Angus is recovering from her weekend battering by Mother Nature.
Roads have cleared, rivers dropped and the Barry Burn subsided enough to let Monday’s weather-delayed Dunhill Links Championship get back on course at Carnoustie.
But today marks the anniversary of a year-long storm that may have also abated but many fear Arbroath will never recover from.
October 10 2022 was the day The Courier exclusively revealed Arbroath or Broughty Ferry would lose their all-weather lifeboat capability.
Shannon or Atlantic 85
A coastal review decided one station would land the £2.5 million jet-powered Shannon-class pride of the RNLI fleet.
The other would be allocated a super-fast Atlantic 85 rigid inflatable – highly capable, but an inshore lifeboat.
Dedicated Arbroath crew, fundraisers and supporters were perturbed by the prospect of the 220-year-old station losing its ‘big boat’ when the Mersey-class Inchcape was retired.
But surely sense – and years of previous promises – would prevail, they thought and hoped.
After all, bigwigs at Poole HQ had been assuring Arbroath since 2014 a Shannon was town bound.
It was ideally suited to taking on the hostile North Sea beyond the harbour bar.
In the same way the speedy Atlantic seemed the perfect vessel for Broughty’s River Tay work – much of it in response to bridge incidents which regularly contribute to the station’s status as one of Scotland’s busiest.
And the concerns subsided – until April this year when the decision which rocked Arbroath was delivered.
RNLI chiefs rejected outright suggestions the allocation of an Atlantic 85 to Arbroath was a downgrade.
They also dismissed claims the RIB was not a suitable boat for the conditions it could face.
Local capability, they said, would be improved with an Atlantic 85 in Arbroath and Shannons at the flank stations of Montrose and the Ferry.
It provoked outrage – and a packed turnout at a protest meeting in the Meadowbank Inn just days later.
The town wanted RNLI bosses to face the people and explain their thinking.
So The Courier extended the offer of a Webster Theatre platform to elaborate on the rationale.
It was rejected and, to date, no-one from the RNLI hierarchy has spoken directly to a community audience.
The turbulent six months since have seen:
- The dismissal of long-serving station operations manager Alex Smith
- Crew departures totalling more than a century of RNLI service
- The mass resignation of fundraising Lifeboat Guild stalwarts
- The arrival of an Atlantic 85 for familiarisation trials
Where are we now?
The Atlantic 85 is berthed at the town marina and crew continue to get to grips with the fast RIB’s capabilities.
In July, the remainder of the divided crew said they wanted to put the “challenging period” behind them and look to the future.
The charity is planning to stage a volunteering day at the station to boost crew numbers.
And plans are being drawn up for a replacement Arbroath lifeboat station.
The 220-year-old shed is past its sell-by date and is to be replaced.
In the meantime, the Mersey-class all-weather boat remains in service and ready to respond.
Arbroath is about to enter the winter period and the weekend storm was a taster of what is to come for the brave crew of RNLB Inchape and the inshore D-class Robert Fergusson.
And onshore, waves of discontent look set to continue to wash around the red-roofed station and the town which holds its history so dear to its heart.
Conversation