Volunteer lifeboat crew members from Hayling Island RNLI lifeboat station are featured in a special calendar to communicate the importance of leaving a gift to the RNLI when making a will.

Peter Hanscombe, Steve Sherrington, Matt Farr, Andy Ferguson, Jasper Graham-Jones and Ian Fiddaman appear in the month of June in the RNLI legacy calendar which, through the theme ‘all in a day’s work’, promotes remembering the RNLI in a will as just one of many ways to support the charity.

The RNLI is a charity which depends on donations to ensure its volunteer lifeboat crews and lifeguards are provided with the best possible training, equipment and lifeboats to save lives at sea in the safest way. Annually, gifts in wills account for 60% of the money needed to run the service.

The RNLI legacy calendar reflects the thousands of incidents, major and minor, that our lifesavers respond to every day of the year. It features twelve of these rescues, all life-threatening situations requiring a swift response, expertise due to extensive training and exceptional local knowledge.

Nigel Roper, Lifeboat Operations Manager at Hayling Island RNLI lifeboat station, said: ‘'The crew at the station were genuinely pleased to help raise awareness about the continued need for gifts in wills by helping out with the legacy calendar – especially when they all learnt that six out of the ten launches they make are only made possible thanks to the kindness of people who leave legacy gifts to the RNLI.

‘We realised that when we launched 122 times and rescued 119 people in 2009 – 72 of those launches and 71 of the people rescued were only possible thanks to the generosity of people who remembered the RNLI in their wills – and that is quite astounding.’

Hayling Island RNLI were involved in the search and rescue last year of a kite surfer who was in difficulty in near gale conditions and fading light. Both Hayling Island lifeboats were launched when a kite surfer’s clothes were found on Hayling Beach. In 2.5m high waves, the lifeboats began their search and within 15 minutes the crew of the Atlantic 75 lifeboat found the casualty, clinging to his kite and small board. He’d been in the water for two hours and was exhausted and suffering from severe hypothermia. Without a quick alert and the crew’s expert local knowledge of tides and currents, he wouldn’t be alive today.

Two photographs from Hayling Island RNLI appear in the calendar – one of the station’s Atlantic 85 class lifeboat, and one of the Atlantic 75 and D Class lifeboats with the crew members who were involved in the above rescue. The large legacy calendar (48x42 cm) is sent to solicitors and funeral directors to hang on office walls in view of their clients. The calendar acts as a reminder about the work of the RNLI lifesavers and the RNLI’s continued need for legacy gifts at the critical time when people may consider leaving a gift to deserving charities. The calendar also serves as a reminder that the RNLI relies on ‘in memory’ donations, which many people choose to give instead of funeral flowers.

Donna Young, RNLI Legacy Manager, South East, said: ‘All gifts in wills, no matter how large or small, are really important to the RNLI. Whether the gift contributes to a pair of boots or to a boat for the volunteers, all the legacies add up to help our volunteer crews stay safe while saving lives, and we are extremely grateful for every legacy gift that is left to us.

‘The kindness that becomes apparent at such sad times is often astonishing, whether its from a legacy, funeral collection or a coin in a fundraising box, and we would like to thank people for thinking of the RNLI charity.’