Volunteer Life Brigade


A Volunteer Life Brigade is a search and rescue organisation which assists HM Coastguard in the United Kingdom in coastal emergencies. Around 40 VLBs were established in the mid-to-late 19th century; today just three remain, continuing to provide shore-based search and rescue support from locations on the coast of north-east England. They are akin to, but predate, the volunteer Coastguard Rescue Service and the National Coastwatch Institution.

Origins

The Volunteer Life Brigades date from a time when Coastguard provision for coastal rescue had been substantially reduced. The first unit, at Tynemouth, was established on 5 December 1864 following a series of shipwrecks on the shoreline in which crewmembers perished watched by spectators ashore who were powerless to help. Over 100 volunteers signed up at the first public meeting. Other units soon followed, often founded in similar circumstances and modelled along the lines of Tynemouth's example.
From the start the Volunteer Life Brigades worked closely with local Coastguard officers, providing trained and disciplined teams of volunteers to assist in emergency situations; training was overseen by HM Coastguard. The Volunteer Life Brigades were shore-based organisations, trained in ship-to-shore rescue techniques; they worked in conjunction with those providing a seaborne rescue capability, such as the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and local Lifeboat Societies.
The early success of the VLB arrangement at Tynemouth impressed the Board of Trade, the Government office with responsibility for safety at sea; the Board recommended that similar arrangements be made at every Coastguard station around the country. In some cases the Tynemouth model was followed: independent Volunteer Life Brigades were established, administered by a local committee. In other cases teams of volunteers were established and administered directly by the local Coastguard officers; these bodies were termed Volunteer Life-Saving Companies.

Current activities

The three remaining VLBs are all registered charities and both Tynemouth and South Shields are "declared facilities" in relation to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. They are on call to the Coastguard 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, each providing a shore-based team of volunteers trained and ready to provide assistance in a range of coastal emergency situations.

Active units

Each Volunteer Life Brigade operates from a Watch House on the seafront; these provide a base for training and other activities, and each houses a small museum. Those at South Shields and Tynemouth are listed buildings, dating from 1867 and 1886 respectively. Alongside the Watch Houses, Cart Houses were built to house rocket equipment together with a means of transport ; today they house up-to-date rescue vehicles and equipment.

Examples of disbanded units

Volunteer Life Brigade