Pwllheli RNLI: Lifeboat station crew back in training after 'relationship breakdown'

A North Wales lifeboat station which closed because of a "breakdown in relationships" between crew members is now working hard towards the day it will be once again fully operational, says the RNLI.

Earlier this year the charity said it had to reluctantly end volunteering arrangements with all operational crew due to what it described as a "breakdown" in relationships between people at the station.

The Shannon class lifeboat 'Smith Brothers' has now returned to Pwllheli after being temporarily reallocated to the RNLI's support centre in Poole, Dorset, while issues at the station were sorted out.

Two thirds of the crew have reaffirmed their commitment to the station with a recruitment drive hailed as a great success.

Andy Vowell, lifeboat operations manager, said the station had not felt the same without the lifeboat.

"The next few months are going to be incredibly time consuming and will require a great deal of commitment from our crew, but I know they are 100pc ready to getting back to what we do best."

He didn't want to talk about the problems at the stations, saying it was now all about looking forward. But he said teamwork was vital.

"It's important that people mesh, that the team work is right."It's important that we are a big family because we do work very, very closely together. And particularly when they're out on the boat late at night in a gale and they can hardly see where they're going. They need to work together."He admits it was a difficult time: "Oh, it was. But we've moved on. We've moved on from that now. And we're really looking forward to the intense training over the next few weeks. And that's the important thing, really."He said it was a "fantastic feeling" to see the Smith Brothers return.

"Very emotional for a lot of people", he continued.

"We've got the foundations here. Now all we need is, as I said, the training. And we'll be up and running."

The station's press officer, Caroline Jones, agreed it was all about looking forward."It was a very difficult time that we had back in the summer and I can't go into details, it's personnel, obviously, but it was a difficult time." Said Ms Jones.

"And we are working to get through that. And we have got through it and we've got 35 people as crew members here now, 20 of those were here before.

"I think everybody was quite emotional when the boat came back because it's been gone for five months."And it is reassuring that there's been no problem getting anybody to come back in. I know it's just been no problem at all, it's just been people queuing up."She continued: "We've had lots of people interested in joining and two thirds of the people came back immediately after we were shut down. So there's been no shortage of crew. So it's not like we've shut the door on anyone.

"So if anybody does want to come in and ask questions or volunteer in anyway, they are welcome."

The charity said the combination of new crew members and the requirement for familiarisation for existing crew means a period of intensive training before the lifeboat is officially declared on service.

It said the D-class lifeboat is already back in action on a limited service with the training of inshore lifeboat crew continuing.

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