Dan Sinclair is a handyman in Deal in Kent and is also a volunteer and helmsman for Walmer RNLI lifeboat station having joined nearly 20 years ago at the age of 18. Walmer RNLI station operates two classes of lifeboat, a D-class IB1 and a B-class Atlantic 85 rigid inflatable, and is the only remaining station of the three historical sites along this stretch of coastline (Kingsdown and North Deal being the others).
Dan discusses why he joined the service, the importance of teamwork as a lifeboatman, his commitment to education for those using the sea for commercial and leisure activities, and one particular rescue where he was alerted to a capsized vessel by a member of the public who was found knocking on the station door.
This is an interview conducted as part of the Goodwin Sands Oral History Project, a podcast series which speaks with those who have grown up within sight of the Sands, who make their living upon or around them, or who have been creatively inspired by the air of uncanny mystery they invoke. The Goodwin Sands are a pair of large sandbanks of the south-east Kent coast which offer both shelter and a dangerous hazard to unwary shipping or those caught in storms, and are the site of great historical importance and maritime archaeology.
This podcast project was undertaken as a response to an application to dredge the Goodwin Sands for aggregates and building materials to expand Dover Harbour, a proposition vehemently opposed by local residents and the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust, who have created this podcast series. It is hoped that through hearing the voices of the people connected with the Sands their cultural status might be raised and further industrial interference might be avoided in the future.
Credits:
Presented and interview conducted by Joanna Thomson, co-founder of the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust.
Production, editing, sound design by Ben Horner.
The music is "Relic #4 (Version 2)" by Silicon Transmitter, used under Creative Commons licence.
For more about the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust please see https://goodwinsands.org.uk/, and please see https://theaudiosphere.com for more on our producer.
