Search and Rescue, the new blockbuster exhibition from National Maritime Museum Cornwall invites you to enter the world of the rescue services where ordinary people lead extraordinary lives, risking their life to save yours.

Opening on 16 March 2012, the exhibition takes you on an interactive, stimulating and emotive journey into the role of the maritime rescue services, celebrating the work of the RNLI, Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, HM Coastguard and other organisations.

Objects of epic proportions include a 70ft Sea King helicopter, kindly loaned by the MOD, one of the Museum’s most ambitious installations. Uniquely painted in the colours of both the Royal Navy and RAF Search and Rescue (SAR) services (red and grey one side and yellow on the other) it offers you the rare opportunity to climb inside, without having to be rescued. Dress as a pilot, listen to accounts from the crew and from those that have been rescued, explore their lifesaving equipment and discover the world of the Royal Navy and RAF SAR teams.

Revisiting rescues from the past, some well-known and some untold, this exhibition showcases the individuals whose job it is to head into the eye of the storm, when most of us would flee. The exhibition traces the evolution of rescue equipment from the early days of Henry Trengrouse’s rocket line to the cutting edge equipment of today and shows that although the equipment might have changed, the determination and grit of rescue men and women to save lives has never changed.

At the heart of the exhibition is an interactive coastguard operations room. Put yourself in the coastguard hot seat, make the life or death decision to bring in the right service for the rescue and begin your journey through the incredible work and lives of the coastguard rescue, air and sea rescue teams.

Get up close to one of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) Atlantic 75 inshore lifeboats and see a fascinating assembly of the charity’s collection boxes spanning 150 years. Take to the beach and become a virtual lifeguard, climb aboard a quad bike and take action to make sure the swimmers and surfers are between the right flags. See real seaside rescues and listen to accounts from volunteer crewmen and women.

Ben Lumby, Exhibitions Manager of National Maritime Museum Cornwall, says: “This is our biggest and most ambitious exhibition to date but more importantly it is the first time anyone has celebrated the maritime rescue services in this way.”

“Working with these incredible teams has been a true privilege; they have kindly allowed us to see inside their world and shown us they’re real people doing an amazing job. They belong to different organisations and charities but work as a team and you can be safe in the knowledge that if things do go wrong at sea, there’s a service that will be there for you.”

The new Search & Rescue exhibition at National Maritime Museum Cornwall opens on 16 March 2012. Honouring the work of the heroic men and women who risk their lives at sea and around our coast, it invites you to be part of their world and shares their lives with you.

Throughout the two year life of the exhibition there will be a number of events including air sea rescue demonstrations, ‘meet the crew’ days and opportunities to climb aboard an RNLI all-weather lifeboat. To keep up to date with what’s on when, visit www.nmmc.co.uk

Notes

Ship in a bottle… that’s easy compared to squeezing a helicopter into a Museum. Witness the Museum’s largest ever installation for yourself – a picture opportunity not to be missed. Please contact the press team for more information.

Jonathan Griffin, Director of National Maritime Museum Cornwall says: “We knew we were ambitious when plans for developing this new exhibition evolved years ago and without the support and funding of the RNLI, RNLI Heritage Trust, and MCA and the objects loaned by the MOD and work of AgustaWestland, the Royal Navy, RAF and many others, we could never have dreamed of achieving the calibre of exhibition reached, let alone squeezing a 21m long, six tonne Sea King in our exhibition!”

RNLI
The RNLI is the charity that saves lives at sea, it takes 40,000 volunteers – on lifeboats, at stations, on beaches and in fundraising to keep it going and the organisation must find £150m per year to keep the lifeboats and lifeguards operating.

The RNLI Heritage Trust is a subsidiary charity established in 2004 to support and promote the RNLI’s heritage.

Joanna Bellis, RNLI Heritage Curatorial Manager says: “This is the first time the RNLI and RNLI Heritage Trust has worked as a partner with a national museum for an exhibition and this is the most significant ‘presence’ we have had in the West Country. We’re delighted to be part of it and to be able to present our heritage collections alongside items from the modern day RNLI. We hope our contribution to the exhibition will be a fun and inspiring way to find out about the charity and will go some way to giving back to all those that have supported us over the years by showing what their support and funding has enabled us to achieve.

