Lives Saved Since 1851 578+ 3 dogs
Launches Since 1851 495

Weather for September 2002
The month began hot and sunny a welcome late summer. However the generalisation that could be given to the month was that when the wind blew off the sea it was mainly cloudy and when off the land there was more sunshine .The warm weather led to mist and fog around the 12th and it was not until the end of the month that a succession of days saw very pleasant conditions, indeed some may say unseasonable as October approached. October however was to change everything!!

Exercises.
Exercises were held on the 1st and 22nd.

Services.
There were two service calls during the month with details as follows;
Thursday September 5th, 2002
At about 18.00 hours Information was received from a resident at Church Point Caravan Park on Thursday evening that a dog appeared to be in difficulties off the rocks in that area. Volunteers at Newbiggin Lifeboat Station immediately responded and the lifeboat headed to the area to locate the animal. Once on scene the dog had managed to reach the shore and the lifeboat then returned to station. However before landing further information was received that the dog had went back into the sea and this needed further investigation. The lifeboat headed back and carried out a full search of the area but nothing was found. Humber Coastguard called off the search and the lifeboat returned to station after almost an hour at sea. The owner of the dog was not ascertained and after being brought back to the station the dog again promptly ran off and headed for the rocks. With everything washed down and ready for service I was advised that the dog was once again on the rocks and looking seaward. Other crewmembers joined me and we walked over to Church point Caravan Park to see if anything was on their CCTV records. This however drew a blank and despite my misgivings Humber Coastguard closed the incident.
Days later whilst returning home from the boathouse I was stopped my member of the public who had read the dog story in the local paper and had seen a photograph of the dog therein. It transpired it was his son's dog and the dog called 'Ben' had been missing that day for several hours. The dog was accompanied by another older dog but sadly the latter didn't return home.

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The First 150 Years - The Book.
Newbiggin Lifeboat History Book Launched. After some nine years of research the comprehensive story of Newbiggin Lifeboat over the last 150 years is launched.
Priced at £6 the book is available from the lifeboat station with postal orders costing an extra £1.50 for post and packing.(Post orders to RICHARD MARTIN, 3 WINDSOR GARDENS, NEWBIGGIN-BY-THE-SEA, NORTHUMBERLAND,NE64 6UN) Richard J Martin April 30th, 2001.

Friday September 20th, 2002
During the morning at about 10.05 hours information was received, albeit with some disbelief, that a dog was being washed out to sea in the Cambois bay area. The lifeboat was quickly launched and headed for the search area spotting the animal shortly afterwards paddling for Norway. One of the crew recognised the dog as 'Rocky', a dog rescued earlier in August, and upon calling its name the dog turned around and headed for the lifeboat for recovery. With the canine casualty safely on board the lifeboat returned him to his grateful owners on the shore. This was the Newbiggin 'Rocky 2' story but it didn't star Sylvester Stallone!!.

Visitor Groups.
During the month we have had further visitor groups to the station. They are always shown around the station, given refreshments, watch some of the old films and take a visit to the shop. These visits provide a good PR mechanism and are always well received by the group members leading very often to further visits. This month members of the World Ship Society visited us on a weekday whilst the Cullercoats History Society had a weekend visit tied in within inspection of the local heritage centre.

Richard J. Martin September 30th, 2002.

Newbiggin by the Sea R.N.L.I. Website
Special thanks should go to Richard Martin, Stan Green and former Newbiggin Branch Chairman John Robinson, for providing much of the material used in the lifeboat website.
If anyone has any additional material or stories that they think would be of interest and would like to contribute to the site please contact:-

Paul Hooper tel.01670 521289
e-mail- drumhoops@btinternet.com

Or contact can be made via:-
www.newbigginbythesea.co.uk
Newbiggin@rnli.org.uk