VOLUNTEER crew members at Cardigan RNLI lifeboat station have received special recognition as part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

Antony Barber, Derek Pusey, Gareth Owen, Hannah Pusey, Louise Francis, Mark Williams, Simon Mansfield and Stewart Towe have been presented with Jubilee medals to mark Her Majesty’s 70 years on the throne.

As a token of thanks, 4,500 RNLI volunteers and frontline staff have been awarded the special medal in recognition of the 65,886 lives the charity has saved during the Queen’s reign.

The medal has also been presented to those who serve in the emergency services, prison services and Armed Forces who have completed five years’ consecutive service.

The award to RNLI volunteers is particularly fitting as when Princess Elizabeth became Queen in 1952, she also became patron of the organisation, continuing a lifesaving legacy left by the charity’s first patron King George IV.

Meanwhile, a recruitment and training drive at Cardigan RNLI has welcomed a host of new volunteer to the lifeboat station, along with several fresh appointments.

Madeline Barber, Sarah Morgan and Andrew Thomas are now all volunteer crew members, along with Leo Barber who is also a trainee helmsman.

Emergency pagers have also been handed to James Finlayson, Sam Trevor, David ‘Ollie’ James, Lisa Kenny, Jake Reading and Sam Bailey who have all signed up to help save lives at sea.

As part of their training James, Lisa and Ollie recently attended an intensive two-day course at the RNLI’s training college at Poole.

The training at the charity’s headquarters involved emergency procedures including flares and capsize training on both the Class D inshore lifeboat and the larger Atlantic class.

Cardigan have also appointed Pete Austin as new Lifeboat Operations Manager.

He will be responsible for the management of the lifeboat station as well as volunteers to help launch and recover the lifeboats.

Two new trainee shore crew have joined in Sarah Jones and Gareth Lumsdaine.

Sam Trevor and Bruce Harris have both qualified as lifeboat launch vehicle drivers, with Bruce also a new Deputy Launch Authority alongside fellow new appointee Amanda Barber.