Hastings lifeboatman recognised for 30 years service helping to save lives

Long serving crew member of Hastings Lifeboat Glenn Barry has received a letter of thanks for 30 years of voluntary lifesaving service to the town.
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Glenn started helping at Hastings lifeboat station in 1988 after working on a school project about the RNLI. His great grandad had been involved in the service during the 1930’s, and he knew that he wanted to carry continue his family’s involvement with the RNLI.

After a time working on the beach, he moved on to being a crew member on both the inshore and all-weather lifeboats in 1991. He passed out as a qualified helmsman on the inshore lifeboat in 2007, and soon after also became a tractor driver and head launcher on the beach.

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Glenn is now one of the longest serving crew members at Hastings, and one of the most active. Last year alone he went afloat forty-eight times and spent more than 155 hours at sea.

Hastings lifeboatman Glenn Barry SUS-210703-212224001Hastings lifeboatman Glenn Barry SUS-210703-212224001
Hastings lifeboatman Glenn Barry SUS-210703-212224001

One of his most memorable rescues was in 2000, when he volunteered to help during the Lewes floods, and soon after became a member of the RNLI’s specialist Swift Water Rescue Team. One rescue off Hastings was to an upturned catamaran in heavy seas half a mile off Warrior Square. During the rescue the port bow of the inflatable inshore rescue boat burst. The lifeboat eventually made it safely back to shore but Glenn remembers that ‘thankfully I wasn’t on the helm that day!’.

In 2006 Glenn was presented with a framed Letter of Thanks from for a service call undertaken in particularly difficult conditions.

Glenn still enjoys all his roles at Hastings. He said: “I love being involved with Hastings lifeboats. It’s really good to work with such a wide variety of people, and the RNLI and is always willing to help anyone in trouble.”

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Glenn works full time work is as a window fitter. He lives close to the Lifeboat Station, and is married, with two grown up children. He is also a massive Formula 1 fan.

Lifeboat Operations Manager Andy Davey said: “We are all enormously proud of Glenn’s achievement of thirty years’ lifesaving for the RNLI. His volunteering commitment, to both the lifeboat, and the town, is in the finest traditions of the lifeboat service. We are both proud and lucky to have him as one of our crew.”

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