Family of lifeboat volunteers speak about pride of saving lives for five generations

Members of the Harrison family have all volunteered at the Staithes and Runswick Lifeboat Station in Staithes, North Yorks,. for over 140 years.

It started when William Brown Harrison joined the crew in the 1880s and continued when he his son Isaac Ward Harrison later joined in with the volunteering.

Colin Harrison senior joined his father in the 1950s and Colin Harrison junior, now 63, joined in the 1970s.

Colin junior’s children Alex and Katarina Harrison-Gaze, both 19, joined the station when they turned 17 and feel ‘immensely proud’ to have continued the tradition.

Alex, who volunteers alongside studying at the University of Cambridge, said: “I was never forced to sign up but there’s 140 years of this behind me.

“I’ve personally seen the great work that my dad has done and I’ve been involved in fundraising from an even earlier age.

“I always thought I would sign up and then I did when I was 17.

“I am immensely proud to continue the family tradition, along with my sister, of saving lives at sea.”

As Colin’s dad brought him up surrounded by the RNLI, he has lots of early memories of fundraising for the lifeboat station.

This includes being pulled around with two lifeboats during a demonstration.

Colin said: “Me and the children are the same, we’ve grown up not knowing any different because our fathers were involved in the RNLI.

“They weren’t only involved in the rescuing, but with the fundraising and supporting it that way.

“As a child so when I was around three or four, I helped at a fundraising weekend.

“I can remember being towed between two lifeboats as part of a demonstration.

“I don’t think I had even started school, so it wouldn’t have been allowed now with health and safety.

“It’s been engraved in me to support the RNLI - whether that’s the fundraising side or rescuing people.”

Although Colin, Alex and Katarina haven’t volunteered on a rescue at the same time, there has been some occasions where two of them have worked together.

The first time Alex and Katarina went out on a call-out together, it was the first time that two siblings from the family had been out on one together in more than 50 years.

Katarina, who studies French and Italian at Oxford University, said: “It is amazing to be able to train week in week out with friends and family sharing one common goal – saving lives.

“I have been on multiple call-outs; two of which were with my brother. These were both memorable.

“The first one because it was the first time in over 50 years that Harrison siblings had been on a callout together and the second one because I had just done my makeup to go out for a Christmas meal.

“Once I was on the boat, I realised I had fake lashes on, which were flapping in the wind, so I had to take them off.”

The family will be on-call during the festive period and are supporting the RNLI’s Christmas appeal to raise money.

But the dad-of-two says there’s ‘no feeling quite’ like saving someone’s life, ‘especially at Christmas.’

Colin said: “There’s no feeling quite like knowing you’ve brought someone home safe especially at Christmas, a time for family.

“For five successive generations, my family have answered the call to save lives at sea – be they strangers, family or friends.

“But our volunteers can only continue to do this with generous donations from the public to fund our kit, training and equipment.”

Visit www.rnli.org to donate to the RNLI’s Christmas fund appeal.