Your heart skips a beat every time the bleeper goes off, Nigel Congram said as he sits in the 100-year-old boat house at the end of the dilapidated Birnbeck Pier, nursing a cuppa as he talks about his experiences crewing the lifeboats that patrol Weston-super-Mare's coast.

"You get used to dealing with difficult situations, but at that first moment when the bleeper goes off, and you can be in the middle of anything, it does get you."

Nigel, aged 31, is one of 24 volunteers, 22 men and two women, who are on call 24/7 to crew the RNLI lifeboats which stand ready to launch at a moment's notice.

He and his colleagues dedicate large chunks of their lives to training and fundraising as well as rushing out into the Bristol Channel to save lives.

But fortunately they all have understanding employers, and partners, which gives them the opportunity to take on such a role in a town which relies so much on its relationship with sea.

Nigel, who is married with two children, said: "I run my own outdoors adventure company, so I am not in the position of having to ask the boss for time off. But it can be difficult if the bleeper goes off and you are half way up a mountain with a group of kids.

"I have always enjoyed doing outdoors things and I was at the coastguard here before joining the RNLI just over a year ago.

"You don't get paid for doing this, but it is a great way to give something back, and it's good to know there are people walking around today who might have died if it wasn't for us going out and helping them out."

Going out to sea in either of the two lifeboats stationed at Birnbeck presents a number of challenges, but the first for any crew member is running the quarter of a mile down the pier to get to the boat house.

The structure has long been closed off to the public and is not strong enough to take cars, so when the crew get a shout they have to park up on the road and run down the pier to get to the boat house, which sits among several derelict buildings that make the place look like a deserted town.

With a grin, Nigel said: "The adrenaline may be pumping when you get the call, but the run down the pier can knock it out of you."

Just walking over the wooden pier on a dark November night with the wind howling round the coast, gives a small insight into what the men and women of the RNLI are faced with every time there is an emergency at sea.

The state of the pier is so bad, that the crew have to maintain a strip at the side a few planks wide, which ensures they can get over it, while the rest is buffeted by the sea and winds crashing on to the coast.

It is now owned by property company Urban Splash which has plans to develop the island, but has reassured the RNLI the boathouse's future is safe.

The run down the pier is by no means the only challenges they face, as the biggest battle they probably have is with funding to ensure the service can keep going.

The RNLI has operated from Birnbeck since 1882 out of a boathouse which is still standing.

But 20 years later they moved into a new, bigger, boathouse built on the other side of the pier.

They run two inshore boats, the Atlantic 75, called Coventry Warwickshire, and the smaller Anna Stock, which is a D-Class.

Both are open to the elements, but kitted out to deal with most of the emergencies they face.

They carry several different kinds of flares, for distress, and for lighting up an area to search.

There is medical equipment to give some help at the scene of the rescue, along with search lights, night vision equipment and banks of electronic navigation equipment.

Tucked away in a waterproof compartment is an old-fashioned map, for if all else fails.

The boats are launched off the end of Birnbeck by being pulled out by tractors, with dedicated drivers on standby.

They used to launch from the boathouse itself, which still has the old metal launching structure, but switched to the tractor system a few of years ago because it meant they could launch more easily around the clock, without being restricted by tides.

The Atlantic 75 was bought with money raised by the RNLI in Coventry, hence its name, but the D-Class has a much more local link.

Mrs Stock was the well-to-do Weston woman who donated the money to build the boat house which opened in 1902, as well as a boat called Colonel Stock.

She said that if there was any money left over from the building of the boathouse, it should be put in trust until there was enough to buy a new boat.

That money paid out and earlier this year the D-Class boat was bought for £32,000, and named after her. Now the cost of running the service is the biggest issue, for RNLI crews all over the country.

Each launch costs £2,500 per boat, and with fuel prices having been high, the service has been feeling the pinch along with the rest of us.

Liam McDermott, 25, who works for an insurance company in Weston and has been with the RNLI for six years, said: "It costs £135 million a year to run the 230 RNLI stations nationally, which is about £3,000 a day.

"The money goes towards a whole lot of things, from the diesel for the boats to training and maintenance.

"We train twice a week, on Wednesday afternoons and Sunday mornings, and we also get sent on courses at the RNLI centre in Poole.

"Training alone costs £1,214 per person. Due to the fuel costs we have had to run the boats at less power during training. The tanks hold enough diesel to fuel the boats for three hours at full power. When we are training we run them at much less power to save fuel, although we don't have to compromise on it in emergencies.

"We have 24 people who are basically on call the whole time, and when the bleeper goes it's the first six that get there who crew the boat.

"For that reason the volunteers tend to live and work in Weston, as it would obviously be difficult getting back from Bristol.

"We have the capacity to launch both boats if needed, but usually it is one or the other depending on the job. When we go out for social occasions as a group, there are always a number who won't drink."

The RNLI at Birnbeck covers a patch stretching 60 miles out to sea which overlaps with the areas covered from crews operating out of Welsh stations such as Barry and Penarth.

The lifeboats work in conjunction with the coastguard, which is a government agency and takes up a more logistic role giving direction and useful information about the area where the RNLI may be operating.

Liam said: "We work closely with the coastguard and other services such as the Portishead Lifeboat Trust when we need to.

"We have an average of 40 to 50 call outs a year, with holiday periods being the busiest because there are more people coming down here and going into the water.

"One of the things we spend a lot of time doing is going into schools to educate kids about how to behave around water and the dangers of the mud flats."

The RNLI has released a recording of a 999 call when a teenager got stuck in the mud off Weston. It illustrates dramatically how quickly things can happen on the beach.

She started the call saying the tide was coming in and was up to her knees, and within a couple of minutes she said the water was up to her chest – just before the crew got to her.

Liam said: "A lot of the time we can be dealing with stranded boats which may have broken down.

"Or it can be people who get stuck on the mud. We rescued six people last year who may have died if we had not got to them in time.

"Those kind of shouts are very difficult situations, but the training really kicks in and takes over.

"You don't think beyond what you have to do at that time. It is rare that you don't get there in time."

Liam then spoke about the tragic time when five-year-old Lelaina Hall died in 2002, after getting trapped on the mudflats at Berrow.

It was clear it was still something that affects the guys at Birnbeck, as the room went quiet and they reflected on that sad time.

Thankfully that kind of tragedy is very rare and since Lelaina died a hovercraft has been bought to cover the sands more effectively.

It is the emergencies that the crews face throughout the year which bring them together and create the bond between them.

Andy Stone, 26, who is the station mechanic as well as crew, has been with the RNLI for eight years.

He works for a boat building company and his boss is with RNLI as well, so has no problem dropping everything at a moment's notice.

He said: "You have to rely on the people around you and so it is important to get to know them.

"So there is a good social side to it and we have a laugh together.

"It is also important to have understanding girlfriend or boyfriend, because you can be called out in the most awkward situations. Fortunately my partner used to be in the RNLI anyway, so she knows what it's like.

"It does demand a lot of your time because of the training and fundraising, but it is worth it when you get out there and do some good."

For more information about the RNLI at Weston and how to donate vital funds, log on to www.westonrnli.org.uk.