A FILM maker who launched an independent lifeboat service from his garden – helping to save more than 5,000 people – is to be honoured by the Queen, again.

For Paul Berriff, from Bedale, North Yorkshire, it’s the latest accolade in an astonishing career. The 69-year-old cameraman has travelled the world working with such famous names as The Beatles, filming some of the biggest news stories of modern times and winning two BAFTAs for documentaries made by his company.

He was filming with helicopter rescue crews when the Piper Alpha oil disaster happened – 167 people lost their lives when it exploded – and was recording a documentary in New York when the Twin Towers were hit on 9/11.

The latest honour, an OBE, is his second Royal award. He was previously presented with the Queens Commendation for Bravery following a dramatic rescue during a snowstorm in high seas off the north-west Scotland when he saved a student trapped at the base of a rock stack.

The OBE, which is to be presented next month, is for his work founding the Humber rescue inshore lifeboat service which he launched from the front garden of his former home in Hessle, East Yorkshire, in 1989, using a small inflatable dingy.

The service, covering the rivers Ouse, Humber and Trent, is independently run and now has three purpose-built lifeboats. It’s been involved in saving 5,200 people and rescued 182 in imminent danger of drowning.

Emergencies have ranged from super tankers to small pleasure boats, aircraft crashes, submerged vehicles, people stranded in mud and a huge array of animals.

One of the saddest and most memorable rescues he says was when a hot air balloon collided with power cables – one person was killed and 20 injured.

He had no idea he was getting the OBE until an official envelope arrived. “My wife, Hilary, thought it was a parking fine,” said Mr Berriff. “But I was absolutely thrilled to learn of the award. It’s not just an honour for me, but also the crews that have, and are still, giving their time to Humber Rescue.

“I started it because there was nothing else on the actual estuary, and people who were in trouble had to rely on passing boats. It has been fascinating, I was always interested in the rescue work, and wanted to get involved, it was the one place I didn’t take my camera, we were always too busy concentrating on getting there in time to help,” he added.