Celebrating Roger and Terry’s 40+ Years of Service with HM Coastguard
“I guess I was always destined to join Beer Coastguard Rescue Team” – Roger
Roger and his brother Terry were lucky to grow up in the village of Beer, located on the UNESCO World Heritage Jurassic Coast in Devon. As children, they would race up to Beer Head, eager to watch Beer Coastguard Rescue Team (CRT) in action.
At the time, Beer CRT used a rocket and breeches buoy system, a rope-based method that brought seafarers safely to shore from stranded ships. Roger and Terry would later remember this as one of their earliest memories of the Coastguard.
Years later, Roger married Lynne, whose father, Ron Russell, coincidentally was the Station Officer at Beer CRT. Inspired by Ron’s example, both Roger and Terry eventually followed him into the team.
Soon after joining Beer CRT, Roger and Terry visited the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Portland. This inspired Roger to become a Watch Assistant and later, a Watch Officer at the centre from 2006 until 2014.
What do you remember about your very first callout?
Roger: “During a callout to Sidmouth, I was thrown into the deep end and asked to manage Very High Frequency (VHF) radio calls. That was my first real experience with VHF communications.”
Terry: ‘Whilst on my first callout with the Auxiliary in Charge, I patrolled the area between Seaton and Lyme Regis. That was when I experienced my first blue light drive.”
What's the most unusual place you've been when your pager has gone off?
Roger: “We were moving house over Easter in 1987, though only down the road. I was very pleased to be paged as it gave me a much-needed break from all the furniture moving!”
Terry: “Being paged at family events is very common. One of the most memorable times when I was called out on 31st of December and didn’t return until 1st of January.”
What's the most memorable incident you have attended?
Roger and Terry’s most memorable callout took place in 2007, when MSC Napoli, a 62,000-tonne container ship was severely damaged in a storm which forced the ship to come ashore on the Jurassic Coast. The ship's cargo consisted of 2,300 containers and 3,800 tonnes of oil.
Roger: “I was on duty with the Initial Response Team, we were paged early on a Saturday morning to get a look at the stricken vessel.”
Terry: “It was a huge salvage operation. The CRTs from Beer, Lyme Regis, Exmouth, and West Bay worked long shifts, especially in the first week, offering round the clock support to the security and salvage teams.”
This developed into a £120 million salvage operation that lasted 924 days, becoming one of the biggest salvage operations ever seen in UK waters.
What do you enjoy the most about being a member of the team?
“The comradery of the team and making lifelong friends, the buzz when you know you have saved a life” - Terry
What's the most challenging part of your role?
Roger: “Being a rope rescue technician means every decision has to be carefully considered and accurate, which is a lot to manage while descending a cliff face to reach a casualty.”
Terry: “Dealing with fatalities is the most challenging part, particularly when a rescue is no longer possible and the work becomes about recovering the person for their grieving families.”
What's the most significant change you've seen at HM Coastguard?
Roger: “Modern PPE for Coastguards has given HM Coastguard a recognisable identity, which is especially important to us when attending multi-agency incidents.”
Terry: “We have a drone team in our area that has been used on many occasions. It reduces the need to walk miles along a beach, letting us search areas much faster, which is invaluable when every minute counts.”
What kind of new skills have you picked up recently?
Roger: “The Coastguard Emergency Responder Casualty Care Course (CERCC) has enabled us to deliver a much higher level of care to casualties.”
Terry: “Yes, the CERCC training has given us more ability, and more resources are available for us to help the casualty.”
What advice would you give to someone thinking of volunteering with HM Coastguard?
Roger advises that becoming a member of HM Coastguard is a great commitment and he’s proud to be associated with the service.
“Serving as a coastguard rescue officer is one of the most rewarding aspects of my life” – Roger.
Fast forward to today, Roger and Terry are still a part of the Beer CRT and giving their all to their community. Terry took over as Beer CRT’s Station Officer position in 2002, a role which he continues today and Roger continues to use his 40 years of experience as a rope technician to help those in trouble.
