The latest RNLI statistics

I was in Moelfre towards the end of last year, clearing my parents house before its Rosetta Stone Language sale, more of that later. I went for a final walk around the sea cliffs from their house to the harbor and town and came across this statue to Dic Evans, coxswain of the Moelfre Lifeboat. Non British readers may not know that in the UK the lifeboat service (which performs many of the same services as the Coastguard in the US) is a voluntary organisation. The latest RNLI statistics show in 2006 lifeboats launched a total of 8,377 times (the highest annual number to date) and rescued 8,015 people . The boats are paid for by public collection, and crewed by local people with deep knowledge of the sea. Often fisherman, working under conditions of extreme danger solely out of concern for others. It is rare for their heroism to be recognised in this way. They are ordinary people, living in the local community who understand that the world is not about selfishness, but about service. To give you a sense of the danger involved, this is the description of the event in 1959 which earnt Dic his first gold medal:Dic earned his first gold medal on 27th October 1959 on the reserve lifeboat Edmund and Mary Robinson. The lifeboat was on temporary duty at the station, and launched with a crew of five including one man, a helper, who had never been out on service in a lifeboat before. She put out to the MV Hindlea of Cardiff, which was in distress in a hurricane force wind gusting to 104 miles per hour Dic found the Hindlea with one anchor down, but not holding, in 48ft of water. The vessel was swinging from side to side and her engine, which was racing violently, did little to reduce the weight on the anchor chain. The chain was continually whipping clear of the water. The Hindlea was being blown towards the rocks in shallow water and the master gave orders to abandon her. Dic steered the Language Learning Software lifeboat towards the vessel from the seaward side, but as he did so a tremendous breaking sea rolled the lifeboat over on to her side, putting her mast beneath the water. She was dangerously close to the Hindlea s thrashing propeller, which was so far out of the water that it was above the heads of the crew. The coxswain succeeded in taking the lifeboat alongside the wreck ten times. On eight of these occasions one man jumped into the lifeboat at a time and all were got safely aboard.His second gold medal for the rescue of the crew of the Nafsiporous involved the lifeboat crew being at seas continuously for 35 hours.Now, that same village of Moelfre (and many other rural communities around the world) faces a different problem. Its houses are being bought as holiday cottages and local people, the same people who crew the lifeboats and provide the identity of a welsh speaking community, are unable to afford the inflated prices. One can understand, if not support the tactics of Meibion Glyndwr. Social injustice uncorrected provides fertile grounds for terrorism, and more critically the passive support of terrorism by the general population. The destruction of identity is not just a part of the so called march of progress, it also damages much of the diversity of our culture and the social connections that provide people like Dic Evans.I had planned to blog on my visit to Moelfre yesterday, but found it too difficult. St David s Day, once a celebration is now, at least for me, a day Portuguese Learning Software of reflection and sadness.