Arbroath Lifeboat Guild has resigned en masse in the row over a replacement vessel for the 220-year-old station.
21 of the 25-strong committee have stepped down in protest over the controversy surrounding a decision to remove an all-weather lifeboat from Arbroath.
The group has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for the RNLI during its lengthy existence.
Only last month its president, Mo Morrison, was recognised in the King’s Birthday Honours list for her dedication to the lifesaving organisation over nearly 35 years.
She said events since April had left her “sad, angry and tired.”
News of the Guild collapse came on the day the RNLI released a statement confirming remaining members of an Arbroath crew split by the crisis now want to close the sorry chapter in the station’s proud history.
They will begin trials on the Atlantic 85 which is to replace Arbroath’s all-weather Mersey-class boat.
Letter to RNLI HQ
Mo said: “We had an EGM on Wednesday and 21 of the 25 committee present put their names to a letter which is now winging its way to RNLI HQ in Poole.”
In June, the 77-year-old said she was “thrilled to bits” to receive a British Empire Medal in the honours list.
She has been a Guild member for 34 years and president since 2016.
Her grandfather was one of the crew lost on the ill-fated town lifeboat Robert Lindsay which capsized within sight of the town harbour in October 1953.
“I had made up my mind before all of this that I would be stepping down as president but I was happy to stay on the Guild,” Mo added.
“But they have forced us into this decision with the way they have handled this.
“None of us wanted this to happen, it is such a sad day and I am just devastated.”
Fundraising criticism anger
Last month, she said the Guild was “incensed” by comments made by RNLI chief executive Mark Dowie around the issue of local fundraising.
The top figure said it was “unjust” for critics to suggest Arbroath was being downgraded.
In a letter to campaigners, Mr Dowie said : “It is worth noting there has been no fundraising for a new lifeboat or lifeboat station at Arbroath.”
But in November, the RNLI told Arbroath the station fund sat at almost £4m.
“We would have easily raised funds for a new boat and how dare they suggest otherwise,” Mo added.
“They have divided the crew but the Guild members who have resigned wanted to show their support for (operations manager) Alex Smith and those who have gone.”
Former fisherman Mr Smith was sacked by the RNLI and is one of nine crew to either be stood down or to have resigned in the wake of the RNLI’s decision to renege on a nine-year-old commitment to allocate a £2.5 million Shannon-class lifeboat to Arbroath.
Crew ‘between rock and hard place’
“Our decision was taken before the announcement the remaining crew would be accepting the Atlantic 85,” added Mo.
“I feel so sorry for them – they are between a rock and a hard place.”
She continued: “The Guild has not disbanded, but I really don’t know what will happen.
“We have raised hundreds of thousands of pounds in our time for the RNLI.
“We’ve been a committee, but we have also become very close friends and that is one of the really sad things about this whole episode.
“We took our decision and I came home and had a good greet.
“I was overjoyed to receive the BEM as a tribute to the work of the Guild.
“Now it is just so sad it has ended this way, not only for the Guild but all the crew who have resigned as well.
“One of our members would have completed 50 years this year – it is just so sad and unnecessary.”
