MINEHEAD lifeboat's longest-serving crew member is hanging up his lifejacket after 30 years' service.

Helmsman Paul Arnold is being forced to come ashore after reaching 50 - the maximum age for crewing RNLI inshore lifeboats.

But, he said, his years on the crew have provided him with some of the most enjoyable times of his life.

"It's been a privilege to be a member of the lifeboat service but I always said if the fun ever went out of it I would walk away - and it never has," he said.

As an RNLI volunteer, Paul has put in thousands of unpaid hours in training, carrying out rescues and helping with the general running of the station.

And although he will no longer be going to sea, he still intends to be involved in station life.

He took part in his last exercise on Sunday and, he said, one of the most enjoyable aspects of the day was to take some of the station's potential new recruits afloat to give them a taste of what the lifeboat service is all about.

"It's vital that older people like me pass on their experience and knowledge to the new crew that are coming forward," he said.

"Thirty years is a long time to be involved in anything but it only seems like five minutes ago that I was out there being trained myself.

"Being a lifeboatman has meant I have met a huge number of people and made some very, very good friends. And you couldn't ask for a better group of people to work with."

Photo: RNLI/Chris Rundle