TEIGNMOUTH’S volunteer lifeboat crew is looking for two new members.

The town’s RNLI team has vacancies for both shore crew and inshore lifeboat crew.

Located in the working harbour of Teignmouth on the River Teign, the station’s B class inshore lifeboat is kept in the original 1862 boathouse.

Teignmouth lifeboat volunteers carry out around 50 rescues every year.

The crew are all volunteers, headed up by the Lifeboat Operations Manager and Launch Authorities and supported by a shore crew team.

All boat and shore crew follow the RNLI’s national competency based training scheme and respond to pagers when there is a request to launch the lifeboats. The wider team includes volunteer fundraisers, shop volunteers and water safety volunteers.

A spokesman said: ‘Volunteer ILB Crew help us save lives at sea by ensuring that our lifeboats are in a state of permanent readiness and crewing the lifeboat on service and exercise, under the command of the helm.’

The Shore Crew team is responsible for helping to launch the two lifeboats housed at the station, an Atlantic 85, Claude and Kath, and the smaller Arancia. They manage the safety of the area during a launch, and take charge of refuelling and servicing the boats when they return from a ‘shout’ or training exercise.

They also help save lives at sea by assisting with the safe launch and recovery of the lifeboat on service and exercise.

The RNLI volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts.

It operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands.

Since its foundation in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,000 lives.