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Open Country

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of Britain

Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of the British Isles

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Open Country: Spurn Point Lifeboat Station

18/08/2016

Spurn Point Lifeboat Station

BBC Radio 4 - Open Country, Spurn Point Lifeboat Station

Helen Mark meets the only full-time lifeboat crew in the UK at Spurn Point in East Yorks.

Helen Mark spends the day with the only full-time lifeboat crew in the UK, based on Spurn Point in East Yorkshire.

Helen Mark spends the day wit the only full-time lifeboat crew in the UK, based on Spurn Point. This unique landscape is a strip of land, 3.5 miles long and only 50m wide in places. Until recently the station was occupied by the station staff and their families, but the fragility of the Spurn Point sandbank that links it to the mainland means it is no longer fit for so many people. And if you want to visit, you have to park up and walk 3 miles, since the storms of 2013 washed parts of the road away.

The lifeboat stations covers the treacherous inshore waters of the Humber and 100 miles out to sea, as far north as Bridlington and south to Skegness. There's an average call out rate of once a week, but the crew have to be ready 24/7. Helen meets Ben Mitchell, the 29 year old 2nd Coxwain who is in charge this week, plus crew members Ed Kilsby, Liam Dunnett, Glen Peterson and Kim Platford. She also visits the manager of the Spurn Point National Nature Reserve, who explains why this tiny strip of land is of national importance to wildlife.

Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery.

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