Frank Taylor
Frank belongs to: Cullercoats RNLI & The Coble and Keelboat Society
Frank was born in Cullercoats. He fished from Cullercoats and North Shields from 1979 to 1989. He has been involved with the RNLI since he was a teenager and is now Deputy Launching Authority. Frank is also a member of The Coble and Keelboat Society.
Frank was interviewed by Kylea Little on 4 December 2005. The interview took place at Cullercoats RNLI lifeboat station and lasted 21 minutes and 11 seconds.
Sound of the maroon
"Sounds? The maroons. When I was a youngster, they used to fire massive maroons"
Sounds? The maroons. When I was a youngster, they used to fire massive maroons up and you would, you would hear the explosion of the maroon going up and then the maroon would burst, burst open a few hundred feet above the houses and it used to rattle the windows, and almost break the windows, and that used to put the fear of God in you. And you’d get a, I’ve even started to get a rush now just thinking about it. Because that used to make your heart stop and you would run down to the boat and try and help.
Before we had pagers or anything else, the maroon was, one maroon was to assemble the lifeboat and two maroons was immediate launch, so you had to get down there fast. During the war years, we weren’t allowed to fire maroons and when the lifeboat was required the coastguard would phone my father and my mother would run the streets banging on doors to get the crew down.
Frank has 12 memories in the memorynet:
Frank's memories with a Volunteering theme:
Role at the RNLI- Changes at the RNLI
- The crew
- Sound of the maroon
Photograph of Frank- Hauling up the lifeboat
- The crew
- The lifeboat
Frank's other memories:
This memory has these themes:
Sounds and Smells | Traditions | Volunteering | Wartime | Women
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