Brave and courageous

The memorial service for the Mary Stanford lifeboat crew took place on Sunday November 17. It is ninety-six years since the tragedy in which RNLI Rye Harbour lost seventeen brave men from the village who were following our founder’s vision of saving lives at sea, giving their lives in return. RNLI Rye Harbour paid its respects alongside flank stations RNLI Dungeness and RNLI Hastings and representatives from Pett Independent Level Rescue Boat.

It was a poignant and moving service and the courage and selflessness of these brave men will never be forgotten.

Stuart Clark, helm at RNLI Rye Harbour, honours the memory of his grandad’s brothers every year and finds the service very moving. He said afterwards: “Virtually the entire current station’s complement came together as ‘one crew’ to pay its deepest respects to the memory of predecessors who selflessly paid the ultimate price, answering a distress call to complete strangers from another nation, and did ‘that which was their duty to do.’
There are two moments that are heartrending for me: the lighting of the candle and the laying of the roses on the memorial whilst hearing the last post. I am proud to be honouring their memory and keeping it alive.”

This year there were fewer members in the congregation, perhaps partly because the family descendants of the Mary Stanford crew are getting older and more frail.

The service was videoed so that those who could not attend could view it at home and feel part of it.

Image Credits: Kt bruce .