New lifeboat manager at Southend (From Southend Standard)
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New lifeboat manager at Southend
10:00am Monday 4th March 2013 in Echo News
John Foster, the new operations manager at Southend's lifeboat service
SOUTHEND’S lifeboat station is better equipped than ever to deal with the hectic holiday season this year, its new boss says.
John Foster, 50, of Marguerite Drive, Leigh, took over from outgoing operations manager Colin Sedgwick at the turn of the year.
Mr Foster admits taking over Mr Sedgwick, who was appointed an MBE after 54 years of service, will be a hard task.
However, he claims his job has been made easier after his crews moved to a newer boathouse at the end of the pier next to Adventure Island in December.
He said: “The new boathouse will make a big difference – it gives us immediate readiness instead of going down the pier to launch.
“In some incidents before, we’d have to battle through traffic before getting to the station to deploy our crew, but now we have a car park outside and modern facilities to keep our vessels in.
“Colin was here for more than 50 years so will be such a hard act to follow but I’m confident with my expertise and crew around me that we will continue to offer people a wonderful service.”
The crews’ move to their new boathouse has been 10 years in the making, and it has been made possible because of donations.
Southend RNLI currently has 45 crew members, all of whom are volunteers.
