Juliet Blackie - RNLI

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the charity that saves lives at sea and was established over 200 years ago in 1824. Across the UK and Ireland in 2024, RNLI lifeboats launched 9,141 times and helped over 17,000 people, saving a total of 437 lives. Mallaig RNLI Lifeboat Station is located in a working port on the west coast of Scotland and has operated an all-weather lifeboat for nearly 60 years. The station has an active fundraising branch made up of volunteers who also run the RNLI shop which generates funds to help continue the charity’s lifesaving work.

Juliet Blackie began volunteering for the Mallaig RNLI shop in 2022, and took on the volunteer Shop Manager role in 2023. She got to grips with the role quickly and onboarded 8 new volunteers to support. In 2024 she and the team were able to open 6 days a week compared to just the occasional day in 2022. Considering Mallaig’s small population, in 2024, the income for the shop was £38,324, an incredible increase of £32,670 on 2022. She passionately demonstrates the RNLI’s values of being courageous, dependable, selfless and trustworthy, and proves that with courage nothing is impossible.