This article is from page 24 of the 2008-01-29 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 24 JPG
Mr Construction, but neither of the chart toppers are likely to be as big a hit with the people of Kilrush as the RNLI calendar.
The fundraising object has a spe- cial calendar pin-up in local curate Fr Michael Collins, who is one of just two Irish people to make it on to the RNLI fundraising calendar.
The only other Irish member is a lady from Ballycotton.
Fr Collins has been a crewmember with Kilrush lifeboat station for two years.
His involvement began when the station invited him to look around. It was an inspirational visit that made his mind up to volunteer.
Despite his comparatively short time as a crewmember, he’s had his fair share of drama, particularly the rescue of a family of five whose boat had capsized and was drifting out to sea.
Fr Collins will feature on the cal- endar for the month of July, making him a household name in homes and offices around Ireland and Britain.
The calendar has been on sale since
late last year on the RNLI website or from its catalogue.
As a sea faring town, Kilrush has always been a huge supporter of the RNLI providing funds to maintain the life boat and people for its crew.
The “Rose West’ lifeboat has car- ried out great work for years provid- ing vital assistance to seafarers from Kilbaha to Limerick.
The 30 strong crew are trained and retrained for every eventuality.
The members of the RNLI meet once a week and take part in dilf- ferent exercises with the lifeboat. In case of an emergency a beeper alerts all the crew within a seven-mile ra- dius who make their way to the life- boat station, change and be on the water within eight minutes.
The first three to arrive set out on the boat, one person stays in the sta- tion to assist the crew with any direc- tions. Others open the doors to the lifeboat and see it safely to the sea.
All from 18 to 45 are welcome to ove