Lifeboat crew members from RNLI Thurso were called away from the funeral of their long-serving volunteer Joan Elder when their pagers sounded during the service. The crew left the church to applause and joined a multi-agency search near Duncansby Head.
Emergency call interrupts funeral service
Joan Elder, who died last month at the age of 81, was remembered at a service on Thursday, October 8. Crew member Scotty Youngston had just finished his tribute to Joan when the alert went off, and the duty crew quickly left the church.
The congregation gave them a round of applause as they departed. The minister continued the service, and RNLI colleagues said Joan, who had a great sense of humour, would have loved the chaos of the occasion.
Search operation near Duncansby Head
The lifeboat, The Taylors, launched at 11.30am and was tasked by HM Coastguard to assist in a multi-agency search in the Duncansby area near John O'Groats. The crew arrived on scene at 12.50pm, deployed the inflatable "Y" boat, and began a shoreline search using thermal and high power binoculars.
At around 3.45pm, Coxswain Mark Johnston was told to stand down, and The Taylors returned to the station at Scrabster, where it was refuelled and made ready for service at 4.45pm.
Joan's long service to RNLI Thurso
Joan had been associated with RNLI Thurso for around 30 years. She was manager of the RNLI gift shop for many years, taking it across Caithness to raise funds, and as box secretary she gathered funds from collection tins across Caithness and Sutherland. After retiring, she continued to volunteer regularly in the shop.
Posting on social media, RNLI Thurso said: "People are remembered in many different ways and, after today, Joan's service will always be part of Thurso RNLI history."
