A BRIGHTON carpenter is on the shortlist for a national heroes competition, thanks to his voluntary work at sea.

Dan Gurr, who volunteers with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, has reached the final seven of the JCB Heroes contest.

JCB Workwear launched its campaign to find heroic tradespeople who volunteer their time to help charities, good causes or community groups.

The winner will be recognised for their hard work with a special award and 12-month clothing sponsorship worth more than £500.

Professional tradespeople or those who work in the construction or agriculture industries were invited to attend and say why they deserve to win.

Dan Gurr, 28, has volunteered for Tower Bridge and Brighton RNLI for more than ten years, dedicating up to 30 hours per month to help save people who find themselves in difficulty.

Dan decided he wanted to volunteer when he was just 15 after a family member showed him round the boats.

He couldn’t wait until he was 18 so he could sign up and he is on call 24 hours a day.

When he is paged he literally has to down tools and go!.

He said: “I enjoy being part of a team. We are all good friends and it’s like having a second family. The work is very rewarding and completely different to my day job.

“It is great to see volunteering work recognised and I hope that this campaign will inspire more people to give their time to help others.”

His rescue missions are varied working across two stations in London and Brighton.

These range from injuries on party boats to helping vulnerable people in need.

He was selected from hundreds of entries and the winner and two runners-up will be announced shortly.

JCB Workwear is working with independent judges from two groups – Volunteering Matters and The National Council for Volunteering Organisations – to help select the overall winner.

Joanne Dyson from JCB said: “We know that tradespeople often volunteer for services such as the RNLI or use their skills to help groups.”