A LIFEBOAT stalwart is stepping down from his role at Harwich RNLI after more than 30 “incredible” years of saving lives at sea.

Falklands veteran Keith Churchman, of Dovercourt, has spent 33 years with the RNLI.

It was an easy rite of passage for Keith, having spent his early years with the Navy and then the Marines – following closely in the path of his father, Thomas, who also served in the Navy.

In his time as a lifeboatman in his hometown of St Ives, Cornwall, and as an operations manager in Harwich, Keith dealt with all manner of emergencies.

Keith, 59, said: “The look in someone’s eyes when you pull them from the water is a moment that stays with you for the rest of your life. It’s an incredible feeling.

“I don’t like to say I’m a brave man because I am not, I have just done a job and I’m very proud to have done it.

“I have been out to sea on the lifeboat more times than I can remember, but there is one callout which sticks out in my mind most of all.”

He added: “A huge cargo ship, the Cecil Japan, was out on the rocks in gale force 12 winds in a place called Hell’s Mouth. We went out in the lifeboat and got the crew out.

“I remember as that was one of the times I was very, very scared.

“The whole thing was scary – the conditions of the sea, the weather and the sight of the ship on the rocks.”

Keith volunteered as an active lifeboatman for 23 years, before he moved to Harwich in 1997, where he shifted to an operations role.

For the past ten years, he has worked answering emergency callouts 24 hours a day, deciding when and where the boats should be sent and who should man the boats.

“I started with the Navy right from the age of leaving school and transferred to the Marines – you could say I have been at sea all my life,” he said.

“My time in the service was absolutely brilliant and if I was able to do it again right now, I would.”

Keith fought in the Falkland Islands throughout the two-month conflict in 1982, and travelled all over the world with the Marines.

He is now looking forward to being able to focus on his full-time job – working as a vehicle inspector for Manheim Auctions in Frating.