The Volunteer Life Brigades date from a time when Coastguard provision for coastal rescue had been substantially reduced. The first unit, at
Tynemouth, was established on 5 December 1864 following a series of shipwrecks on the shoreline in which crewmembers perished watched by spectators ashore who were powerless to help. Over 100 volunteers signed up at the first public meeting. Other units soon followed, often founded in similar circumstances and modelled along the lines of Tynemouth's example. From the start the Volunteer Life Brigades worked closely with local Coastguard officers, providing trained and disciplined teams of volunteers to assist in emergency situations; training was overseen by HM Coastguard. The Volunteer Life Brigades were shore-based organisations, trained in ship-to-shore (e.g.
Breeches buoy) rescue techniques; they worked in conjunction with those providing a seaborne rescue capability, such as the
Royal National Lifeboat Institution (which had received its
Royal Charter a few years earlier) and local Lifeboat Societies (Tynemouth's dated from 1789). The early success of the VLB arrangement at Tynemouth impressed the
Board of Trade, the Government office with responsibility for safety at sea; the Board recommended that similar arrangements be made at every Coastguard station around the country. In some cases the Tynemouth model was followed: independent Volunteer Life Brigades were established, administered by a local committee. In other cases teams of volunteers were established and administered directly by the local Coastguard officers; these bodies were termed
Volunteer Life-Saving Companies. ==Current activities==