An Aberdeen lifeboat veteran is being made a Member of the British Empire after 42 years of service and 634 rescues at sea.
William Grieve Deans, lifeboat operations manager for Aberdeen Lifeboat Station, has been awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2018 for services to maritime safety.
Known locally as Bill, Mr Deans has dedicated himself to serving the community, first as a police office and then, in 1976, as a member of the city’s lifeboat crew.
He retired from active crew service in 2010 aged 60, but continued volunteering as manager.
Mr Deans said: “I’m surprised. It’s an honour, but at the end of the day it’s for everyone at the station because without them I couldn’t do what I do.
“It’s a team effort and I hope they take this as recognition of their hard work.
“Thanks are due to them and to my family for putting up with me disappearing from the dinner table and in the middle of the night for all these years.”
Mr Dean lives with his wife Pat in Belhelvie, Aberdeenshire.
The couple have two children and two grandchildren.
David Orr, coxswain of Aberdeen Lifeboat, said: “Bill is a legend throughout the Scottish RNLI community. He is the epitome of a traditional lifeboatman.”
