It was an intense 45 minutes - Fleetwood Coastguard Watchkeepers awarded for saving fishermen's lives
‘It is what we’re trained to do, although it was a pretty intense 45 minutes’
Two volunteer Watchkeepers at the National Coastwatch Institution in Fleetwood are to be presented with the rare and prestigious Certificate of Merit award.
It follows an incident in July 2025, when NCI Watchkeepers Sue Wolstenholme and Simon Woodrow, were responsible for alerting the search and rescue services and helping to save the lives of two fishermen.
Sue and Simon alerted HM Coastguard in Holyhead to the unfolding danger, who quickly contacted the Fleetwood Coastguard team.
Once the Coastguards arrived, they realised the fishermen were completely cut off from the shore and paged Fleetwood RNLI.
The fishermen were almost neck deep in water, as the fast in-coming tide enveloped them, when the lifeboat arrived and both were thankfully, saved.
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Sue said, ‘We were both surprised when we were told about the award. Helping to spot danger and prevent loss of life, off the sandbanks of Fleetwood, and beyond, is what we’re trained to do, although it was a pretty intense 45 minutes.
We were just glad there was a happy ending. It might have been a very different story had we not contacted the Coastguard when we did.’
Sue and Simon will be presented with their awards, by the High Sheriff of Lancashire, at a special ceremony at Rossall Tower next week.