02/10/2026
On Sunday 27th September we invited Barry Johnson to attend our open day at Newhaven Lifeboat station to receive a special certificate of thanks for his long service to Newhaven RNLI.....
Long-serving volunteer Barry Johnson honoured for more than 30 years of support to Newhaven Lifeboat.
A Newhaven resident who has supported his local lifeboat station for more than 40 years has received a very special thank you from the RNLI.
DJ and former lifeboat shore crew member Barry Johnson was presented with a framed Certificate of thanks, personally hand-signed by RNLI Chief Executive Peter Sparkes, during Newhaven Lifeboat Station’s Open Day on Sunday, 27 September 2026.
Barry first began helping at Newhaven Lifeboat Station in around 1981, when he was just 13 years old. At the age of 16, he officially joined the lifeboat launching crew, a role he continued until 1992. Back then there were two lifeboats at Newhaven. The station boat and a fleet reserve boat kept in the old boathouse which required a launching and recovery team.
In 1990, Barry took over a mobile DJ business and, from around 1992, began donating his time and equipment to provide music and microphone announcements for the station’s annual Lifeboat Fete – its biggest fundraising event of the year.
With the exception of, we think, just two events, he has continued to provide free of charge his services at the fete every year since then, right through to the most recent event in July 2026.
Over the years, Barry has also provided his DJ and announcing services for other important occasions at the station, including the opening of the current lifeboat station and the naming ceremonies for both the current and previous Newhaven lifeboat.
His longstanding contribution was formally recognised at the Open Day, when Peter and Carol Shewell, who are team leaders of the Newhaven RNLI fundraising team, together with Simon Nelson, the Newhaven Lifeboat Operations Manager and members of the lifeboat crew, who presented Barry with the framed certificate.
“I am humbled that the team have gone to so much trouble to arrange this signed certificate. I just played a bit of music and made microphone announcements.”
The certificate will soon have a new home. Barry and his partner Linda are preparing to leave Sussex to embark on a new adventure, taking over their own freehold pub, The Queens Head in, Cornwall.
Barry has lived in Newhaven all his life and admits he will miss Sussex, but is looking forward to starting this new chapter with Linda.
He has already decided where his special RNLI certificate will go.
It will take pride of place on the wall of The Queens Head – a lasting reminder of Barry’s decades of service, friendship and support for the RNLI and the Newhaven community.
Our huge Thanks to Barry for all his support over the years, and we wish Barry and his partner Linda all the very best in their new venture.
Photo courtesy of George Taylor
