FATHER and son Huw and Steffan Williams today (Wednesday January 10) took the Ceredigion Lifeboat Campaign to the London Boat Show at the ExCel Arena.

The pair walked half-dressed and barefoot to the RNLI stand at the exhibition in a symbolic protest against the RNLI’s decision to downgrade the all-weather lifeboat station at New Quay.

The pair travelled the 250 miles to the capital to raise awareness of the RNLI’s plan to remove the only all-weather lifeboat Ceredigion in 2020, creating what has been dubbed the ‘Drowning Gap’ by the Ceredigion Lifeboat Campaign.

The ‘Drowning Gap’ is the sea area in Cardigan Bay which is currently served by an all-weather lifeboat at New Quay. Under the RNLI’s current plans, when this boat is withdrawn at the end of its operational life and replaced by an inshore lifeboat, there will be a gap of 70 miles of coastline between the nearest all-weather lifeboat stations in Barmouth and Fishguard.

There has been an all-weather lifeboat in New Quay for more than 150 years but, while the RNLI are rolling out state-of-the-art Shannon class all-weather lifeboats around the coast of the UK and Ireland, New Quay will lose its all-weather lifeboat capability following the RNLI’s recent Coast Review that says the area would be best served by an Atlantic-class inshore boat.

A report published by the Ceredigion Lifeboat Campaign claims that 25 per cent of rescues carried out by New Quay’s all-weather lifeboat could not have been achieved by the inshore lifeboat that the RNLI plan to station there.

Speaking at the show, Huw, a volunteer RNLI crewman and spokesperson for the Ceredigion Lifeboat Campaign said, “The Ceredigion coast is busy with passenger boats, leisure craft, and commercial fishing activity. Boats can sink and people can get swept out to sea in seconds.

“It is well documented that hypothermia is a killer after 30 minutes and that means that every second counts. While inshore lifeboats are good at what they do, they cannot launch in severe weather, meaning a wait of up to 90 minutes for a lifeboat to arrive.

“The introduction of new, faster lifeboats was supposed to improve rescue capability but, in Ceredigion, we will see a return to response times not seen since the 1970s and 80s. This puts lives at risk unnecessarily. As lifeboat crew members, we are happy to give our time voluntarily; all we ask for is the right equipment for the job.”

Joining Huw in London was his son, Steffan. Last summer, at only eight-years-old, Steffan made headlines across the world after twice rescuing people cut off by the tide. He is a keen RNLI fund-raiser, he wants to follow in his father’s footsteps as a lifeboat crewman.

Steffan added:“I am very upset that the RNLI are not replacing our lifeboat with a new Shannon. I want to join the crew when I am 17 years old and hope they will change their minds.”

A petition calling on the RNLI to reverse their decision has so far attracted more than 15,000 signatures. To find out more about the campaign to save New Quay’s all-weather lifeboat, visit www.ceredigionlifeboatcampaign.org.uk.