AN RNLI volunteer who was about to celebrate his 40th birthday "dropped everything" to rescue two people.

Simon Nuding, from Lymington, was preparing to attend a meal in celebration of his birthday, but his pager went off to notify him that his help was needed for an urgent rescue.

His wife then rushed him to Lymington RNLI Station, where a voluntary crew launched a lifeboat for their first rescue of the year.

Volunteers for the RNLI are on call 24 hours of every day.

Under the command of Simon, who has volunteered for the RNLI for 18 years, their Atlantic 85 class inshore took to the seas towards Newtown Creek, Isle of Wight, on January 18 at 7.12pm.

The lifeboat quickly reached the vessel, where two people were on board, and discovered the motor boat was aground on a wall.

Simon said: "They were unlucky. We got there pretty quick and pushed them off the wall.

"They were planning to stay the night but cut their losses as they had had enough, and we followed their boat back to Lymington."

Two crew members were placed aboard the motor boat while another lifeboat crew member entered the water to help by pushing the boat, once the grounded vessel began floating.

The boat was able to make its own way back to Lymington under their own power, escorted by the Lymington lifeboat.

The shore crew were waiting at the station and had prepared the lifeboat ready for service again at 8.03pm.

Simon added: "This happens all the time - it is part of our lives. We would be naked without our pagers. Volunteers up and down the country drop everything.

"All of the team on the South Coast are all doing a great job and spend a huge amount of their time volunteering. I jumped off the boat after the rescue, which took around 45 minutes, got changed, and had a lovely meal with friends.