A DEDICATED lifeboat servant has been honoured in Southwold where he was presented with a long service badge.Many of the lifeboat's crew gathered at the Ferry Road station on Saturday morning to see senior helmsman Marcus Gladwell presented with a badge to mark 20 years of service.

A DEDICATED lifeboat servant has been honoured in Southwold where he was presented with a long service badge.

Many of the lifeboat's crew gathered at the Ferry Road station on Saturday morning to see senior helmsman Marcus Gladwell presented with a badge to mark 20 years of service.

Mr Gladwell joined the Southwold crew on April 16, 1988. He passed his final assessment in 1997, to become one of five helmsmen, and in 2001 was made senior helmsman.

At 45 he has to pass a medical every year to maintain his place in the crew but his enthusiasm has never waned. “I'm on call 24/7. When I go away I'm always ringing around to make sure some of the other helms are available, it's always on your mind,” he said.

Marcus' wife Vicky has also been a member of the crew for 10 years and their children, William, six, and Maddie, eight, have been brought up with the boat.

“It was a great day and to have my children there as well was wonderful. Their mum and dad have always been involved in the lifeboat, it's a part of their lives and I hope they go on to enjoy the sea as much as I have,” he said.

Mr Gladwell was presenting with the badge by lifeboat operations' manager John Huggins.

Mr Huggins said: “Marcus has been a stalwart member of the station and given so much towards crew training and the preservation of life at sea in our area.

“Long service badges of 20 years or more, in these times, are rarely awarded, so it was a great privilege for me to present him with this well-deserved long service badge.”