Always on call
It’s a busy time of year for all of us but spare a thought for Inverness postman David Ferguson who doubles up as a volunteer at Scotland’s only inshore lifeboat station.
Not only does David have to deal with his festive mailbag, he also has to be prepared for a call-out at any hour of the day or night.
To make sure he’s available, David carries a pager with him as he delivers cards and parcels to people living near Loch Ness. Along with other volunteer lifeboat crew members, he’ll continue to be on standby throughout the festive season, ready to abandon present wrapping, parties and even Christmas lunch to respond to the beep of his pager should anyone need rescuing on the water.
According to The National, since 1979, Scottish lifeboat stations have launched 414 times in the festive period, saved 51 lives and aided 216 people. At the RNLI’s lifeboat station on Loch Ness, the crew deals with 25 to 30 call outs every year and as David lives and works in close proximity, he’s one of the busiest members of the crew.
Callouts can be to tourists who have sailed into difficulty after hiring a boat to look for the mythical Loch Ness monster, or sometimes to road accidents when a car has gone off the road towards the water.
‘One that sticks in my mind was a paddle board event on the loch,’ he said. ‘It wasn’t the best conditions for it and one of the competitors fell off, his board snapped and he couldn’t recover himself. He was in a pretty bad way and heading towards hypothermia when we picked him up, but the coast guard helicopter came and took him to hospital where he recovered.
‘There’s a fair few of us on the crew, and crews across the country, whose jobs get that bit more demanding at Christmas and at the same time there’s no let-up in the likelihood of the pager going off. I’ve never heard a complaint from anyone on the crew though. No matter the time of year, this is a way of life for us and we’ll drop anything to help people in trouble on the water.’
David has been a crew member for nearly three years now and has no regrets about volunteering. ‘I generally love it as it’s so challenging and rewarding,’ he said. ‘The rewards definitely outweigh the challenges.’
To ensure the RNLI can continue its lifesaving work this Christmas and into the future, the charity is running a major fundraising appeal, The Perfect Storm, with the aim of raising £1.8m and recruiting 12,000 new supporters.
Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved more than 142,200 lives, but callouts are rising while donations, particularly legacy gifts, have dropped.
Photo by The National.
