Ian is a Design Assurance Engineer on the Gas Engineering Team within UK Construction.
"I have been involved with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution since the early 1980’s
"I’m Chairman of the Kettering Fundraising Branch, which covers Kettering, Corby and surrounding areas of Northamptonshire for the last eight years.
"I’m responsible for raising funds, awareness of the RNLI and what it does, water safety awareness, and I provide presentations to third parties on the RNLI. National Grid has supported me with an award of £1000 through our employee community grant scheme. It's great that you can get recognition for what you do outside of work through a grant scheme like this, because it would take ages for my group to raise a £1000.
"I visited my first lifeboat station when I was four years old and am still hooked. Initially I wanted to go to sea as an engineer but picked up an injury in my late teens that made that impossible - you only get one legged sailors in Hollywood! So when the opportunity arose some years later I became a RNLI volunteer.
"The RNLI has invested an awful lot in me - various training courses, ranging from how to run meetings, to be an effective chairman, through to a Volunteer presenter. On many occasions I am giving advice to families that may keep them alive by the sea.
"It gives me a superb buzz to be part of the “Volunteer” ethos - I am proud to be a RNLI volunteer."