Crew member and his dad feature in RNLI’s Christmas campaign

Rhyl lifeboat volunteer, Mathew Baines, and his dad Bob, are some of the faces of the RNLI’s Christmas appeal, hoping to raise £2m in donations after cancellations and closures of fundraising events and an unexpected, unbudgeted £1.2m spend on PPE.

The charity’s PPE spend includes almost 700,000 face masks, 2.4 million gloves and 4,700 litres of hand sanitiser.

In the campaign appeal letter, Bob Haines talks about how proud he is of his son who went on his first ever shout at just 18 years old. Haines Snr talks about how he tracks the lifeboat’s progress online and the sense of relief he feels when his son returns home safe, the underlying theme to the campaign assets.

“It can be difficult seeing Mathew leave when the pager goes. I worry about him and what he might go through when he is out on a shout. Even at Christmas, I know that Mathew might have to drop everything and run out the door to go and save someone’s life,” says Haines Snr, who has been on the crew at Rhyl for over 12 years.

Due to coronavirus restrictions, the popular Rhyl Lifeboat Day, Raft Race and big music festival, 53° North, had to be cancelled, and the volunteer-run RNLI shop in town had to close. Similar closures and cancellations across the UK and Ireland have cost the RNLI millions of pounds in lost income.

Meanwhile, the RNLI’s TV advert, filmed on location at Lyme Regis Lifeboat Station in Dorset, follows Georgia Robson. While preparing Christmas dinner, her pager sounds and she has to drop everything and leave her family behind to race to the station.

“I loved being involved in this film. Christmas is a time where families come together, but RNLI volunteers can be called away from their families and homes at any moment. I think this film beautifully highlights the togetherness found within crews all around our coast,” says Robson.