Valentines day came early for Ed and Charlie at Hunstanton RNLI

St Valentine's Day came early at a Norfolk lifeboat station - when a lifeboat helm proposed to a hovercraft commander.

Ed Napolitano popped the question to partner Charlie Parfitt at Hunstanton RNLI on Thursday 13 February.

He kept it under the radar by choosing the day before Cupid usually strikes, suggesting they head for breakfast at the café next to the lifeboat station before a trip to London.

Charlie said: 'When we got there, the boathouse door was open and, on the spot where we first met, Ed took me completely by surprise and dropped down on one knee to propose.'

The proposal: photo RNLI/Chris Bishop

Ed has been volunteering at Hunstanton for 14 years and is one of the helms on board the station's fast inshore lifeboat (ILB) Spirit of West Norfolk.

Charlie joined the crew 10 years ago and is a commander on the hovercraft Hunstanton Flyer as well as being an ILB helm.

Romance blossomed eight years ago over the chart table in the crew room during a navigation exercise.

'We went to the pub after training one evening and we shared a plate of nachos,' said Ed.

'I remember saying that nothing good can come from eating crisps for dinner - turns out I was wrong.'

The couple took a break from celebrating their engagement for their regular Sunday stint on exercise with their crew mates, with Ed taking the ILB to King's Lynn for boat handling drills, while Charlie rolled her sleeves up for mud rescue training with the hovercraft crew.