MBE for RNLI manager

We’re delighted to hear that lifeboat manager Geoffrey Norris has been named on the New Year Honours list. He receives an MBE (Order of the British Empire) for his long service with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). After almost 40 years of work in the voluntary rescue service, Geoffrey said he is ‘utterly amazed’ to have been selected for the award.

Geoffrey Norris, 68, lives in Lamlash, and many Arran people will remember him as a road engineer in the days when he worked for North Ayrshire Council. Since retiring he has devoted a lot of time to the RNLI, the Arran Yacht Club and Arran Junior Sailing Club. He started volunteering as a helper with the RNLI in 1973 and became the Arran lifeboat operations manager five years later, a post which he continues to hold.

With typical modesty, he said he values the award because it recognises, not only his own work but that of all his volunteer colleagues at the station. He said, This award is totally unexpected, it has come right out of the blue.’ Laughing, he added, ‘I wondered what I’d done wrong when the letter arrived from the Cabinet Office. I was utterly amazed.’ Then, more seriously, he went on, ‘I think it is in true recognition of the work we do as a station and all of the other volunteers at stations around the country.’

As everyone on Arran will appreciate, the island’s RNLI volunteers stand ready at all times to help any boat that is in trouble, but they also provide transport to the mainland for urgent medical cases, both from here and Holy Isle. Well trained, these volunteers can also deal with medical emergencies on board boats and ships. They respond to urgent calls at any time of the night or day, and go out in the most appalling weather conditions. They deserve our constant thanks, and we offer warmest congratulations to Geoffrey Norris on his well-deserved honour.