Swing’ at Tony and Penny’s and ‘Super Hans’ at the White Lion courtesy of Sue and Dave, with Jesper providing a BBQ. In addition, Sue at the White Lion sold merchandise and ran the Raffle for us raising £368.
The event was supported by twenty-two Gardens, which again is fantastic for a village the size of Ferryside. Already I am hearing of other gardeners wanting to take part next year which is wonderful news, especially as it will be the Thirtieth Anniversary Crawl. We would be delighted to have even more if you are considering taking part. The Lifeboat crew cannot thank the Gardeners enough for their wonderful support, without you there would be no Garden Crawl and no funds for operating the service.
The ‘Scarecrow’ contest organised by Mike Bailey, again proved to be a big success, with the theme of Welsh Myths and Legends. Various Merlins appeared around the village, along with King Arthur, Rebecca and a number of incredible mythological figures from Ferryside’s past. We employed an independent judge this year and she found it difficult to pick the winning scarecrow, finally it was awarded to the School for their interpretation of Gwenllian.
Once again Alison and her expert team at Ty Elfed with their superb ‘Afternoon Teas’ were a star attraction raising around £600, along with the ever-growing Garden Railway, which Rob has put together with such expertise – including a Lifeboat, Helipad, Ski lift and Cycling Peloton et al.
New attractions at the Lifeboat Station this year were the Talus Tractor and, following successful grant applications, our new Hovercraft.
Although the Talus may seem rather large, it is a vital piece of equipment able to recover the Lifeboat from further out into the channel, plus it is equipped with a high-powered winch adding to our operational capabilities. It is fully waterproof, in fact it can be completely sealed and submerged to a depth of nine metres and then recovered at the next low tide. We expect it to give approximately twenty years of service, a great improvement on our previous agricultural tractors.
The purpose of the event is, of course, to raise funds for the continued operation of the Lifeboat (which has been involved in three search and rescue operations on one day recently). The event has raised what we believe to be the record amount of £3,270
A big thank you from the Ferryside Lifeboat Crew to all those who participated in the event.
Hope to see you at the Thirtieth Anniversary Garden Crawl.
The replacement for our launch tractor arrived this weekend - creatiing a little excitement among the crew and a flurry of activity. Take a look at the nee vehicle and watch the crew training in how to drive it safely.
Having recently been awarded a UK government grant for an inshore rescue hovercraft, we’ve been busy working with a number of hovercraft companies around the UK to find a supplier.
We’ve been through an in-depth selection process to find the company best placed to meet our very specific needs and we’re delighted to announce that Vortex Services have been chosen to provide our new craft,
We’ll be purchasing a twin-engined version of their Mistral hovercraft, modified to suite our search and rescue function.
We were massively impressed with Vortex’s performance, capability and expertise and we’re really looking forward to taking deliver of the hovercraft – which is being purpose built for our specifications and is scheduled to be ready towards the end of May.
We’d like to thank all the suppliers involved in the selection process for their time and professionalism in working with us.
We're delighted to welcome a grant from the UK Government for a new rescue hovercraft - the first of it's kind in Wales.
This new craft will complement the existing Lifeboat in use at Ferryside and will help operations in low tide conditions, potentially leading to more lives being saved.
We received a massive boost last week, by way of a generous donation.
A cheque for £2,500 was given to the Lifeboat by J and J Wilson Shops after they raised money from selling heritage products in their shops this year.
The cheque was presented by Sue Murphy, manager of the company’s Pendine branch, and Trish Middleton, the area manager for J and J Wilson, who said: “Our company chose the Ferryside Lifeboat to benefit from the proceeds of the sales of our Heritage Products range, as we recognise the important work that the Lifeboat does in the area.”
Trish Middleton and Sue Murphy from J and J Wilson Shops Ltd get on board the Ferryside Lifeboat to present the cheque.
In accepting the money on behalf of Ferryside Lifeboat, senior coxswain Anthony Rees said: “This is a tremendous donation which will greatly help us in maintaining the operation of the Lifeboat.
“We have had quite a busy year so far, with shouts both up river and out at sea. These have included a callout to a kayaker on a sandbank off Pendine in thick fog, a boat with two people caught on Cefn Sidan sands and a boat with engine failure on the Towy.”
“The conditions can be quite challenging, both for crew and equipment. The salt water, sea air and sand environment is very corrosive despite a regular maintenance schedule. Currently our launch tractor is in need of replacement and as an essential part of operating the Lifeboat, is our main priority.
“As an Independent Lifeboat, we are totally reliant on our own fundraising and generous donations from the public and organisations such as J and J Wilson.
“This money will go a long way in purchasing a much needed replacement tractor. We would like to express our huge thanks to them for their support and generosity which will certainly make a difference for us.”
National Coastwatch Worm’s Head has posted some photos of Ferryside Lifeboat on a training exercise on the River Towy.
The training took place on the Towy at high tide by Carmarthen bridge. The exercise simulated a casualty in the water who’d let off a distress flare.
The boat quickly came alongside and recovered the casualty safely – to the relief of the crew member who had ‘volunteered’ to jump in the rather cold water!