Alex Evans is a third generation lifeboat volunteer following in his father’s – Wayne Evans and grandfather’s welly boots, who were on the crew at Porthcawl Lifeboat Station. Alex joined the RNLI when he was 17 years old in 1999.

‘My first memory of my dad being a lifeboat man was when we would be in the garden and the maroons (2 big bangs in the sky) would sound and he would vanish running away in his flip flops.

As the maroons turned to pagers, I was old enough to be allowed to jump in the car and go with him, ensuring he’d turned his headlights off before going into the station after him.
In those days the station kids used to get the D Class ready to launch, rig up the rope, block and tackle and push the boat out of the station while our dads put their dry suits on.
The grown-ups would then arrive and launch the boat. We would help recover the trailer as there were no tractors back then.
It seemed like an eternity until I was 17, and a few days after my birthday I went on my first ‘shout’ which was authorised by my great uncle who was a DLA. I remember it well, a capsized speedboat far offshore which we had been watching thinking it was a windsurfer while eating our chips on the slipway. Turned out it was a man sitting on the hull of his boat! 20 years and 3 stations later I now volunteer at Poole and work for the RNLI as the Training Manager’.
We congratulate Alex as he celebrates 20 years of saving lives at sea.