'NEVER Turn Back' is the unspoken motto of the lifeboat service, and is the title of a new book outlining the history of the RNLI since the Second World War. The achievements of the RNLI, often romanticised, depend on ordinary people doing extraordinary things, and this book recounts heroic rescues, awards and ceremonies, survivors' tales and reveals what is at the core of the lifeboatman's being. There have been massive advances in the lifeboat service since the war, in particular since the 1960s, with the introduction of fast lifeboats and inshore boats and the creation of a beach lifeguard service. The setting up of a sea safety programme aims to reduce the number of incidents needing the help of the rescue services. Author Ray Kipling worked for the RNLI for 27 years, fourteen of them as deputy director, and met hundreds of lifeboat crews, officials and fundraisers. He witnessed the change from open boats crewed by fishermen to modern fast boats with crews of well-trained landlubbers such as accountants, plumbers and engineers. His wife Susannah is co-author and has worked with him on a number of previous lifeboat-related projects. First-hand accounts of rescues and decisions that shaped the lifeboat service are drawn on. The Penlee lifeboat disaster features heavily and other rescues include the Torbay Gold Medal rescue of the crew of the Lyrma and the Fraserburgh disaster. One chapter covers overseas lifeboat services, another diverse ways of fundraising and another the traditions of the service. The difficulties facing the RNLI in the future with changing attitudes is outlined, with one challenge being to 'balance the old-fashioned paternalistic humanity of the lifeboat service, caring for all its people who in turn care for others, with the stark reality of running a multi-million-pound organisation'. It is fascinating to see the radical change in boats over the years, but the courage and dermination of the crews remains the same. They 'never turn back'. Never Turn Back, by Ray and Susannah Kipling, is published by Sutton Publishing Ltd in hardback and is available from local bookshops price £19.99. It is a fascinating read for anyone with a nautical interest. ANN PARSONS
