The crew due to move into Wandsworth Riverside’s new lifeboat station has answered its 200th shout of the year, the RNLI’s word for an emergency call-out.
The move itself is still waiting on a firm date. The station’s systems are being tested and its lifeboat is undergoing trials at the jetty, and new signage went up on the building earlier this month, drawing attention from walkers, joggers and cyclists on the riverside path, the RNLI says. It now expects the green light to move crews in before the end of September – somewhat later than what we reported in July.
The station also has its own volunteer team to build. Nine roles were posted in July. Two are based at the station itself, showing visitors round and passing on water safety advice. The other seven build an entirely new Wandsworth Riverside Fundraising Group from scratch: a chairperson, a vice-chairperson, a secretary, a collection-box secretary, an events organiser and two fundraisers.
Applications for all nine roles have already closed. The RNLI says it received many applications; interviews and enrolment are now expected in October, once the move itself has settled in.
Chiswick lifeboat station, soon to become Wandsworth Riverside, is the second-busiest in the UK and Ireland. The Thames service exists because of the Marchioness disaster of 1989, in which 51 people died. The crew has been on duty since January 2002, and has now attended more than 5,000 incidents and rescued more than 2,500 people. The RNLI relies entirely on public donations.
Readers curious to see inside before the move is finished already have one date to put in the diary: a free behind-the-scenes look on Wednesday 7 October, in two sessions, bookable through rnli.org.
The station first won planning approval two years ago, when construction was expected to be completed that year.
