A mum and daughter duo are sacrificing their Christmas to rescue people stuck at sea.
Anna Heslop, who helms the Cullercoats RNLI inshore lifeboat, was joined at the station by her mother this year, and the pair will be on standby over the festival period should an emergency call come in.
Mum Kay Heslop is a volunteer lifeboat operations manager and says before joining the crew she has fond memories of dropping her daughter to early morning call outs.
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“One year Anna got paged around 4.40am on Christmas morning. I dropped her off at the lifeboat station and distinctly remember standing outside in the moonlight in my pyjamas,” said Kay.
“We’ll both have pagers this Christmas, so we could end up being at the station together again over the festive season. A call can come at any time and our volunteers will drop whatever they are doing, be that tucking into their Christmas dinner or opening their presents. At this time of year, the weather’s at its worst and lives are on the line.”
Kay said that the whole crew at Cullercoats feel an immense amount of pride at helping families reunite with loved ones who get into trouble at sea, but stressed the importance of the public’s help too.
“We couldn’t rescue people without kind donations from the public which fund our kit, training, and equipment needed to save others and get them home safely to their families,” she said.
Daughter Anna joined the RNLI more than a decade ago, with the Cullercoats team helping 36 people over more than 80 launches during the last five festive seasons.
“There’s no feeling quite like bringing someone home safe to their families – especially at Christmas,” Kay added.
The RNLI has launched more than 1,200 times nationally during the festive period in the last ten years, and is now asking for help to continue its lifesaving work at sea with the Christmas Appeal.
Anyone who wishes to donate to the cause can do so via the RNLI’s website.
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