RNLI award for long-serving Alan

Southwold lifeboat helmsman Alan Scoggins, 42, has been presented with his badge for 20 years service with the RNLI.The father of two, who lives in Southwold and works as an electrical engineer at Adnams brewery, joined the crew in September 1988 and became helmsman in 1997.

Southwold lifeboat helmsman Alan Scoggins, 42, has been presented with his badge for 20 years service with the RNLI.

The father of two, who lives in Southwold and works as an electrical engineer at Adnams brewery, joined the crew in September 1988 and became helmsman in 1997.

Mr Scoggins, who has the second longest service of the current crew, behind Marcus Gladwell, who shades him by four months, said: 'You go on so many rescues you lose track of them, but I have certainly helped to save dozens of lives.'

However, the mission he remembered most vividly had a tragic ending in November 2006, when the Southwold boat joined in the search for an angler swept out to sea at Kessingland.

'The seas were so rough the boat was right on the limit and so was I. When we got back we were stopped from going out again,' he recalled.

Lifeboat operations manager John Huggins, who made the presentation, described Mr Scoggins as 'a very active member of the crew through all these years'.

He said it was only the third long-service award he had presented in 12 years as operations manager.