Standing beside the lighthouse at Pendeen Cliffs this morning, watching the sea swells and the various crops of rocks around, reminded me of the importance of the lighthouses around the coast and of course the RNLI.I was also reminded of the Penlee Lifeboat disaster on 19 December, 1981 when eight RNLI volunteer men lost their lives aboard the Solomon Browne while trying to save others. Tonight, as I write, there is the annual service of thanksgiving taking place by the harbour in the beautiful village of Mousehole where all eight men came from. Each one had been carefully selected for their skills, but crucially only one man from each family was chosen.
It was brilliant sunshine this morning, visitors by the score making their way along the coast path and across the fields down to a nearby cove to enjoy themselves, I pondered how the weather must have been on that night 29 years ago, and on all those terrible nights before and since when men have lost their lives; it was difficult to imagine on such a glorious day.
Living in Cornwall makes you have a deep respect for the sea and the dangers. Lighthouses have always fascinated me and now even more as I live so close to so many. Like the brave men of the RNLI they save lives as they shine the lights from their strategic vantage points.
Those brave men of the RNLI don't need this small act of remembering from me because they will never, ever be forgotten as the gathering 29 years later on Mousehole quay tonight testifies. To read more, please go to: http://www.cornwalls.co.uk/Mousehole/penleelifeboat.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment