The Coastguard Rescue Service has been awarded the ‘MBE’ of volunteering gongs by the Queen. The service accepted The Queens Diamond Jubilee Volunteering Award 2012, a special, one-off established as part of the UK honours system.

Whilst the Queens Award for Voluntary Service recognises the work of grassroots organisations at a local level, the Diamond Jubilee category seeks to recognise groups that operate nationwide.

The Coastguard Rescue Service provides the UK’s coastal search and rescue capability including cliff, mud and shoreline rescue and operates separately or jointly with other emergency services and volunteer rescue organisations.

It consists of teams of volunteers drawn from the local community, which are fully trained and equipped to carry out a range of search and rescue operations around the coast of the UK.

The Coastguard Rescue Service consists of 3,500 volunteers around the coast of the UK.

Coastguard Rescue Officers can be called out by the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) at any time of the day or night, in all weathers, to respond to and rescue those in trouble or missing or to participate in a multi-agency response to an emergency.

Peter Dymond, Chief Coastguard said:

‘I am delighted that the Coastguard Rescue Service has received this award which is a just reward and recognition for our volunteer Coastguard Rescue Officers and their teams who have a long history of rescuing those in trouble from shipwreck or those stuck or missing on the cliffs and shoreline of the UK and not forgetting their service to their local communities and the wider public.’

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