Six lifesaving volunteers are celebrating almost 200 years of combined service.

Geoff Warminger, Ivan Greer, Andy Harris, Gavin Simmons, Nick White and Rob Devo, who are stationed at Littlehampton RNLI Lifeboat Station, have chalked up a combined 194 years of saving lives at sea.

It makes the team Littlehampton RNLI Lifeboat Station’s longest-serving operational crew.

They are all frontliners who currently have, or have held, seagoing roles and they are being celebrated as the RNLI reaches its 200th anniversary this week.

Geoff has served for 52 years, Nick 42 years, Ivan 33 years, Andy 28 year, Gavin 22 years and Rob 17 years.

Since it was founded on March 4,1824, the RNLI has relied on volunteering to power its service. Each volunteer juggles their time with their job and family life. They are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. When their pager goes off, they will drop everything to head to the lifeboat station and save lives at sea. Littlehampton RNLI, which is in the heart of Littlehampton Harbour, is manned entirely by volunteers.

Nick, Littlehampton RNLI Lifeboat Station’s lifeboat operations manager, said: “The town of Littlehampton has a long and close relationship with the RNLI. Since the 19th century, our men and women have selflessly given up their time to help those in trouble in our local waters.

“Although today we are recognising the dedication and commitment of our longest-serving volunteers, I would also like to thank every single one of the many men and women at Littlehampton RNLI who make our lifesaving work possible. To our shop staff, visits officers, water safety team, fundraisers, press officers, boathouse managers, launch authorities, shore crew and crew – thank you.”

Littlehampton RNLI’s volunteer crew look after the stretch of the West Sussex coast between Bognor and Worthing. Littlehampton RNLI is independent from the coastguard and receives no government funding. The modern lifeboat station was established in 1969 and was home to the famous Blue Peter I lifeboat for 49 years. Today, Littlehampton is served by two lifeboats, Renee Sherman and Ray of Hope.