771 Naval Air Squadron
771 Naval Air Squadron is one of two Royal Navy Search and Rescue units in the UK and has been based at RNAS Culdrose in Helston, Cornwall since 1974. In 2010 they undertook 260 Search and Rescue (SAR) call outs and a further 242 SAR in 2011. 2012 will no doubt be another busy year.

Lt Cdr Chris ‘Damage’ Canning, Commanding Officer 771 Naval Air Squadron says: “We have worked really closely with the Museum team and this excellent exhibition showcases the joint approach to Search and Rescue across the UK and the 200 miles of sea we all cover. At its heart is our Royal Navy helicopter which has its own long and distinguished career and the vast range of information, pieces of equipment, items from the numerous rescues conducted off the Cornish coast and personal recollections from the crews involved will be an inspiration for both the young and the young at heart.”

RAF
The Royal Air Force maintains a 24-hour search and rescue service covering the whole of the United Kingdom and a large surrounding area. Whilst the service exists primarily to assist military aircrew and other personnel in distress, the vast majority of ‘scrambles’ are to assist civilians who find themselves in difficulties, either on land or at sea
Group Captain Frazer Nicholson, UK Search and Rescue Force Commander says: “I was delighted to assist the National Maritime Museum Cornwall in obtaining the Sea King and to assist the museum’s curators in their researches for this ambitious project. During an average year, the RAF Search and Rescue Force can expect to respond to just under two thousand callouts. Like all emergency services, the types of incident vary tremendously. It could be anything from rescuing fallen climbers, sailors in distress through to larger-scale operations such as the floods at Boscastle, Cornwall, in 2004; each day brings a new challenge.
The six RAF Search and Rescue Flights in the UK work hand-in-glove with their four civilian coastguard and two Royal Navy counterparts. Together we provide a unified Search and Rescue service which ensures that SAR helicopter cover is provided across the UK and its surrounding territorial and international sea areas.”

Squadron Leader Dave Webster, Officer Commanding RAF SAR Support says: “The Royal Air Force maintains 6 dedicated search and rescue helicopter flights and four mountain rescue teams at strategic locations across the UK. Together with the UK Aeronautical Rescue Co-ordination Centre at RAF Kinloss and its four mountain rescue teams, the RAF provides 24-hour search and rescue cover across 1.1 million square miles of the UK Search and Rescue Region. This includes all of the UK and most of the North Sea oil, gas and fishing areas. Whilst the service exists primarily to assist military aircrew and other personnel in distress, the vast majority of ‘scrambles’ are to assist civilians who find themselves in difficulties, either on land or at sea. The RAF also provides SAR helicopter cover in the Falkland Islands and Cyprus.
MCA and HM Coastguard
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) implements the government’s maritime safety policy in the UK and works to prevent the loss of life on the coast and at sea, providing a 24-hour maritime search and rescue service around the UK coast and in the international search and rescue region through HM Coastguard.

Rod Johnson, Chief Coastguard says: “The UK is fortunate to have a maritime search and rescue organisation that is very highly regarded internationally. I am therefore delighted to welcome the new search and rescue exhibition at National Maritime Museum Cornwall which will showcase the history and the modern achievements of HM Coastguard, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy and others.

“This is the first time that the Maritime and Coastguard Agency has supported an exhibition of this kind. I hope that as well as learning about how maritime search and rescue operates, visitors will also come away with information about how to become safer whilst at sea and along the coast.”

MOD and AgustaWestland
The MOD through the Sea King Project Team at AgustaWestland have kindly loaned the exhibition a uniquely painted Sea King helicopter to mark the outstanding work and achievements of the Royal Navy and RAF SAR crews in the South West. Never done before, this investment in support has been key to the level of experience the exhibition offers.

Chris Page, Sea King Project Team Manager at AgustaWestland says: “Sponsorship of the exhibition in this way has given us the perfect opportunity to celebrate the work of the RN and RAF crews on Sea Kings. Having served in the Falklands, she was based at Culdrose before serving on multiple bases elsewhere, the Sea King Mk 6 now returns home to Cornwall and we’re delighted that her life and the lives rescued and saved through her are celebrated in this exhibition.”