Dunbar woman leaves cash to RNLI 60 years after rescue

When she was 14 years old, a local lifeboat crew saved Joan Scambler's life

Almost 60 years after a dramatic sea rescue, Joan Scambler remained grateful to the RNLI for saving her life when she was 14 years old.

When she died in January last year, Ms Scambler made sure to give back to the lifeboat charity which had saved her when her canoe capsized in 1965.

Ms Scambler, who was from Dunbar in East Lothian, left more than £14,000 to the charity.

She also left the same amount to four other charities.

Her brother Alan Scambler, 69, said the charitable donations showed his sister's "exceptionally generous" nature.

Joan lived the majority of her life in Dunbar

Ms Scambler, who died at the age of 69, never forgot the day in April 1965 when she was rescued by Dunbar's lifeboat volunteers.

She was canoeing with friends when they ran into difficulty near East Beach in the East Lothian town.

The bay had initially looked calm but within a few minutes of taking the canoes into the sea the group got into trouble.

While her friend Linda managed to get back to the shore, Joan was struggling and another friend, Jack, alerted the coastguard.

Joan tried to hang on to her wooden canoe but ended up in the water where the lifeboat crew came to her rescue.

The teenager was on the verge of hypothermia and spent the night in Dunbar Cottage hospital but did not suffer any serious injuries.

Her brother Alan said the RNLI lifeboat crew were the reason she lived another 55 years.

"They are exceptionally important," he said.

"If it hadn't been for the RNLI they would have perished. There is no two ways about that.

"There are incidents in the water every day around the UK, the crew that do the work are just volunteers. So all the money that is collected is for running the show and getting new equipment."

'Quite overwhelming'

Veronica Davies, Dunbar lifeboat fundraising chairwoman, said the donation came at the best possible time for the organisation.

"Over the past couple of years there hadn't been a lot of money coming in to help us with our life-saving service," she said.

"I was quite overwhelmed by the size of the donation and the fact that Joan and her family had thought about the Dunbar RNLI at such a sad time for them.

"The donation meant a huge amount as did the fact that Joan had remembered her rescue after all these years and wanted to pay us back in some way."