TV presenter Jeremy Paxman and the High Sheriff of Gloucestershire, Lady Bathurst, were given an insight into the work of the Severn Area Rescue Association on visits to the SARA station at Beachley.

Both Mr Paxman – best-known as the inquisitor-in-chief on Newsnight and as a question master on University Challenge – and the High Sheriff went out on SARA’s newest craft, Jim Hewitt, on the Severn and Wye.

Mr Paxman was on the Severn filming a sequence for his new series Rivers with Jeremy Paxman.

SARA commander Mervyn Fleming said the presenter was very interested in the work of the station.

He added: “It was our pleasure to host Jeremy and to be able to help with this film about the river we know so well.”

When Countess Bathurst visited the station on Saturday she was asked to make a surprise presentation to one long-serving volunteer.

Mr Fleming explained that Virginia Lyall had missed out when the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal was awarded in 2012 because she was not classed as “fully operational crew”.

But he said Mrs Lyall – who joined as a fund-raiser 11 years ago and is known to everyone at the station as ChuChi – certainly deserved the medal.

Presenting the medal, Lady Bathurst said: “Thank you for all the work you have done over the years for this special organisation.”

The High Sheriff rode aboard the Jim Hewitt with coxswain Kevin Caster and SARA chairman Chris Crowley as far as the Second Severn Crossing and Wintour’s Leap on the Wye.

She was told that the 45 volunteers who make the work of SARA possible had put in a total of about 20,000 hours last year.

Lady Bathurst said the trip – during which she took over the controls for a while – had been “exhilarating and enlightening”.

She added: “I’m quite amazed by the hours and dedication these guys have to put in saving other people.

“The bravery they show and how they deal with everything is really humbling and I’m very glad to have learnt more about it.”

Jeremy Paxman’s series about rivers starts this Sunday (February 26) on Channel 4.