Meet the two brothers who clocked up 80 years as coastguards at Filey

Living five minutes from the sea, and with a Dad who was in the Rocket Brigade, it was natural the youngsters would follow in his footsteps.

Older brother John went away to university, allowing brother Martin, who was working then at Plaxton's at Scarborough, to get a head start.

Martin, 63, retired four years ago, but has now finally been joined by John - after together clocking up more than 80 years and thousands of incidents between them.

As children "climming" for gull's eggs was still allowed - their mother made wonderful Yorkshire puddings with them - and people were rescued using rockets and breeches buoy, an old rescue method which used a line fired out to the stricken vessel.

"We used to climb on hemp ropes with an old War Two tin helmet and you would tie the rope round your waist with a trusty bowline knot," said John, now 67.

He finds it hard to recall the detail of the incidents he has been to - partly because there have just been so many, but partly as a defence mechanism against often traumatic scenes.

He said: "You tend to do the job and switch off.

"If you went home and dwelt over the suicides and the people who got washed or fell over board it would probably send you doolally."

However some instances have stuck like the time they spent searching for a week for two girls who had been camping at Reighton some 20 years ago - they were never found - or the time a 15ft torpedo turned up at Filey Brigg, which "looked dangerous but wasn't in the end".

Or the empty van parked on the Brigg with a bottle of vodka and a Leonard Cohen tape in the deck.

"We had a father and son who got washed off Filey Brigg while fishing one summer and unfortunately both drowned," recalled John, who eventually became station officer and was awarded MBE in 1999.

Martin says he misses the banter of his colleagues, who were “just like family”:

“It was a bit of a wrench to leave - but time and tide waits for no man. It was probably the same with the old Dad’s Army when they had to retire and we took over. Now I know how they felt.”

The incident he remembers was just before he retired when they went to rescue a teenage girl who had fallen off 175ft cliffs at Gristhorpe - a drop no one else had survived.

He climbed down with colleague Paul Lane, and “couldn’t believe she was still breathing”. A paramedic joined them and stabilised her and she was winched up on a stretcher by a rescue helicopter.

“She survived. The gods must have been smiling on her. It was very satisfying.”

John said his experiences have shown him the importance of working as a team "because when you are working over a cliffedge your life is literally hanging in their hands - you have to have ultimate trust. This is why you build up such a close, friendly team."

But he reserves his greatest thanks for his wife Anne, who has put up with him being called out at the middle of the night, while having dinner "without knowing where I am going, what I am going to be doing and for how long."

Much has changed - in the old days no one gave any thought to PPE, and if they were lucky they would get a pair of heavy black oilskins and a sou'wester.

"It certainly wasn't as administrative - everything has to be filled in, accounted for inspected - I'm not saying that's wrong but it is far more prescriptive than it used to be," said John, who is still a town councillor.

Whatever the changes it's a role he'd encourage "any young person to join - it's great fun, you get great adventure out of it and develop some really good friends.

"And it's exciting."

Recruitment has opened for volunteer coastguard rescue officer across Yorkshire, including at Filey, Scarborough and Burniston and Bridlington.

People can register their interest by emailing [email protected] for an application pack.