South East safety boat charity helps keep Jubilee Pageant rowers shipshape -
Boaters taking part in the Diamond Jubilee Pageant on 3 June will be under the watchful eye of safety boat charity Northern Exposure Rescue. The charity is calling on its own volunteers and those from the Royal Air Force Sailing Association, Marine-Rescue.co.uk and the British Inflatable Boat Owners Association to make sure that participants in the pageant enjoy the spectacular celebrations in safety.
Northern Exposure Rescue is providing all the safety boats and crews to supervise the manpowered fleet of the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant. The charity’s safety fleet includes 150 volunteers who mainly come from the south east but also from as far afield as Bridlington, Cardiff and Plymouth. The volunteers will be on board 54 safety boats - mostly rigid inflatable boats (RIBs) but also a few “hard boats” to act as mother ships and will help with towing in case of any problems.
Each class of rowing boat taking part in the pageant will have its own dedicated group of Northern Exposure Rescue safety boats following alongside which will respond swiftly to any incidents such as capsizes or man overboard situations. Each of these eight groups of safety boats will be controlled by the Commodore of Northern Exposure Rescue, Chris Lowe and supported by Chris Dunn the Treasurer on board a Port of London Authority Launch.
Will Burchnall, Northern Exposure Rescue Vice Commodore, said: “We’re excited to be part of such a large national celebration and will be working hard to make sure that everyone on the water can enjoy this special day without worrying about what might happen if things go wrong. We’ve been successfully providing safety cover for the Great River Race, one of the largest events of its kind on the Thames, so we’re delighted to be helping another boating spectacular on the river.
We’ll be working alongside other organisations such as the Port of London Authority, MCA, police and RNLI, to make sure everyone enjoys an incident-free day.”
Will continues: “Preparing for an event of this scale takes a lot of hard work and we’re grateful to all our volunteers for their contribution not just on the day, but in the run up to and after the pageant.”
As a charity, Northern Exposure Rescue supports events free of charge all over the UK asking only for our expenses to be reimbursed. It has provided safety boats to powerboat races, swimming, yachting, windsurfing, dinghy sailing and even rubber duck races!! The organisation has approximately 50 members from all walks of life including builders, teachers, lawyers, civil servants, police officers and doctors.
Over the years Northern Exposure Rescue has evolved in to one of the UK’s premier safety boat providers operating across the UK. With a combination of club boats and members’ own boats, the charity can cover nearly every event organisers needs, be it photography, safety cover or event management.
Notes to editors
• Northern Exposure Rescue the charity was formally created in 2008 with the expressed intentions of helping to support events by providing equipment and skilled volunteers free of charge to reduce event costs, which in turn would reduce the barriers of participation in water sports.
• Northern Exposure Rescue also wanted to provide training to volunteers to develop, encourage and retain their interest and participation in water sports.
Media contacts
For more information about Northern Exposure Rescue and its involvement in the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant, please contact:
Will Burchnall,
Vice Commodore
Email:
will@northernexposurerescue.org.uk
Web:
Northern Exposure Rescue
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