SOS Day 2011

On 29 January a hardened team of rowers will endeavour to row an old pulling lifeboat to Hastings. The RNLI undertakes these fund raising events (SOS days) every year and this year Rye Harbour have chosen this. Please follow the link to more details and to donate to this most excellent cause - many many thanks.....http://www.justgiving.com/endurance-row

Tractor Recovery - Beware the Mud!!!

Last night we set out to practice our low water deployment and recovery for times when we are required to launch/recover in an emergency and there is not enough water in the river. This involves driving the boat down to the sea and pushing it in with the tractor until it can float off.....simple.......what can go wrong????

MUD.....MUD......GLORIOUS MUD......There's nothing quite like it for swallowing the tractor and making it stop. The pictures below show the recovery by a tracked tractor brought in to pull our tractor out after it spent a night in the oggin.

PS. I did say "don't go that way" :-)

Hog Roast: 11 September 2010 at 7pm

Rye Harbour Lifeboat Station will be hoasting a Hog Roast for their annual fundraising event. The event will be held on Saturday, 11 September 7 for 7.30pm at Rye Community Primary School.

Dress Smart Casual.

Tickets £25 each.

For more information or to book a ticket(s), please phone Steve or Richard Tollett on 01797 223631.

We hope to see you all there.

All profits raised are for the RNLI, to enable them to continue saving lives at sea.

Nighttime swimmer: missing

At 1.23am, Rye Harbour RNLI Lifeboat B-842 Hello Herbie launched on service to a person missing on Camber Sands. The alarm was raised by a friend of the suspected missing person after he told friends that he was going to attempt to swim the River Rother at the harbour entrance and had not been seen since.

Lifeboat B-842 Hello Herbie arrived on scene at 1.26pm and commenced a search of the immediate area and the shoreline. Six Lifeboat Crew members went to the beach to conduct a search of the river wall and beach on the western side of the River Rother. During the search of the western side of the River Rother, a pair of Adidas tracksuit bottoms and a pair of socks were found approximately 150 metres inland of the white light towards Rye Harbour Village.

Rye Harbour RNLI Lifeboat B-842 Hello Herbie searched from Jury's Gap, Camber to Dog's Hill, Winchelsea Beach and from the mouth of the River Rother to the lifeboat station. Due to the ebbing tide, it was not possible for Hello Herbie to go further up the river as there was not enough water. Dover Coastguard increased the lifeboat search area out to sea for one mile. During the course of this service, RNLI Lifeboat B-842 Hello Herbie covered an area of approximately 5 square miles.

The foreshore, land and dunes were searched by Dungeness and Rye Bay Coastguard Companies. At 3.55am Coastguard Helicopter 'Rescue 104' joined the search. At 4.21am Dover Coastguard updated the description of missing person; 17 year old, 6 foot male - wearing a white hooded top with black swim shorts and no shoes. At 4.30am the search was called off. The missing person was found in undergrowth behind one of the campsites in Camber Village.

At 4.35am the recovery party, left Rye Harbour RNLI Lifeboat station to go and recover Lifeboat B-842 Hello Herbie from the beach at Rye Harbour. The recovery and cleaning down of all the equipment is expected to take between two and a half to three hours.

Richard Tollett, Lifeboat Operations Manager at Rye Harbour RNLI Lifeboat Station, said: 'Whilst a lot of time, effort and money has gone into this rescue, the outcome is a happy one. This could have had disasterous consequences, resulting in a teenagers body being recovered. It is launches like this, in the middle of the night, that puts all the regular training into practice. It enables our volunteer crews to go and do extraordinary things'

Volunteers say Hello Herbie, goodbye Commander and Mrs Rodney Wells

Volunteer crew members at Rye Harbour RNLI lifeboat station have welcomed a brand new allie in helping saves lives at sea, in the form of a brand new Atlantic 85 class lifeboat.

At 6pm on Tuesday 22 June, Royal National Lifeboat B842, Hello Herbie, was placed on service at Rye Harbour RNLI lifeboat station following the successful completion of familiarisation training by the crew, after her arrival the previous day.

The Atlantic 85 class inshore lifeboat was funded by a legacy from Peggy Joan Staveley from Woodford Green, Essex, who died in January 2002. Sue Clifton from the RNLI legacy team visited Peggy in 1996 after she expressed an interest in leaving some money to the RNLI in her will.

