Christmas appeal: Larne volunteers say following their fathers into RNLI ‘very special’

Father and son duo Frank and Jack Healy and father and daughter, Martin and Sami Agnew have shared their stories on what it is like to be on call together as both family and fellow crew members.

On average, RNLI lifeboats launch over 100 times during the Christmas period every year. Whatever weather winter throws at them, crews are ready to battle the elements to save lives at sea.

Coxswain Frank Healy has been a lifeboat crew member at Larne RNLI for 29 years, 27 of those as coxswain. Before that he was a crew member at Red Bay RNLI for three years. His son Jack joined the Larne crew in August 2018. For five years now, they have been regularly training together and have been on a number of the same call outs.

So, what’s it like to be on the crew with a family member? “I do enjoy Jack being on the lifeboat,” Frank says. “I enjoy seeing him go through the various stages and achieving the different goals – it’s hard to put into words how proud I feel when I see him doing that.”

“Recently, on one of the shouts,” Frank recalls with a smile, “I had to put Jack aboard another vessel at two o’clock in the morning in a force 8 gale and everyone thought it was a great achievement and a great job, except his mother and she gave me such a hard time for putting his life on the line.”

For Frank though, it was no surprise when Jack decided to join the crew. “I was absolutely delighted that he was going to be a part of it, but I had no doubt that that was going to happen because Jack had shown such an interest from an early age.

"I enjoy going out training with Jack and I particularly enjoy when we go on call outs together. It’s really rewarding when you go out on a shout and you come in and everything has gone well but to have your big son beside you when you do it, it’s pretty special.”

Meanwhile, Sami Agnew joined the lifeboat crew in Larne in October 2009 following in the footsteps of her father Martin who marks 25 years of volunteer service next year. “Being on the crew with my dad is very special, following in his footsteps makes me very proud and always having him there when I need him is like an extra safety net.”

For Frank and Jack, and Martin and Sami, Christmas will be no different than any other day on call this year and should their pagers sound, they will be ready to respond. “There’s no feeling quite like bringing someone home safe to their families,” Sami adds.

Meanwhile, Larne Lifeboat Fundraising Branch wishes to thank everyone who contributed to the street collection on 25/11/23 which raised £1,327.47. “Thank you also to Richard and Iris from Graves Matter for permission to run our Christmas Shop from their premises on Main Street. Margaret Henderson won the ballot for the Shirley Maxwell painting. Marlene Graham won the fireside quiz with Anne Morrow runner up.”