A 48-year-old volunteer has recorded his first service alongside lifeboat crews after reports of a two metre inflatable dinghy drifting off Felixstowe Pier.

Ian Hampton was one of the Harwich RNLI volunteers whose pagers sounded last Thursday at around 2.49pm for the first shout in 2022.

Arriving on scene aboard Harwich’s Atlantic 85 inshore lifeboat Tierney, Harvey, and Sonny Reid, Ian experienced the baptism of fire after joining Harwich RNLI last year.

He and his fellow volunteers found that the small two metre dinghy had already been brought ashore by a member of the public having blown close to the shore.

After discussions with the UK Coastguard, it was decided no further action was required by the lifeboat crew as it was thought the dinghy was most likely lost locally in recent strong winds.

The lifeboat and its volunteer crew returned to station and were prepared for their next service by 4.10pm.

Reflecting on his first service, Ian said:"While it was a relatively straight forward service, it was good to get my first one under my belt, the sea conditions made it a bit more exciting than my usual pastimes of golf and cycling.

"Living in Harwich and working as a Stevedore team leader at the Port of Felixstowe you really can’t ever escape the sea, which is one of the main reasons I chose to volunteer.

"Learning new skills and working as a team to save lives at sea is an exciting prospect."

Peter Bull, who is lifeboat operations manager, added:"It’s good to see Ian join his fellow volunteers and get that first service completed, hopefully all his hard work in training made it a less daunting experience.

"Our ability to answer a call for assistance is only possible due the generosity of our community and the hard work of the fundraising team, which makes the cancellation of January’s Coffee Mornings a hard decision to make, but with the rising cases of Covid it is a decision the fundraising team have had to make. We hope to start holding them again as soon as possible."

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