A hero lifeboat volunteer is celebrating half a century of volunteering at Largs RNLI.

On Sunday, Ronnie Copeland was presented with a medal to represent 50 years of volunteering with the RNLI, and was applauded for his outstanding service by colleagues.

Ronnie was presented with a medal during the visit of the Connecting Communities RNLI 200 Scroll.

The scroll spells out the commitment made as volunteers and staff to honour RNLI founder Sir William Hillary’s mission almost 200 years ago to save lives at sea, and has been travelling around every lifeboat station in the UK.

However, the presentation of the medal by Arthur Black, Branch Chairman at Largs RNLI, was a complete surprise to Ronnie who was at the lifeboat station to sign the RNLI 200 Scroll.

Ronnie is a familiar face to those from Largs and the surrounding area, although he stepped away from the ‘wet-side’ of lifeboating a few years ago.

He is still very active in both fundraising and water safety and can still regularly be found at the lifeboat station sharing his old stories along with a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.

Largs Lifeboat Operations Manager, John Griffiths, said: "Ronnie’s continuing contribution to Largs lifeboat station is greatly appreciated by everyone here.

"I am delighted he is still an active part of the activities at the lifeboat station, regularly supporting both the fundraising and water safety teams.

"Ronnie’s effort and commitment over more than 50 years has been outstanding, he is an ongoing inspiration to the next generation of lifesavers here at the lifeboat station."