From walkers who have collapsed to cliff falls and those stranded at sea - they are a dedicated core of volunteers who risk their own lives to keep us safe.

And now one independent lifeboat organisation has made a plea for more people to join them and help make our coastal waters a safer place.

Mundesley Volunteer Inshore Lifeboat is one of only four independent lifeboat stations in the county, alongside Hemsby, Caister and Sea Palling, which are entirely independent from the RNLI and supported completely by donations from the public.

The crew can be called out to any number of emergencies, including dinghys in trouble, missing divers and swimmers or cliff falls.

They also work with the Coastguard Search and Rescue Helicopter Squadron, East Anglian Air Ambulance and other lifeboat stations and crews. The boat, which carries its own defibrillator, is on call 365 days per year, 24 hours a day.

The station has a specialised flood rescue team who helped during the 2013 tidal surges, wading through the waters to help rescue people. They received an EDP Flood Heroes award for their work.

The team also has a junior crew, which is full to capacity, of youngsters aged between 14 and 18.

Wayne Ellis, 29, acting coxswain of Mundesley Inshore Lifeboat, has been a member of the lifeboat crew for 14 years and has worked his way up from joining as a junior crew member.

His brother, James Ellis, 25 is a helmsman and their father, Mick Ellis, 55, has been a member of the team for many years and now helps with the work on shore.

Mr Ellis said they are looking for more people to volunteer to help both on call-outs and also on land and would like to have more crew available during the day.

Currently they have about five crew members who are available during the day and 12 at weekends.

Mr Ellis said: 'We are looking for a whole range of people and as many as possible. Ideally they would have to live within 15 minutes of the station which means from Walcott, into North Walsham and Sidestrand.

'We are all very friendly and we all work as a team and we go out together and socialise as well.'

The training for full crew members takes a year and includes learning how to work the radio controls, offshore survival which is run in conjunction with the Petans company and how to operate power boats as well as the rescue boat.

Training, which is on a Sunday morning between 9am and 1pm and Monday night from 7pm until 8.30pm, is done in all weathers and to deal with all eventualities.

Lowie Simon, 43, from Mundesley has now been a full crew member for a year. Speaking about why he decided to join he said: 'I originally joined just as a beach crew member as I thought I was too old to go on the call-outs but after about a month the others said come out with us and I just caught the bug.'

Mr Simon helped during the 2013 floods and said it was this which cemented his decision to become a full crew member.

He said; 'That is when I thought I am loving doing this, giving something back to the community.'

Other rescues he has been involved in include a parascender who had fallen into cliffs and missing person searches.

He said: 'When you are on a call-out you have got to think ahead and keep calm and keep your nerve you need to assess what you are doing and think everybody else's safety as well as your own.'

Sophie Coller-Nielsen, RNLI press officer, said they relied on their network of 31,500 volunteers who perform a variety of roles on and offshore and where always looking for more people.

Anyone wishing to join Mundesley Inshore Lifeboat can contact waynemilb@yahoo.co.uk or call Mr Ellis on 07585161510.

Do you know of a community organisation in need of help? Email tracey.gray@archant.co.uk