Hello Herbie had had a busy first few days here at Rye Harbour. She was diverted from exercise at the request of Dover Coastguard on 24 June at 11.45am to go to the aid of the powerboat ‘Huraki’ who had lost power and was drifting two miles south of Pett Pools. The powerboat was towed back to the public slip at Rye Harbour.

Then, on 26 June at 7.13pm Hello Herbie launched to assist with a search for a missing child on Camber Sands. The lifeboat was stood down at 7.15pm when the child was found safe ashore.

The third service was on 3 July at 7.26pm when the lifeboat was requested to launch to the assistance of a jet ski which had collided with rocks at the entrance to Rye Harbour. When the lifeboat arrived, the vessel was high and dry on the rocks, with the casualties on the shore. Two of the volunteer crew were put ashore with the ambulance pouch to attend to two persons with lacerations to their lower legs caused by contact with the rocks.

The executor of the will, David Lidbury, from Highams Park, Essex, said: ‘Peggy and her husband Herbert - commonly known as ‘Burt’ - had no connection with Rye Harbour or the RNLI, so I was surprised when I heard in their will that they had completely funded a new lifeboat. I support the charity myself so I can only imagine she heard me talk of the RNLI throughout more than 40 years of friendship and decided to leave some money to the RNLI.’

As Hello Herbie came on service, lifeboat B727 Commander and Mrs Rodney Wells was withdrawn from service to take up her place in the RNLI relief fleet. Commander and Mrs Rodney Wells was placed on service on 17 July 1996. During her 13 years 11 months and 5 days, the Commander and Mrs Rodney Wells launched 331 times rescuing 384 people saving 27 lives. During her years of service, she saved various vessels worth a total of £1.7M.

Steve Tollett, Chairman Rye Harbour Lifeboat Management Group, said: ‘Whilst we are all really excited about the arrival of the new Atlantic 85 lifeboat, Hello Herbie we are very sad to say goodbye to a faithful friend, who has spent many hours in the company of the volunteers and supporters. On behalf of the volunteer crew and station personnel and all the casualties rescued, I would like to express a debt of gratitude to the Commander and Mrs Rodney Wells for taking care of her precious cargo.’

Station Open Day a great success

The Annual Station Open Day on Saturday 12 June 2010 was a great success; raising over £634. Rye Harbour Lifeboat B727 'Commander and Mrs Rodney Wells' and the launching tractor was on display.

Throughout the day several rescue demonstrations were carried out on the River Rother, in front of the Lifeboat Station. Dungeness RNLI Lifeboat attended the event and saw several visitors having a tour of their All Weather Lifeboat.

During the day, the Cinque Port Morris Men danced several dances even dancing with Stormy Stan the RNLI Storm Force mascot and there was music performed by the local group Black Briar. Members of the public and the sea going fraternity could get free information and have their lifejackets checked by the RNLI Sea Safety Officer who was in attendance with his Sea Safety stand.

Food and refreshments were provided by members of the fundraising team, whilst other members manned the raffle, tombola, book stall and also the souvenir shop.

Richard Tollett, RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager at Rye Harbour RNLI Lifeboat Station, said: ‘It was a really good day. There was a steady flow of people visiting the event throughout the day. This year was a great success and it was made even better by the attendance of the Cinque Port Morris Men, Black Briar, the Sea Safety Officer and Dungeness RNLI Lifeboat and her crew. During 2009 RNLI Lifeboats launched 9223 times rescuing 8235 people.’

Steve Tollett, Chairman Rye Harbour RNLI Lifeboat Management Group, said: ‘I would like to thank the Cinque Port Morris Men and Black Briar for providing free entertainment at this years event. I would also like to thank the Cinque Port Morris Men for the generous donation of £50. It is donation like this that enable the RNLI, the charity that saves lives at sea, to continue training their volunteer crews - enabling them to continue to save lives at sea. During 2009, it cost £147.7M to run the RNLI.’

Fair Weather Table Sale

There will be a fair weather table sale on Sunday 30th May on the School Green at Rye Harbour starting at 10.30am.

You just need to bring your own table and bits to sell.

£5 per table / pitch.

For more details, contact Steve on 01797 223631