Brothers benefit from €2.8m RNLI training financing

14/08/2019

Two brothers are among Irish RNLI crew members benefitting from a €2.8m training financing.

Among essential lifesaving skills learned by Oisin and Nathan Cassidy, from Kinlough in County Leitrim, was how to correctly fire flares.
The Crew Emergency Procedures course at the RNLI’s Poole, UK, headquarters was financed by Lloyd’s Register Foundation.
The charitable foundation has committed to funding the RNLI’s Crew Emergency Procedures course for a second five-year period until December 2020. This additional funding of €1,208,400 brings their total support for RNLI crew training to around €2,804,400 since 2008.
More and more leading maritime training establishments and rescue bodies, including the RNLI, are using WesCom Signal and Rescue’s product safety animations in their training.
The brothers, from Bundoran RNLI, were inspired to become crew members to follow in the footsteps of their dad James who has been a helm there for 18 years.
The course includes how to deal with fires aboard lifeboats, how to ‘abandon ship’ in the event of an emergency with a four metre jump into water, team survival swimming, coping in a life-raft in simulated darkness, how to right a capsized inshore lifeboat, and the importance of lifejackets. It also includes sessions on the correct use of flares, fire extinguishers and throw bags.
Nathan says, “Since an early age we’ve been around the lifeboat station with Dad and have seen the great work that he and all the other volunteers do week in, week out. We are both very proud to be part of crew at Bundoran RNLI and look forward to help save lives at sea in the Bundoran and Donegal Bay area.”

Nathan and Oisin’s training took place in the Sea Survival Centre at the RNLI College, where they were joined by other RNLI volunteer crew members from around Ireland and the UK.
The training was funded by Lloyd’s Register Foundation, a charitable foundation that helps to protect life and property by supporting engineering-related education, public engagement and the application of research.
More than 3,000 RNLI volunteer crew members have now received the training thanks to Lloyd’s Register Foundation’s funding.
James Kilburn, Lifesaving Delivery Training Manager at the RNLI says ‘We are so grateful to Lloyd’s Register Foundation for funding this vital part of our volunteer crews’ training.
“Their support is very important to us and it’s fantastic how, so far, over 3,000 of our crew members have benefitted from Lloyd’s Register Foundation funding this part of their training.
“As only one in ten of our volunteer crew members comes from a professional maritime background, the Crew Emergency Procedures course is crucial in giving our volunteers the training they need and helping keep them as safe as possible while carrying out rescues. It gives volunteers the confidence to save lives even in the most challenging conditions.”
The image of Oisin and Nathan Cassidy is courtesy of RNLI/Shane Smyth.