Lough Neagh Rescue celebrate 25 years of life saving

08 Nov Lough Neagh Rescue celebrate 25 years of life saving

On Saturday the 8th of November Tom and Gary were very privileged to attend the Gala Ball organised by Lough Neagh Rescue to celebrate 25 yaers of life saving on Lough Neagh. The charity was founded back in 1989 after the tragic drowning of David Gray a young local man who lost his life after his boat got into difficulty whilst on passage home from Ballyronan Marina on the night of the 4th of July.

As active RNLI crew it was awe inspiring for the Redbay team to see first hand the level of passion and committment shown by what is a private rescue organisation.

It was a particularly poignant evening for the Redbay attendees  because in Januray of this year Redbay Boats won the tender  to supply the organisation with its latest life boat, a Stormforce 5.1. The new boat the ‘Martin Kidd’ was built and delivered by Team Redbay with a particular sense of pride. Martin Kidd was a  friend and an avid supporter of Team Redbay, he operated  a Stormforce 6.1 as part of his Powerboat Training School, unfortunately Martin passed away far too young in 2012 after a short illness but it was always his dream that LNR would run a Redbay Stormforce. The latest boat is based on the RNLI D class with state of the art nav gear and self righting capabilities it will carry a crew of four and will be based at the organisations new Antrim Bay station.

[see separte news article September 2014 [‘ the Martin Kidd’]

Team Redbay had a wonderful evening at the Gala ball in the Tulyglass Hotel and left that evening inspired by an organisation that selflessly services the whole Lough Neagh community.

Keep up the good work.

For more information on the charity visit www.loughneaghrescue.co.uk