The Teddington Royal National Lifeboat Station is one of the country’s busiest, with its thirty-plus voluntary crew protecting the people of Richmond through to Hampton.
This year marks the Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s (RNLI) 200th anniversary of saving lives, with recent RNLI data revealing that its lifeboat crews and lifeguards saved 355 lives last year, amounting to almost one life a day.
Opening on New Year’s Eve 2001, the Teddington station, alongside three others along the Thames, was set up following the 1989 Marchioness disaster in which two vessels collided on the Thames, resulting in 51 deaths.
The station has since grown in prominence, with, in May 2021, the crew hosting and caring for a one-tonne minke whale which became stranded in Teddington Lock though later did not survive.
Alongside being fully trained, the crew are required to live or work within three minutes of the station and respond to a pager 24/7, 365 days a year.
They are also supported by land-based volunteers that work within the local community, including their education team that visits local schools and scout groups, a fundraising team and a water safety team.
Find out more about Teddington RNLI’s work in the video below.
Featured Image Credit: RNLI Teddington
