Portishead's volunteer lifeboat service has welcomed a team of new recruits – including its youngest ever crew member.

Dan Haliburton, aged just 17, is one of six new recruits who have just completed their training with the lifeboat service, which is based at Sugar Loaf Bay.

Dan, a former Clevedon Community School pupil who is studying public services at Weston College, volunteered to become a lifesaver after reading about a recruitment drive by the Portishead Lifeboat Trust in the Post.

More than 20 potential crew members came forward as a result of the appeal and Dan and his colleagues – Julie Dennis, who works for Avon and Somerset police and is the only female member of the crew, Ian Reed, Paul Weston, Andy Weston and Paul Smith – are the first six to complete their training.

Each crew member has completed their Royal Yachting Association level-two powerboat certificate as well as navigation training and learning the trust's launch and recovery procedures.

The remaining volunteers will complete their training over the coming months and it is hoped the crew will be up to full strength by the summer.

The trust's lifeboat has also returned to the headquarters after a £20,000 repair and refurbishment following an accident in the channel last August.

The Severn Area Rescue Association (SARA) stepped in to loan the trust a boat until the repairs were completed.

Portishead Lifeboat Trust coxswain Dave Herbert said: "These new crew members are the future of the trust.

"We were overwhelmed by the response to the appeal and are delighted to have gained so many committed, new crew members.

"Hopefully now we will have enough trained volunteers in place which means we should not have to recruit again for a number of years."

It costs £30,000 a year to keep the lifeboat, which is run independently of and receives no funding from the RNLI, on the water.

Each year trust members raise thousands of pounds towards the cost by organising a number of events and collections.

The trust, which is a registered charity, officially launched in 1996 and within 48 hours of opening, crews were sent on their first service call to a rescue in the channel.

Crews have launched the boat into the channel 240 times since the trust's formation 12 years ago and have saved eight lives and assisted more than 300 people.