VOLUNTEERS for Lyme Regis RNLI have been awarded and recognised for their work and dedication.

Members of the crew, along with their families and friends, came together for the annual presentation and party at the Harbour Inn.

Four crew members, who have volunteered for a total of 90 years, were presented with awards.

These were Andre Rice, who has been a crew member for 30 years, Lance Taylor, Tim Edwards and Brian Street, who have all been at the station for 20 years each.

The award for crew member of the year, as voted for by the crew, went to senior helm Tim Edwards.

Other awards included the ‘Bent Propeller Trophy’, which was won by Mark Colley, and the ‘Man Overboard’ was awarded to John Rickard.

A special award went to three members of the crew who were rescued by their own colleagues in August.

An onlooker thought kite surfers, Elliot Herbert, Murray Saunders and Rich Tilley, were in difficulty when the wind dropped a mile off Charmouth and alerted the coastguard.

Lifeboat operations manager, Nick Marks, told guests that 2018 had been a successful year with almost 40 ‘shouts’, around twice the total for the previous year.

More trainees had joined and the crew never once missed a launch because of shortage of volunteers.

He said: “We have a very good team and we can take pride in having done our job pretty well.”