Three RNLI volunteers who were attending the wedding of helmsman Ben Bradshaw had to interrupt the celebrations to rescue a broken down boat
Humber Coastguard received a call about a boat which had suffered engine failure two miles east of St Mary’s Lighthouse on Saturday 17 June. They requested the launch of Cullercoats RNLI lifeboat at 3.23pm to rescue the broken down vessel and paged three volunteers who were guests at helmsman Ben Bradshaw’s wedding to his new wife Kim.
The wedding guests, including the three volunteers, were at the nearby Grand Hotel in Tynemouth and were about to be served the wedding meal and enjoy the speeches.
The volunteers immediately responded to the call and left the party to launch the lifeboat.
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The broken boat was had suffered mechanical and electric failure and was drifting without power. RNLI volunteers secured a tow rope and brought it back to the marina in the river Tyne.
The operation was over in 90 minutes and the three guests returned to the hotel to a round of applause from the party. They sat back down at the table to finally enjoy their well deserved roast beef dinner and the speeches from the groom Ben Bradshaw and best man Scott Jones, which were delayed to give the crew time to get back to the celebrations.
Helmsman Ben Bradshaw said: ‘We had a wonderful day, but unfortunately the pagers went off right as the guests were about to eat. The three crew who left didn’t hesitate to go and help in rescuing the people on that boat. We waited until they got back for the speeches, so I had another 90 minutes of nerves to wait before I could finally get it over with, but I’m glad they made it back in time to enjoy the rest of the reception.’