Lough Swilly lifeboat volunteer crew member Francy Burns wed his sweetheart, Helen McFarland, last Saturday 8 October in a wedding attended by their family, friends and fellow Lough Swilly RNLI volunteers.
But it wasn’t all plain sailing, as after the vows were exchanged and Francy took the microphone to make his wedding speech, the lifeboat pagers went off and the volunteer lifeboat crew jumped to their feet and raced out of the room to the callout.
The incident was a reminder to Helen of what she can expect married to a lifeboat volunteer.
However, as Francy was preparing to follow his lifeboat colleagues and head out the door to the callout, the coxswain assured him they had enough crew and he could stay where he was and enjoy the day.
The callout was to a vessel with one person on board which had lost engine power and had been drifting for three hours.
Lough Swilly RNLI launched their new Shannon class lifeboat and brought the vessel to safety with the lifeboat crew returning to the wedding reception some hours later.
Well done that crew
