A team who dedicate their lives to saving others offshore are taking to dry land to raise cash for vital equipment.

Volunteers and staff at Gravesend RNLI Lifeboat Station are organising a 16-mile sponsored walk along the coast on May 28, beginning in Allhallows and ending in Gravesend.

They hope to raise £500 to contribute to RNLI’s Mayday Every Day campaign that is hosting several similar events all across the UK, rallying around the slogan Do Your Bit, Fund Our Kit.

In 2016 RNLI lifeboat crews across the UK saved 558 people at an average of 23 a day. That year was the service’s busiest year for lifeboat launches since 2011, with launches to help people in the water rising by 25% from 2015.

To help maintain rescue services, the RNLI hopes to raise £750,000 nationally through one of the biggest fundraisers it has ever held. The donations raised by the walk and others like it will go towards this total.

Gravesend’s station covers an area from Hole Haven, at the western end of Canvey Island, to the Thames Flood Barrier at Woolwich, a distance of 26 miles serving Kent, Essex, and south London.

Alan Carr, a volunteer crew member at Gravesend, said fundraising was important for the service: “Crews have to do all kinds of tasks across the 26 square mile area we cover. They can range from towing boats to retrieving people from the water to rescuing pets.

“We also have to respond to medical cases and know how to handle those with mental illness as well.

“Every time we’re on shift, we train. We practise tying knots and using equipment to make sure everyone is safe. We also have competency boards who make sure everyone’s up to standard. We fund all of it ourselves from donations. We don’t get any funding from the government.”

Mr Carr said the fundraising would go towards equipment such as life jackets, drysuits, gloves, and helmets.

You can donate at bit.ly/2p4lQYK