A life-saving service is calling for volunteers to get on board.

Maryport Inshore Rescue wants at least five more people to join its team of 15.

Station manager Mike Messenger said that no experience is necessary as full training will be given, but is particularly keen to get people living near to the town, or those who don't work during office hours, involved.

Mr Messenger is keen to boost numbers as the winter months approach and the county once again faces the threat of flooding.

The Maryport team were heavily involved in rescue operations across the county when Storm Desmond hit last year.

"It's coming up to winter and we do expect it to be extremely busy again, especially with inland flooding," he said.

"During the floods last December we worked five days solid with no sleep. We were at Maryport, Aspatria, Arkleby, Cockermouth, Carlisle and even Penrith, where we were taking people out of their properties that were flooding, or were about to flood."

Many people think that the volunteers' only role is to save people at sea, said Mr Messenger, but he stressed this is not the case.

He said: "We just need to increase numbers in general, in all aspects that we do. It isn't just call-outs that we cover, it's a whole range of things, especially behind the scenes.

"We particularly need to increase our availability during working hours. Anybody who lives and works in Maryport would be ideal."

The lifeboat underwent a £20,000 refurbishment around three months ago. Every eight years the boat requires a total refit and while it was away for around a month, the team's smaller boat was used for emergencies.

Mr Messenger added that so far this year it's been average for the number of call-outs the crew have attended, but he anticipates this will soon increase.