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‘This is my way of giving back’: Buckie woman celebrates 21 years of lifeboat service

Anne Scott with her lifeboat colleagues at the RNLI station in Buckie
Buckie woman celebrates 21 years of services to the RNLI. Picture by Jason Hedges

A Moray woman is celebrating 21 years of service with her local lifeboat station.

Anne Scott followed in her father’s footsteps and joined RNLI Buckie – never guessing she’d still be there two decades on.

She first joined the RNLI’s staff in 2001 as an administrative assistant before being promoted to fundraising manager in 2004.

She retired from RNLI employment in 2021, but immediately returned to a volunteer role as a lifeboat operations manager at Buckie Lifeboat Station.

Now, Mrs Scott is responsible for authorising lifeboat launches and overseeing all aspects of the RNLI’s operations in Buckie. 

Anne Scott with RNLI Head of Lifeboats, Simon Ling. Picture by Jason Hedges/DC Thomson

‘I’m responsible for launching this lifeboat’

She said: “The first time the pagers go off, that’s a scary moment, you think ‘I’m responsible for launching this lifeboat, I need to make sure I’ve done it correctly.'”

Though the role does place a lot of responsibility on her shoulders, her colleagues make it all worthwhile.

“It’s just the volunteer ethos with the RNLI, you get to work with so many brilliant people that give up their time to go out on the lifeboat to save lives,” she said.

“I really respect volunteers giving up their time, I’m not brave enough to go out in a lifeboat, so this is my way of giving back and I support those who do,” she said.

Although she is celebrating 21 years of service, her dedication to the RNLI actually dates back to the 1970s when she first volunteered at a fundraising event.

At the time, Mrs Scott’s father was serving as a lifeboat mechanic, and she credits him for being the inspiration behind her decision to join the RNLI.

Anne Scott outside Buckie’s RNLI lifeboat station. Picture by Jason Hedges

‘We’re very welcoming’

Last month, RNLI Peterhead volunteer Sarah Patterson was crowned Miss European in a beauty pageant, and said she wanted to use that as a platform to encourage more women to join the lifeboat service.

Mrs Scott said she is also keen to encourage other women to get involved.

She said: “We’ve got four ladies in our crew, but we always welcome more people to come and join us.

“If anybody wants to volunteer, come down to the lifeboat station, we’re very welcoming and we’ll show them how to become involved.”

She stressed that anyone who wants to volunteer doesn’t need to have maritime experience.

“We put everybody through training, so they don’t need to have any maritime experience or anything like that, we’ll put them through that,” she added.

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