They include the former chairman of the RNLI ladies guild, Pam Butler, as well as Margaret Baudains (78), who has volunteered for the charity for 45 years.
Cheryl Hibbs, the mother of former St Helier coxswain Andy Hibbs, has also quit.
All stood down after the RNLI closed the St Helier station, disbanded the crew and took the Island’s only all-weather lifeboat back to Poole. The charity’s move followed an announcement by the crew that it wanted to move away from the national charity and set up an independent station.
Tensions had been growing between the former crew and the RNLI for months in relation to the handling of investigations and the eventual sacking and then reinstatement of Mr Hibbs.
Mrs Hibbs says that between her, her husband Bill, the former St Helier coxswain, and their son they had given 80 years’ service to the RNLI. ‘The guild has been my life,’ she said. ‘This whole situation just sickens me to my stomach. I am deeply saddened and hurt.’
The 63-year-old, who ran the shop on the Albert Pier, said she was working when a senior RNLI official came in and asked her to leave.
‘He just looked at me and said, “Cheryl, I hate to have to do this but you have to leave” and that was it. The way the RNLI have handled this whole situation is really sad. It’s not the institution – it’s well run – but it is certain members of management.
‘I have not got respect for this management. It saddens me that it has become what it has become.’
The RNLI paid for the locks to be changed on the shop. They now say the shop, which would usually close in mid-December for the winter season, will remain shut from now until Easter.
Mrs Hibbs, one of four finalists for the Pride of Britain ITV Fundraiser of the Year award in the Channel Islands for her work with RNLI, also said she was angry with ‘certain States Members’ who knew the RNLI were going to take the all-weather boat – George Sullivan.
A States spokesman has since confirmed that they were made aware the RNLI intended to take the boat but were unsure when it would happen.
Mrs Baudains, who lives in St Mary, said: ‘I worked there for a long time but I don’t want to work for an organisation with so little trust in its volunteers.’
She added: ‘The amount of money that has been spent on trips to the Island and accommodation for UK staff is astonishing too. It’s not right.’
