Well, just two days after becoming Area Chairman my first Area event is a trip to the Isle of Man & Rushen Round Table with the National President – our own John Kilshaw; not a bad way to start my year I think.
So, three hours on the ferry over with Kilsh – how did my liver survive? We started early Monday morning at the RNLI Memorial Gardens in Douglas, although first we had to inflate the 14ft bottle.
Bottle
I’ve got to say how laid back the islanders were – first letting us inflate it in the Arrivals lounge of the ferry terminal and then lending us some tape to cover up all the holes in it. We managed to get the bottle inflated long enough to walk it 300 yards through Douglas for the photos, then spent ten minutes stuffing it, half deflated, into the back of a car for the short trip to the Douglas life boat station. From there we went to Fort Anne, the home of Sir William Hillary – the founder of the RNLI where Kilsh was presented with cheques totalling £1,000 from the two companies who have their offices there.
Then a trip around the bay in a rib [see the picture]; with a top speed of 65 knots it was great fun and one of the day’s highlights.
Rib
From there we travelled to the other four lifeboat stations – Port St Mary, Port Erin, Peel and Ramsey. At each we were met by various members of the lifeboat crews who couldn’t do enough to help us and were really pleased that Round Table was doing so much to support them. It was at Ramsey station that I was challenged to dress like a lifeboat man. John Kilshaw had taken the challenge a few months back and did it in 6 minutes so I had a target to beat. I did manage to beat him, completing it in just over three minutes, but the weight of all the safety equipment these guys wear is amazing. The video is up on YouTube www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwMfGy0L_Gg and there are photos on Facebook although they do make me look like the Pillsbury Dough-Boy.
Outfit
I had to travel back on the Monday night but John stayed on, attending a dinner with Rushen 1072 Round Table and collecting a cheque from them for £4,415.
The hospitality from everyone was amazing, and special thanks to Tim, Paul & Mog from Rushen 1072 for making my first event as Area Chairman such a memorable one.
YiT
Malcolm Mair
Area 8 Chairman 2011-12
IoM Today article: www.iomtoday.co.im/news/isle-of-man-news/message_in_a_bottle_arrives_in_the_island_1_3307410
