THE current Lyme Regis RNLI volunteer crew were awarded King's Coronation medals at the Lyme Regis Football Club yesterday (October 13).

Veteran Lyme Regis RNLI Helm and local lifeboat legend John Hodder was guest of honour at the ceremony held to present 16 of the current crew with King’s Coronation medals.

Mr Hodder served as a volunteer on the Lyme Regis crew from 1969 untill 1990 during which time he is credited with saving 187 lives and was twice awarded the RNLI’s Bronze Medal for gallantry. He remains Lyme Regis lifeboat station’s most decorated volunteer in its 198-year history.

Prior to presenting the current crew with Coronation Medals, Mr. Hodder was persuaded to recount the story of one his award-winning rescues, that of 5 people from yacht White Kitten in August 1979 in the same storm which decimated the Fastnet yacht race.

Organiser of yesterday’s event lifeboat Helm Jon Broome said: “We are honoured that John Hodder was able to present our Coronation medals today. He is truly a legend in Lyme Regis for his remarkable service over many years. He is someone we all look up to as we continue the RNLI’s work of saving lives at sea.”

Shortly after the medal presentation ceremony had finished the crews’ pagers sounded requiring them to leave friends and families and head to the lifeboat station to launch in search of a fossil hunter reported overdue in the vicinity of Seatown.

The volunteer crew launched their Atlantic 85 inshore lifeboat Spirit of Loch Fyne at 6.45pm and proceeded eastwards from Lyme Regis to conduct a shoreline search.

Shortly after leaving the harbour, they were stood down by HM Coastguard as the fossil hunter had been found safe and well. The crew returned to Lyme Regis at 7.02pm.

This was the 29th service call the volunteers of Lyme Regis RNLI have responded to in 2024, the year in which the lifesaving charity celebrates its 200th anniversary.

Details of the remarkable career of John Hodder and other highlights from the lifeboat station’s long history can be found in a book by Press Officer Richard Horobin entitled Lyme Regis Lifeboat Station – The Pearl of Dorset which is on sale in the station gift shop.