By Dan Walsh
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) has launched its annual Christmas fundraising appeal, with a focus on the generations of families who have volunteered their time and commitment 24/7, 365 days a year, to ensure the charity’s lifesaving service has continued for nearly 200 years.
The charity has highlighted the dedication of one such family in Rosslare, through their Christmas campaign, who can trace their lifesaving back five generations to the 1800s.
The Wickham family from Rosslare in Wexford have an incredible record of service, having five generations serve on the lifeboat, from Thomas Wickham in the late 1800s, who was the Lifeboat Coxswain, followed by his sons Edward and James, both of whom also became Coxswains. Then Jack Wickham, James’s son, was second Coxswain and Mechanic on the lifeboat, while his son Matt became station mechanic. Matt’s cousin Fergus Wickham was also lifeboat coxswain and his brothers Brian and Billy were volunteer crew members. The current generation have also become lifeboat crew with Matt’s grandson, Sean Cullen, becoming a lifeboat volunteer, along with his cousin Ronan Hill.
The family have also received recognition for their callouts, including the Mexico rescue in 1914, which took place over three days, the Mountblairy in 1927, where a crew of five jumped from their wreck onboard the lifeboat and the rescue of seven people in November 1954, when the tanker World Concord broke in half during a storm of exceptional violence in the Irish Sea. Matt’s first callout was to the Tuskar Rock tragedy in 1968.
Matt Wickham is now retired as Rosslare Harbour RNLI Lifeboat Mechanic and crew member and features with his grandson, lifeboat volunteer Sean Cullen (18) in the RNLI’s Christmas campaign, which celebrates the families that have given generations of service to the lifeboats.
Matt’s daughter Mag Wickham is again sharing a home with a lifeboat volunteer as she watches her 18-year-old son, Sean, volunteer for the lifeboat. Trained as a nurse in Dublin, Mag couldn’t follow family onto the lifeboat, but she now raises funds for the station, following in her own mother and grandmother’s steps. Mag commented; “I wasn’t tempted to the join the lifeboat crew but my cousin Pamela was a lifeboat volunteer for a while. I knew that Sean would volunteer the minute he turned 17 years of age.”
“With volunteering, everybody can do it and the funds raised make it all possible. If you want to help and commit, you’ll be shown how. You’ll be trained, provided with the correct equipment and what you get back, is that feeling of being able to save somebody, with the best people around you. With the RNLI, when someone calls for your help, they really need your help and when you stop and think about that, you realise it is just massive,” concluded Mag.
RNLI lifeboats launch throughout the year, including Christmas day, whenever and wherever they are needed. Whatever weather winter throws at them, RNLI crews are ready to battle the elements to save lives at sea and on inland waters. These rescues, and others, all year round, are only made possible by the RNLI’s generous supporters, helping to fund the essential kit, training and equipment needed by lifeboat crews.
To donate to the RNLI’s Christmas Appeal, and enable the charity to continue its lifesaving work, please support your local lifeboat station or visit RNLI.org/Winter Appeal.
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