Helping to save lives at sea for more than 60 years means he is no stranger to thank yous.
But Cromer 93-year-old Edwin Luckin said he was bowled over when he heard he would receive a particularly big ‘thank you’ - a British Empire Medal.
Mr Luckin, who is known to everyone as Ted, has been included on the official list of New Year’s honours for his services to maritime safety.
He said: “I was dumbfounded when it came through. My daughter got onto me and said ‘my mother would have been proud of you’.”
Mr Luckin said the BEM - awarded for meritorious community service worthy of recognition by the Crown - was a great honour and a nice way to round out a long career of involvement with Cromer’s RNLI station.
A lifelong resident of the town, Mr Luckin did a mechanic’s apprenticeship at the East Coast Motor Company as a young man.
He was then called up for national service, and thanks to his training, was assigned to the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.
After he was demobbed he returned home to a job as a boat engineer with East Coast motors in Cromer.
Mr Luckin got to know all the local boats and the fishermen who plied the North Sea, including the legendary Henry Blogg, the most-decorated lifeboatman in RNLI history.
He said: “I knew him quite well and I worked on his boat. He used to go to sea with [Henry] ‘Shrimp’ Davies.
“I was fortunate to get onto the RNLI - unless you were a fisherman there was normally no chance.
"There were only three people at that time who were outside the fishing fraternity - one was a chef at the Red Lion and the other was the station officer at the fire service.”
Mr Luckin volunteered as a crew member starting out as a tractor driver and maintenance mechanic before being appointed winchman.
He was made senior helmsman of the town’s new inshore lifeboat (ILB) in 1967, a position he held for 12 years.
He was called out to more than 60 service calls and is credited with saving many lives.
Mr Luckin said: “In those days, there was no such thing as lifeguards. Whenever anyone got washed out to sea in a lilo, we have to go out and get them, it was as simple as that.”
He was always supported by his wife, Mary, who he married at Hanworth Church in 1957.
They were married for 47 years until Mary died in 2003. They had two daughters, Jean Spruce and Sara Jordan, who both live locally, and a grandson, Adam Spruce.
Mr Luckin went on to work for British Telecom, and retired from active service with the RNLI a few years ago.
He then took on the role of boathouse manager, going to the station twice a week to make sure it was kept to the highest standards for crew and visitors, and making everyone feel at home.
He was also treasurer of the crew fund. In 2020, he was presented with a 60-year long service award, an accolade bestowed on very few RNLI volunteers.
During Covid he continued to regularly meet crewmates and kept in touch with retired crew members and their dependants. He also organised Christmas hampers and helped people get them to the funerals of former crew members.
But Mr Luckin was forced to call time on his involvement after Cromer’s Lifeboat Day in summer this year.
He said: “I was stood there, talking to people who were coming in and walking on the boat, telling them this that and the other.
"Then, when I walked off, that’s when I felt the pain.”
Mr Luckin ended up needing a hip replacement.
Although he can now get about unaided indoors and with the use of crutches outside, the cold and icy weather has meant he has been mostly housebound over the past few weeks.
But the next time he has the chance to tell someone about his incredible service, they will no doubt also feel obliged to say their own 'thank you'.
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