Rescue
I grew up on the cliffs between Hastings and Pett Level.
When I was about 13 or 14, I was kayaking off Hastings beach. Not very coordinated, I dropped the paddle. Horrified, mostly afraid I'd be in trouble for having dropped it, I reached out for it. The combination of my eccentric movement and a badly-timed wave meant I promptly fell out. In a matter of seconds, the sea took the kayak and paddle who knows where, and dragged me under Hastings Pier. I began smashing up against a barnacled piling like a rag doll. These were the days before buoyancy aids. I was just in a swimming costume.
I can still see the piling coming towards me, and feel myself trying to turn so it would hit me on the back, not the front this time, and I remember going under again as the wave sucked out.
Then, miraculously, I felt someone grabbing me under the chin to hold my head up, and I sensed her strength as a woman pulled me through some pretty chunky English Channel waves back to the beach.
I had cuts and bruises, but what I remember most vivdly, is my Mum's distress and her gratitude to this woman who'd appeared out of nowhere. The woman was an incredibly athletic off-duty lifeguard, enjoying an afternoon's relaxation on the beach.
She'd heard Mum yelling and had responded immediately.
People like this woman volunteer as lifeguards, and on the vessels of the RNLI and the Independent Rescue Boats.
When people attack them it feels personal, not that that's the point. The point is that these volunteers are the very best of us, putting their lives on the line in order to save whoever might be in peril, without discrimination.
And the reason they are being attacked sickens me to the core.
There have been campaigns of intimidation by the far-right against the volunteers of the Lifeboats listed below in the last 48 hours. These are the teams who cover that stretch of coast I know so well, and where I was completely reliant upon help.
Please consider donating if you can.
Hastings Lifeboat Station: https://fundraise.rnli.org/fundraisers/Hastings/stations
Eastbourne Lifeboat Station: https://rnli.org/.../commun.../eastbourne-fundraising-branch
Pett Level Independent Rescue Boat: https://donate.giveasyoulive.com/charity/plirb
