THREE volunteer crew members have recently qualified as volunteer all-weather lifeboat mechanics at New Quay Lifeboat Station.

After a long training programme, which included courses at the RNLI College in Poole and extensive training on station, Pete Yates and Huw Williams were put through their paces by Peter McColl, RNLI senior assessor trainer, plant and machinery, in their final pass out assessment at the end of October.

After demanding assessments, where they had to deal with a variety of emergency situations at sea, Pete and Huw demonstrated the required level of competence to become lifeboat mechanics.

Pete said: "It was a very intense assessment, having to constantly think on your feet and remember your training."

On November 20, RNLI assessor trainer Simon Bunting visited the station and made it a hat-trick of mechanic pass outs as crew member Dylan Price successfully completed a series of assessments, both onshore and afloat.

Huw added: "Pete, Dylan and I would like to thank the crew who gave up their time to launch the boat for our assessments and also thank our mechanics who have helped so much with training. We couldn’t have done it without their support."

Roger Couch, New Quay RNLI lifeboat operations manager, said: ‘As part of our ongoing succession planning, Pete, Huw and Dylan have trained hard over the past year and I’d like to thank them for their time and effort. It is essential that we have a mechanic available at all times and this gives us much more flexibility to cover weekends and holidays for our full-time station mechanic.’