A VOLUNTEER has been honoured with a medal for an incredible 40-year commitment to the RNLI.

Ian Wilson has served four UK lifeboat stations and taken on a wide variety of roles during his four-decade service.

The 63-year-old said that his interest in boats stemmed from a childhood in the south of England, seeing boats in places like St Ives, Sennen and the Lizard.

While working as an outward bound instructor, Ian joined the crew at Aberdyfi in Wales, where he also joined the mountain rescue service.

Even though a job change to the financial sector took him to the south east of England, he maintained close ties with the crew, particularly on the fundraising side when he was not available for callouts.

A move north of the Border saw him become a helm and the senior helm on North Berwick RNLI station’s D-class inshore lifeboat.

In January 1996, he experienced one of his more memorable shouts when, in pounding waves, the lifeboat was called out to search for two missing surfers.

He said: “I had never seen waves like it. In fact, I said to my wife that nobody would be out in that.

“Then at 4pm the pagers went off.

“The lads had gone surfing but one of the boards had come ashore and there was no sign of either of them or the other board.”

Conditions were so bad that the crew had to wait for a break in the waves to get beyond the harbour wall and, as they battled on, they heard on the radio that Dunbar’s all-weather Trent class had been knocked down on its way to assist.

“That’s not what you want to hear when you’re sitting in a D-class,” said the father-of-three.

“I was on the radio and we were losing communications in the troughs.

“At one point I was bouncing around so much the helm had to grab my ankle to stop me going overboard.

“There was a happy outcome, however, because the kids were seen and recovered by the Coastguard shore team. Dunbar’s boat, which had carried on up, shadowed us back in.

“We received a letter of thanks from the RNLI for braving those conditions.”

After 25 years in financial services and running his own business, Ian moved to the west coast to train fish farm operators on safety and transferred to Oban station, where he became part of the management team there, also looking after sea safety.

Two-and-a-half years ago, he returned to East Lothian and joined Dunbar station, where he continues to serve as a deputy launch authority.

Ian, who has three grown-up children – Tim, 39, who served on the North Berwick crew, Gemma, 37, and Matthew, 29 – and is a grandfather to Mia, eight, and three-year-old Aiden, said: “The RNLI has been such a big part of my life.

“It has given me lots of happy memories, friends, excitement – sometimes too much – and consistency at four different stations.

“During the 175th anniversary year of the RNLI, I was lucky to be involved in the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, appearing on the parade ground as a lifeboat volunteer in the old-style cork lifejacket, and was invited to a garden party at Holyrood, which the Queen attended.

“I’ve been out on every current lifeboat, except those on the Thames, have witnessed their evolution from the old Watson to the jet-propelled Shannon, and have seen big changes for the better in terms of protection and comfort for the crews.

“I’m proud to be part of it.”