Special guest from original design team of the Launch and Recovery System visits Bridlington RNLI

Malcolm and his wife Kate were taken on a tour of the all-weather lifeboat, seeing it launched and recovered by the SLARS that Malcolm had a hand in designing. Photographs of the prototype, which later developed into the machine the RNLI use currently, were brought by Malcolm to show the crew the beginnings of their trusty equipment.

In 1899 it would take 20 men and 18 horses to recover a 10-tonne lifeboat. But thanks to Malcolm and the rest of those involved designing the SLARS system, there is now a far more effective process and with fewer horses.

123 years later, it only takes 15-20 minutes for six men to launch the all-weather lifeboat at Bridlington using the SLARS.

Malcom said: “It is a tough one to say what I enjoyed most, the whole evening was a great experience.

“I was particularly taken with the warmth of the welcome and the interest shown by the crew. It was lovely to see that something that I worked on has become a useful piece of kit and, on a lighter note, it was nice to show my wife something of my work.”

He added: “Seeing it in use to rescue people makes it the most satisfying project I have ever worked on, to have even a small part in that makes me proud.”