POOLE man who has dedicated his career to the saving others has been given a national award.

Michael Vlasto, inset, who started working for the RNLI in 1975, received the honorary RNLI Silver Medal, one of the charity’s highest accolades at its Annual Presentation of Awards Ceremony in London.

For the past 16 years, Michael has worked as operations director, responsible for the charity’s 237 lifeboat stations, their 6,000 crew and 1,000 lifeguards across the UK and Ireland, but will retire this summer, in July.

He has worked tirelessly to lead the charity from being a lifeboating organisation, to one which now includes lifeguards, hovercraft, flood rescue teams, lifeboats on the River Thames and offering life saving training abroad.

Devoted to his lifeboat volunteer’s safety, Michael and his team strove for cutting edge life-saving technology and training, and over the space of his career, the RNLI lifeboats have more than trebled in speed.

On being told of his award, Michael said: “It took me completely by surprise and I feel very humbled.

Bournemouth Echo:

“Working for this wonderful organisation has been a privilege and also intensely rewarding.”

Admiral The Lord Boyce, Chairman of the RNLI, said: “Michael is a well-respected, influential and charismatic leader of the RNLI’s coastal operations and his achievements in the RNLI have been instrumental.

He added: “He has inspired and implemented many of the more innovative, and sometimes courageous, steps that the Institution has taken in recent years.”