A landlady wants to "lead the way for women" as she becomes RNLI's first female helm after more than a decade.

It took Rachel Collier a year of training and an intense practical exam to achieve the role.

The 48-year-old from Minster had “never done anything nautical” until she joined the RNLI.

“I'm very proud of what we do,” she said. "A lot of the time in the summer we're chasing after inflatables or kayaks that people might have bought from the local supermarket with no experience or knowledge of what the wind and tide are doing.

“All of a sudden they find themselves scared, frightened and blown out to sea.

“When you rescue those people and see the relief on their face, it's priceless. You just can't explain it.”

She added: “We've got one paid member of staff on station – the rest of us are all volunteers and we drop everything to save someone's life,

“We go out to sea not knowing what the conditions are going to be like.

“As soon as that pager goes off, you jump in your car and get to the station.”

A helm or helmsman is the person who is in charge of the crew and the one who steers the boat.

Rachel has now been awarded the title after a vigorous year-long training program.

The mum-of-two is also the first female to qualify as an inshore lifeboat helm after more than a decade.

She said: “I like to think I'm part of the crew and it doesn't matter whether you're male or female, but it's nice to know that I can lead the way for other women to come into the RLNI.

“We have another female crew member now as well. It used to be just me for many years.”

Rachel started volunteering for the charity in 2017 after opening her micropub, The Admirals Arm in Queenborough, with her husband Chris.

“We decided at the very beginning just to pick one charity to work with,” she explained.

“I already knew some of the guys anyway and we started supporting them.

“A lot of them work off the Island or they have jobs that don't allow them to drop everything and go respond to the pager.

“I was available during the day, so I started my training and it just went from there.”

Rachel is already a crew member of both the inshore and all-weather lifeboats at the station by Sheerness Docks.

Practical training for the role included heading out every Wednesday night and Sunday morning.

In August, she also visited the RNLI College in Poole for a week-long course which went towards a written assessment.

On Wednesday, October 9, Rachel was put through her paces for two hours by RNLI assessor Dave Needham.

At sea, her tasks included search patterns, anchoring, boat malfunctions, boat handling and a number of other related tests - all of which she passed with flying colours.

“You just don't know what they're going to throw at you,” she explained.

“It's a bit like going on your driving test.

“When you've invested so much time and energy into preparing for something, it was a big relief to know that everything that I've been doing had paid off and it was a good outcome."

Rachel says the Sheerness station is one of the busiest in the country and they have had over 90 call-outs this year.

To learn more about the RNLI, click here.

Not only does Rachel put in many hours as a volunteer, but with her husband Chris, has raised more than £40,000 for the charity.

Most of the funds come from a weekly quiz that they host at their award-winning pub.