Redcar RNLI stalwart Dave Cammish steps down after three decades of service

Operations manager Dave Cammish has retired after 32 years, and he's thankful not one crew member has been lost during that time

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Dave Cammish

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Redcar RNLI’S man at the top has retired after 32 years of sterling service.

Lifeboat operations manager Dave Cammish enrolled as a crew member in 1982 and has carried out various roles since.

During that time, in nearly 1,200 launches, at least 240 people have owed their lives to the efforts of Redcar's volunteer crews and nearly 800 people have been helped during rescues. But there’s another statistic Dave is thankful for.

He explained: “I think what’s pleased me most during my time as lifeboat operations manager is that, on every occasion the lifeboats have been called, the volunteer crews have returned home safely.”

Scarborough-born Dave, having moved to Redcar in 1968, was initially kept busy by his job as a policeman and as a Cleveland Search and Rescue volunteer member. But with salt water in his veins, he enrolled as a crew member at Redcar in 1982 and served on the station’s lifeboats until 1996. He then became one of the RNLI’s deputy launching authorities, responsible for liaising with the coastguards when the lifeboats are tasked to an incident.

In 2007, he became lifeboat operations manager at Redcar and served in that position until his retirement. In 2011, he was presented with an RNLI gold award by the charity’s president, the Duke of Kent.

Dad-of-three Dave, who recently attended a Buckingham Palace garden party with wife Liz in recognition of his RNLI service, said: “Like a lot of lifeboat volunteers, I’ve grown up round the RNLI, in my old home town of Scarborough, then Filey, and then Redcar.

“After all this time, it’s hard to stand down, but retirement comes to us all. I wish all the crew at Redcar the very best for the future. I’ll be calling in occasionally for a pot of tea. It’s going to be very strange, not having to carry my RNLI pager with me anymore.”

His successor is Dave Cocks, who joined the RNLI in 1978 and has been a deputy launching authority since 2002.