Ceri Jeffreys had just sat down to eat at his favourite restaurant with his wife and his brother he hadn't seen for six months when his phone went off.
While most of us would have probably rolled our eyes, apologised, and put our device on silent Ceri's phone was not a standard phone – it was a pager. And whenever the pager goes off he has to stop whatever it is he is doing and prepare himself for a long night ahead.
That's because Ceri, from Port Talbot, is one of the inspiring individuals across Wales who put their lives on the line every single day by battling the elements and unpredictable currents and tides in order to rescue people of all ages who are in danger at sea.
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"We're all on-call 24/7. The thing about what we do is that you can't predict it," Ceri explained. "You learn very quickly there's no point trying to predict what will happen. You've just always got to be ready."
Ceri, 53, "grew up on the sea," he said. His childhood and college days were spent splashing about in the waves and chartering boats.
In his early adulthood he moved all around Britain and the world in various jobs but was always interested in a job that involved being at sea rhough he was never in the right place or had the time to look into it properly, he said.
Seven years ago he moved back to Port Talbot where he had grown up. On his first night in his new home he took a stroll to his local Chinese takeaway to order his dinner.
Sitting on a chair waiting for his food to be cooked Ceri picked up the newspaper on the chair next to him and flicked through.
The paper, WalesOnline's sister newspaper the South Wales Evening Post, featured an advert for the RNLI and Port Talbot lifeboat station.
Ceri got in touch. "They were concerned I was a little too old to be crew, as you have to train for two years to become boat crew, but there's always a job for you so they put me on shore crew," he said.
"Then, when they realised I was fit enough, I was promoted to boat crew. I started my training, trained for two years and then I was on boat crew for a couple of years. Then I was put back on shore crew and was the driver launching the lifeboats. Now I'm the launch authority.
"I've done most things in the RNLI – in my six years I've had 30 years of experiences."
Ceri and other RNLI volunteers have to be available for any kind of situation at any time of day.
Among his most vivid memories of working for the RNLI over the last six years Ceri remembers being woken up in the early hours of the morning and having to launch a lifeboat less than 15 minutes later.
He said: "One incident I remember so well was during the Beast from the East [in February to March 2018]. The pager went off at about 3am – I was fast asleep in bed.
"Instantly you're awake – you don't even get dressed, you just get down there [to the lifeboat station]. Eight to 10 minutes later we'd launched the lifeboat in a blizzard.
"We spent three hours searching in the blizzard. At one point we went up the Afan river and it was too shallow to use the engine so we were pushing the boat through the river in a blizzard.
"We were still there at 6am – unfortunately we didn't find anything."
Explaining the rough conditions, he added: "When we came back the shore crew ran towards us and you could hear the ice breaking in the sea."
After responding to a call, an RNLI volunteer's brain runs through everything they've done and it can be hard to settle down.
Ceri said: "Your brain goes through everything you've done but that's what life is like on the lifeboat."
Fortunately Ceri has been involved in numerous successful missions and he's lost count of the number of lives he and colleagues have saved.
He recalls receiving a call from a concerned member of the public who had driven past the motorway at Bridgend and had noticed a group of young people appearing to be getting ready to go tombstoning so he and the team went to investigate.
"We were searching for the young people – we got there quick enough to stop them from getting injured. It was a good call from the motorist."
At another incident he rescued someone who had got stuck in a current on a jet ski. He said: "One of my proudest shouts was one where we rescued a jet ski casualty. We had to launch through massive surf. We had to turn and recover the casualty in between the surf then had to travel back through the surf."
The casualty, who Ceri later found out was also a member of a local lifeboat crew, commended the team for saving his life and navigating the intense waves to get him to safety.
People's preconceptions of working on a lifeboat for the RNLI or the Coastguard Agency massively differ from what life is actually like, Ceri said.
"People's vision of work on a lifeboat is what they see on Saving Lives at Sea but the amount that goes in to getting to that is huge – the lifeboat crew, the shore crew, it's a big number of people and a big amount of time.
"What nobody sees is the level of training we go through. To become crew there's a lot of effort you put in for two years.
"The number of times I've left my partner at a party or in the pub as I've responded to a pager – it's lots of times."
It's "very common" to have to stop what you're doing and race out to save a life – even if you're at a family dinner, special event, or a wedding.
"You haven't got time for pleasantries – you've just got to go. We're all on call 24/7, we all rely on the pager and an app on our phones," Ceri said. "Everyone in the RNLI is part of the family – you don't want to let them down."
Ceri continued: "On another shout we had been planning a family barbecue for many months as my family are well spread out. My garden is on several levels with lots of steps.
"On the day I went shopping to buy and prepare everything and just as I was about to light the barbecue and carry the food up the pager goes off leaving everyone else to do all the work and cook their own barbecue."
Ceri's whole life revolves around being prepared for when he may receive a call on his pager. He has his uniform and specialist clothing ready every night before he goes to bed and even ensures his car is parked facing a certain way to save time.
"It's a real commitment. Wherever you are you're thinking: 'What can I do if the pager goes off?'."
For fellow RNLI volunteer Clive Morris, lifeboat operations manager at the Port Talbot lifeboat station, there's "not a lot" he hasn't seen or done.
He joined the RNLI some 36 years ago, first starting with a role in the shore crew and learning about the boat and how the team work together before trying various other roles over the years.
He recalled: "I started off as shore crew – learning the boat, getting used to fellow crew members and learning the ropes. And after a period of time I progressed to being a crew member. I was then a helmsman. I was carrying out rescues for more than 20 years.
"Now I'm the lifeboat operations manager and deputy launching authority. I take pride in what I do, I can give back to the community where I live. We've got three deputy launching authorities and 30 award-winning crew at the Port Talbot station.
"We're a real family and we assist each other. We're one crew, one family in the RNLI. Everybody's got a lot to offer – we've got people from all walks of life."
Referring to how varied the role can be he added: "We support people, boats that have broken down, suicidal people.
"We pluck people to safety [when they have] just a couple of minutes left. We support people who've been in peril and carry out so many rescues."
Ceri added that the RNLI is there to help anyone in danger at sea 24 hours a day all year round. "Don't ever be worried about calling for help," he said.
Across the UK the RNLI operates more than 400 lifeboats. Port Talbot lifeboat station, where Ceri and Clive are based, was established in 1966 and covers much of Swansea Bay. It currently houses a D-class inshore lifeboat.
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