Photography exhibition celebrates Redcar's links with the RNLI and those saving lives at sea

Michael Sreenan
The exhibition called Let Not the Deep Swallow Me Up uses both historical and current pictures. Credit: Michael Sreenan

A photography exhibition celebrating 200 years of the RNLI and its connection with Redcar has opened on Teesside.

The display by photographer Michael Sreenan, explores what drives volunteers to risk their own safety to save lives at sea.

The exhibition at Kirkleatham Museum, called Let Not the Deep Swallow Me Up, uses both historical and current pictures.

Photographer Michael Sreenan said as the project went on he discovered how deep the bond is between the RNLI and Redcar. Credit: Michael Sreenan

Michael Sreenan, Portrait of Britain winner in 2023, said: “I set out with the aim of finding out what drives these volunteers to do these incredible things. To leave their families, sometimes in the dead of night to risk their lives for others and the do it like it’s nothing.

"I wanted to find out just who these people were and what drives them.

"As the project went on, it changed a bit as I discovered how deep the bond is between the RNLI and our community here," said Sreenan.

"There are people who might have even forgotten they do have that connection but when they talk they’ll have a story. It could be about when a ship came ashore in the 90s and they helped or someone told me how their family had horses in Marske which would be used for the lifeboat. I want people to discover this history once again.”

Redcar has historic links with lifeboats, as the world’s oldest lifeboat, The Zetland, which was built in 1802, is on display in the town.

Sreenan's exhibition features Redcar family, the Thompsons, and their ties to world’s oldest surviving lifeboat as well as their family poem, The Call Out.

Carmen Marcus is part of the Thompson family and now researches stories of the sea from the local area as part of a PhD at Teesside University.

She has helped support the exhibition and can trace links with her family and lifeboats to before the formation of the RNLI and even the family of Captain Cook.

The Thompson family's links to the RNLI on Teesside goes back generations Credit: Michael Sreenan

Councillor Carrie Richardson, Cabinet Member for Climate and Culture at Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council, said: “This is a brilliant and important exhibition.

The whole country is rightly proud of the RNLI…but no-one can be prouder than the people of Redcar and Cleveland where we have such a bond. I would urge everyone to get down and see this exhibition which really gets across what it means to save lives at sea.”The exhibition is free to enter and will run throughout the Summer.

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