Two west coast men are “giving back” to their coastal community by saving lives at sea as part of the local RNLI crew.
Andy Lockwood and Gillies Pagan have been training with the Oban team for less than a year, and are about to become fully fledged members.
Mr Lockwood has already attended 32 shouts, and Mr Pagan has helped out at 21.
Mr Lockwood, whose day job is skippering boats and offering powerboat instruction, said: “I wanted to join as I felt I had something to offer from a sailing and maritime background.
“Having always known the RNLI was there if I needed them, it felt right to offer something in return.“
Mr Pagan is the owner of local business Fiuran Property, and also wanted to give back to the community.
He said: “Having grown up in Oban, I was fortunate that I knew a few of the crew already, but I haven’t been able to get to know everyone due to the restrictions.
“That’s especially strange, knowing that I could be on a serious life-saving mission with any of them at a moment’s notice.
“I didn’t have a huge amount of maritime experience but I love the water and I’m pretty active so I thought I could maybe be of use.”
Oban RNLI was called out 83 times last year, and received an average of seven call-outs a month.
The lifeboat spent 164 hours at sea attending shouts, equating to almost 1,000 hours and 41 days of voluntary time.
Operations manager, Billy Forteith, praised the commitment of all the Oban volunteers.
He added: “Andy and Gillies have shown dedication despite challenges they’ve faced and clearly illustrate the level of commitment required to be a lifeboat crew member.”
