HM Coastguard teams hailed with Department for Transport Rescue Shield
From left: Trevor Cutler (Newhaven CRT), Mark Francis (Birling Gap), Sadi Hopgood (Eastbourne) and Virginia McVea (Photo: Eddie Mitchell) Three volunteer Coastguard Rescue Teams (CRTs) in Sussex have been awarded the Department for Transport Rescue Shield for their outstanding dedication and courage responding to many particularly challenging emergencies on steep and dangerous cliffs. The prestigious accolade was presented by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s Chief Executive, Virginia McVea, to the CRTs and full-time officers working from Birling Gap, Eastbourne and Newhaven. The volunteer Coastguard Rescue Officers who make up the teams are regularly sent to deploy their rope rescue skills on the vertiginous cliffs of the Sussex coast. Emergency responses often require long hours, descending onto precarious ledges, and sometimes careful communication with the people in danger. It is not unusual for CRTs to be tasked to several incidents in a single day or for rescues to also invo