Crew: Tommy Williams

Youngest crew member looking to the future... Tommy is the youngest member of the crew, who hopes to be rescuing people in the jet- powered Valentljn 2000 lifeboat for many years to come. Tommy Williams, pictured, has been a junior crew member for the last two years but has been associated with the crew for as long as he can remember. "I have been involved most of my life.

My father is second coxswain, my mum is part of the fundraising association and my grandfather was also a crew member," he said. The 18-year-old has been an apprentice car mechanic at his father's business, Williams Garage, in Yarmouth Road, for the last three years. He has lived in Caister all of his life and hopes to be a crew member until he retires. He said the best thing about being part of the voluntary crew was helping people and being part of a team. "We all get along and go out as a group and have a beer. We all go fishing together and have a good time," he said. Tommy was on the open waves as soon as he was out of nappies. "I have been fishing since I was three. I have been told I used to stand on a box in my dad's boat," he said. "It is a great feeling to be on a boat compared to the shore." His most memorable experience on the lifeboat was one of his first rescues when he steered the current lifeboat Bernard Matthews for four hours when they went to the aid of the crew of the Zippa yacht 30-miles out to sea.

He said the new lifeboat would make a big difference: "It will have an advantage. We do not need as many crew, we can get into the sea quickly and it is easy to handle in rough water." He was one of the first to drive the Valentijn 2000 when the -crew ran a trial of the Dutch-built craft last year. He said: "We were out for two hours on the sandbanks and the river, and it was brilliant."