A celebrated cancer surgeon has joined the volunteer crew of the RNLI lifeboat in Lyme Regis.

Ken Lavery, a retired head and neck surgeon, has joined the local RNLI team as a Deputy Launching Authority (DLA).

Mr Lavery, 67,who recently retired as lead surgeon and medical director at Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead, West Sussex, is married to Krys, who manages the team of volunteers running the successful RNLI charity shop on the Cobb.

They met at the hospital where Krys was a senior ward sister and have two sons.

Scottish-born Mr Lavery is a qualified Yachtmaster and has strong family connections with the RNLI.

Both his grandfather and great-grandfather were volunteers with the lifeboat at Campbeltown, which covers the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland.

Mr Lavery said: “I am thoroughly enjoying my involvement with the lifeboat crew in Lyme Regis. They are clearly a dedicated team and the camaraderie is very similar to that which I found when I was involved in rugby.”

The RNLI operates more than 230 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and has more than 100 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK. It is independent of Coastguard and the government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguard have saved more than 137,000 lives.