RNLI Cullercoats has its first female helm in its 170 year history
Cullercoats RNLI crew member, Anna Heslop, has become the first female helm at the station after she passed out as a helm on the station's Atlantic 85 class lifeboat this week. The move also makes her only the third female helm in the region which spans from Berwick to Redcar - following in the footsteps of Jill McCormick and Nicola Bath, who were on station in Tynemouth between 2004 and 2007.
Anna was 17 when she joined the crew, after witnessing a person in trouble in the water at Whitley Bay, where she called the ‘sea police’ to come and carry out a rescue.
Following the visit, Anna joined the crew and has been saving lives at sea since. In the intervening years, Anna has trained, being passed as competent crew, tractor driver and most recently as helm - a first for the station as she is the first female helm in the station’s 170 year history!
Anna has volunteered as a crew member and assessor at Cullercoats RNLI, as well as being the Face-to-Face Fund Raising Manager for the RNLI in the North East. She will now command the search and rescue vessel on call outs and continue her work training and assessing crew.
Cullercoats RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager Frank Taylor says, "It is a tremendous achievement for Anna to pass her Helm training plan and to do so, as she has, with flying colours. We are so proud of her success and that she has become the first female helm at Cullercoats."