MORE than 100 people were rescued off the Suffolk coast last year by volunteer lifeboat crews, according to figures released today.It was another busy year for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution's teams at Harwich and Aldeburgh even though it was a wet summer with fewer people out enjoying the beaches and sea.

MORE than 100 people were rescued off the Suffolk coast last year by volunteer lifeboat crews, according to figures released today.

It was another busy year for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution's teams at Harwich and Aldeburgh even though it was a wet summer with fewer people out enjoying the beaches and sea.

Harwich was the ninth busiest lifeboat centre in the country, dealing with a range of incidents, many of them involving yachts and other pleasure craft getting in trouble.

The team was called out 96 times compared with 84 in 2006, and rescued 95 people compared with 90 the previous year.

Aldeburgh station was called out more times than in 2006 - 28 compared with 25 - and rescued 22 people, slightly less than the 29 it helped in the previous year.

Lowestoft crews rescued 45 people and Southwold two.

RNLI training divisional inspector Richard Wynn said: “Even though last year we experienced an unusually wet summer, we continued to respond to a high number of incidents.

“Considering the dismal weather, the lifeboat launch figures reveal that the level of service was unchanged with a consistently high proportion of rescues to pleasure boats.

“It is worth remembering that the RNLI offers free sea safety advice for sea users to help people prepare for all types of conditions.”

The RNLI was called out to help more than 594 people around the East Anglian coast - from Hunstanton to Southend - last year.

Give us your view on the work of the RNLI - write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail EveningStarLetters@eveningstar.co.uk

FASTFACTS: RNLI 2007

The RNLI's 233 lifeboat station crews around the UK and Ireland carried out 8,052 launches and rescued 7,715 people.

The busiest was Tower (Bridge) on the Thames, which carried out 265 launches and rescued 92 people, and the busiest coastal station was Torbay, Devon, with 131 launches and 137 people rescued.

It costs £122 million a year - about £335,000 per day - to run the RNLI.

A registered charity, it relies on voluntary contributions, corporate donations and legacies for income, and receives no UK government funding.