HRH The Princess Royal as Royal Patron of NCI was our guest of honour at London’s Trinity House this week at a reception to mark our 30th anniversary of helping to save lives around the coast.
Over 100 guests attended the event including volunteer watchkeepers, NCI Trustees, and event sponsors Sirius Insight and the Trinity House Charitable Trust.
Also present were colleagues and supporters representing organisations including HM Coastguard Maritime and Coastguard Agency, the RNLI, the Royal Navy and Merchant Navy, The Cruising Association, The Seafarers’ Charity, TheYachtMarket and Seawork . Honoured guests also included Vendee Globe yachtswoman Pip Hare Ocean Racing, Dame Katherine Grainger DBE, Patron of NCI and Air Marshall Sir Chris Coville who is stepping down as NCI patron this year.
Stephen Hand, NCI Chair, formally welcomed Her Royal Highness to Trinity House and thanked her for her visit. “We are extremely grateful to your Royal Highness for the close interest and invaluable support you give to our charity. Your visits to NCI stations, of which there have been no fewer than eight in the past 12 months, are an enormous source of encouragement and motivation to our watchkeepers.
“In 2023, we participated in over 850 search and rescue incidents, of which 365 were initiated by NCI watchkeepers. In 2024 so far, we have been involved in 614 search and rescue incidents, resulting in 293 persons rescued, 111 of whom were rescued at NCI-initiated shouts. We could not achieve these results without the invaluable support of our patrons, our sponsors and our donors,” he said.
Her Royal Highness presented NCI Certificate of Merit Awards to two of the three National Coastwatch Institution-NCI Newhaven KAVS watchkeepers whose actions helped save the life of a yachtsman at Newhaven earlier this year.