IT’S going to be a difficult - and emotional - day on Sunday for Dover Lifeboat coxswain Dave Pascall when he steps off the lifeboat for the last time (Graham Tutthill writes).

Sunday marks Mr Pascall’s 55th birthday, and that’s the top age limit for crew members serving with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

Next year the rules are likely to change, and Dover-born Mr Pascall could then have gone on for another five, or even 10 years.

One of the most memorable occasions during his time as cox’n was not an emergency call-out at all. It was in the year 2000 when they escorted the Little Ships to Dunkerque.

“The ovation we received from all the people there was really thrilling,” he said.

There have been some sad times, recovering bodies from the Channel or from beneath the cliffs, but there have also been some rewarding moments. “We haven’t lost anyone who we have rescued alive,” he stressed.

His longest time at sea was 37 hours following the collision between the cruise liner Norwegian Dream and the cargo ship Ever Decent 17 miles off the coast of Margate in August 1999.

Mr Pascall has responded to more than 250 calls as cox’n, and many more as a crew member. He has received awards, including an RNLI Vellum for the rescue of the crew of a sinking yacht in Force 10 conditions.

He added: “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with the lifeboat,” he said. “It is something I always wanted to do from an early age, and becoming coxswain was one of my proudest days."

Mr and Mrs Pascall’s son, James, 29, works at Dover Port Control, and their daughter Marie, 27, is a train driver with Eurotunnel. They have one grandson.

Mr Pascall hopes he will now have more time for his hobbies, which include making models of ships, and boat fishing.

He will be handing over to Duncan Mackay who has 16 years’ experience with the RNLI and has just moved to Dover from Dunbar where he has been second cox’n with the lifeboat.