Susan follows in her family's footsteps to clock up another first for Seahouses lifeboat station

Clockwise from top left: Susan Calvert, Adam Chaytor, John Parkin and Iain Saunders. Picture: Seahouses RNLI

Not only that, she has also become its first female qualified Talus tractor driver, following in the footsteps of her father and grandfather.

Meanwhile, Ian Saunders and John Parkin have successfully qualified as shore crew and Adam Chaytor has successfully qualified as inshore lifeboat helmsman.

Seahouses lifeboat operations manager, Ian Clayton, said: "It is so pleasing to see the crew achieving so much, and I can only pay tribute to the enthusiasm and commitment they all share.

“Training for our new Shannon class lifeboat, due to arrive soon, means that training for the crew is becoming intense and time consuming.

“I have not heard a single negative comment about the pressure on them all, which serves as testimony to their passion for the RNLI."

The current Mersey class lifeboat, Grace Darling, is to be retired as a station lifeboat after serving 29 years at Seahouses, and is to be replaced by the latest state-of-the-art Shannon class lifeboat, John and Elizabeth Allan, now complete at the RNLI All Weather Lifeboat Centre at Poole.

Training for the new £2.2million boat is complex and intense, but the crew at Seahouses say they are more than ready for the challenge.

The new boat, with its advanced technology and design, is capable of twice the speed of the current boat, which will greatly increase the life saving capability at Seahouses. It is hoped it will arrive in May.