Philly Byrde

Writer/Editor

United Kingdom

I'm currently writing and editing for the RNLI, the charity that saves lives at sea.

I create everything from features to speeches, some of which involves getting dunked in the briney in the name of research.

After a recent move to Cornwall for love, not money, I'm starting to unearth what this creative place has to offer.

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Portfolio

Web features

RNLI Web Magazine
04/09/2015
Meet the international innovators | RNLI

In countries like Bangladesh and Kenya, where lifesaving resources are few and funds often limited, they found improvisation. They saw innovation. And above all, they encountered an overwhelming attitude of rethinking the problem using skills and materials close at hand. Now a whole new kit design and testing project has started.

RNLI Web Magazine
02/06/2015
Be a Winter surfer | RNLI

If you've ever paddled out and caught a wave in waters around the UK or Ireland, then congratulations. You're already a cold water surfer. The seas that surround our islands are cold enough all year to make wetsuits essential wear, and to earn you that gritty title.

RNLI Magazine (online)
10/08/2014
Endless Summer: The lifeguard who works his way around the world | RNLI

Ben Sowter has always known he'd be a lifeguard. Growing up through the ranks of Porthtowan Surf Life Saving Club on Cornwall's north coast, it's all he's ever wanted to do. And for the last couple of years, he's clinched a rare opportunity - making the job he loves a year-round occupation.

RNLI Web Magazine
06/08/2015
Beach Brains Quiz | RNLI

Want a trouble-free trip to the beach this Summer? It's time to sink or swim - take this quiz to see if you're ready to hit the sand.

RNLI Web Magazine
06/08/2015
The double life of a lifejacket | RNLI

Have you seen our 235 Made for Life range yet? But from braving salt blasts and gale force winds to hanging peacefully in your home, how have our lifejackets come this far? Since March 2014, 5,000 decommissioned RNLI lifejackets have been living new lives as bags, tablet sleeves and wallets.

RNLI Magazine (online)
12/05/2014
The long-distance lough-skier | RNLI

Some adventures take a while to bloom. Inspiration strikes, then the idea sits, simmers, matures and finally fizzes into life - and before you know it you're waterskiing the length of Northern Ireland's second largest lake system. Twice.

RNLI Magazine (online)
12/05/2014
'It's all right buddy, I've got you' | RNLI

When a young bodyboarder was rescued from a strong rip current off Crooklets Beach in Bude, Cornwall, the video of lifeguard Joby's rescue went viral. Over the boy's panicked cries for help comes a reassuring voice through the choppy waves: 'It's all right buddy, I've got you.'

RNLI Magazine (online)
10/08/2014
A history of innovation and imagination | RNLI

Within days of the National Institution for the Preservation of Life From Shipwreck* forming, a Committee of Invention was established. Its purpose? To explore innovations in boat design and decide where money would best be spent on new developments to save more lives at sea.

RNLI website
03/01/2014
Sea survival training: In at the deep end

'This is your Captain speaking. Abandon ship! Abandon ship!' Oh good. This is exactly what I want to be doing on a Monday afternoon. As prospective crew at Tower Lifeboat Station in London, I'd already taken one plunge for the RNLI in a Thames swim test.

RNLI website
01/01/2014
Are you a resolution runner?

New Year, new you … No pain, no gain … If your ears are ringing with the same motivating mantras, perhaps you’ve considered turning to running as a way of getting fit. ​But as the parks and pavements start to fill with January joggers, how do you stick to your resolution beyond the first few weeks?

Copywriting

RNLI
05/01/2016
RNLI Annual Report 2015

Concepted, wrote and edited the RNLI's annual review. Highly Commended in Third Sector Awards. Winner of Price Waterhouse Cooper's Excellence in Reporting Award.

Issuu
05/22/2014
RNLI Awards 2014 programme

Writer and editor of the programme for the charity's annual awards ceremony at the Barbican in London

Theatre Reviews

HFC Artspass...
03/16/2015
Two Punks And A Tandem by Silly Boys

The Poly, Falmouth: 6 March 2015 Bristol-based, Penzance-hearted Silly Boys are back. And they're pedalling a wonky-wheeled wonder tale of dizzying energy and surprising tenderness. 1985. There's been a Tory government for 6 long years. Norman Tebbit (or Titbat, as this show would have him) has told the unemployed to get on their collective bikes and ride.

Web pages

RNLI
RNLI | International development

Wrote all pages for the newly designed International section of the RNLI's website. Drowning claims an estimated 360,000 lives around the world each year, over one-third of which are children.