Criccieth Coastguard Rescue Team (CRT), in Gwynedd, has three related members: husband and wife Anitria and Wayne Roberts and their son, Cedri.
The trio have gathered to tell their story having only just returned home from a safety check on an empty car swamped by the tide at Black Rock Sands, near Porthmadog.
Anitria (57) and Wayne (63) live together in Criccieth, with 29-year-old Cedri’s home nearby at Pentrefelin.
Alongside fellow Coastguard Rescue Officers, they are trained to respond to incidents ranging from cliff rescues and searches for missing people, to assisting beach-goers and keeping watch from land on vessels in difficulty.
• Find out how to volunteer with HM Coastguard
Wayne was the first to join, 33 years ago in 1992. He served as Station Officer before passing the CRT leadership baton to Anitria. Cedri is Deputy Station Officer.
Is it tough giving and taking orders from family?
Anitria smiles: “We don’t have any fallouts. They have to listen to what I say. But we do sometimes have some discussions afterwards.”
Wayne laughs: “We know who’s the boss at home and at work!”
Cedri, a power station electrician, joined in 2018, to the pride of his parents. He said: “I have known nothing but coastguarding since I was a child. Mum and dad would race off on a call-out and I would be looked after by a friend or neighbour.”
His dad Wayne’s dedication springs from a childhood memory of becoming lost on Blackpool beach before being reunited with his parents with the help of a kindly lollipop man.
Wayne, a plumber, said: “Joining HM Coastguard is a way of saying thank you for that. We have found lots of missing children.
“After your first job you will go home with a smile on your face, especially when you’ve found a little lost child and they’re running back to mum and they’re all saying thank you.”
• Ready to respond: the skills that save lives by the coast
He and Anitria make a good team, particularly with some of the incidents in what is a popular location for visiting families.
Wayne recalls how he identified a missing child on the beach who, scared of strangers, was calmed by Anitria’s gentle approach and soon after reunited happily with her parents.
Wayne said: “The faces of parents are lovely when you find their missing child. And the little ones are running and jumping and grabbing their parents in a big hug. That always puts a lump in my throat.”
As well as chatting about incidents, Wayne and Cedri – whose entries to HM Coastguard were 26 years apart – compare notes on how the service has changed between generations.
We know who’s the boss at home and at work!
Cedri points to the deeper training and better equipment of the modern Coastguard Rescue Teams, compared to when his dad first started out with volunteers squeezing into a Land Rover.
Wayne, who is now a trained cliff rescue technician, agrees: “It’s so much better – the equipment is second to none.”
That capability has been on show to the nation recently with HM Coastguard making TV appearances on the BBC’s ‘SOS: Extreme Rescues’ and Channel 5’s ‘Coastguard: Search and Rescue SOS’.
All three of the Roberts have featured in both programmes and were proud to be invited recently to a special screening of the BBC series to many of those involved.
For anyone considering applying to be a volunteer CRO, Anitria says: “We have a great laugh. We pull each other's legs a bit. We have a very, very good team. We all get on and we’re all from different walk of life and backgrounds.”
Wayne adds: “The biggest problem we have is getting a restaurant big enough for our Christmas get-togethers, with partners, husbands and wives – we have to book in August!”
• Find out how to volunteer with HM Coastguard
• HM Coastguard is one of the UK's frontline emergency services. In an emergency by the coast, call 999 and ask for the Coastguard.
Main photo: From left, Cedri, Anitria and Wayne Roberts
