The Galway RNLI celebrated the two decade long career of Coxswain John O’Donnell to mark his retirement recently.
In recognition of the long career of John O’Donnell, and their close relationship with the Aran Island station, the Galway RNLI crew presented a framed picture of the lifeboats from both stations to him last week.
Mike Swan, Galway RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager, who made the presentation said, “The ties between the Galway and Aran Islands lifeboat stations go right back to the late 90s when the Galway station was first operational.”
“At that time some of the Aran RNLI crew were studying in Galway and living in the city during the week and as it wasn’t always possible for them to get back to Aran for their training exercises, they joined our crew for training.”
He added that he has known John O’Donnell since he first joined the RNLI in 2003, and that when John took up the post of Aran Islands Coxswain their respective roles have seen working with each other and other emergency services.
“Although there is an imaginary line from Spiddal in Galway to Black Head in County Clare that divides the area of Galway Bay that each station is responsible for, in reality, when there is a long rescue that requires all available resources or a search for a missing boat that has no last known location, the boundary becomes irrelevant and we work together as one crew.”
“There have been many difficult nights on the water and challenging situations but when we look back on the 21 years that John was involved in the Aran Islands lifeboat, it is the friendships and camaraderie that we will remember.”
The picture which was presented to John to mark his retirement shows the Aran Islands all-weather lifeboat David Kirkaldy with the Galway inshore lifeboat, Binny.
“‘We wish John every happiness on his retirement from the RNLI and even though he will be as busy as ever, he won’t have to think about the pager going off at all hours any more.”
