For people who have saved thousands of lives around the world through their ability to stay calm in an emergency, Falmouth coastguards were left uncharacteristically shell-shocked on Friday (April 13) when they were presented with a commendation for excellence.

From humble beginnings, Falmouth's Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) at Pendennis Point has evolved into an internationally renowned centre of excellence, which manages a quarter of all sea-based rescues spanning the globe.

This year marks the 25th anniversary celebrations of the centre, with a glittering dinner and dance ceremony held at the Falmouth Beach Resort Hotel on Friday attended by 80 of the past and present staff from the centre to mark the silver milestone.

Guest of honour at the dinner was chief coastguard Peter Dymond, from the coastguard headquarters in Southampton, who unbeknown to guests had a surprise up his sleeve. At the close of his speech Mr Dymond presented the centre with a chief coastguard commendation for excellence - thought to be the first time such as accolade has been presented to a station for 25 years continued excellence.

Presenting the award, Mr Dymond said: "MRCC Falmouth's reputation is the exemplar of search and rescue co-ordination and not only withholds the finest traditions of her majesty's coastguard but sets the standard for others to follow."

Simon Rabett, centre manager, described the presentation as "a surprise to all of us." He said: "It was really a lovely surprise and quite an honour to receive."

Over the last 25 years the centre has changed beyond all recognition, starting life as a single aerial in Falmouth - one of seven around the coast allowing the various coastguard stations to speak to ships. It was accompanied by a little hut on the end of the point and at that time was merely a maritime rescue sub-centre.

Services then moved to a station at the officer's house in Castle Drive, while the current centre was being built. The centre was officially opened on December 2, 1981 by Princess Charles and from that moment changed from being a sub-centre to a co-ordination centre.

Mr Rabett told the Packet that the most noticeable change over the last quarter of a century was the development of communications technology, from the early days of cones and Aldis lamps to satellite communication today.

"It's just phenomenal," he said. "We have really grown up together - the introduction of satellite communications, and development of communications in general, and the advance of MRCC Falmouth have gone parallel really, each enabling the other. I think we were recognised right in the very early days as being one of the leaders in international search and rescue."

Early satellite communications were transmitted via Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station on the Lizard Peninsula. However, technological advances now mean that services have moved to the Land Earth Station Burum in Holland.

Mr Rabett continued that another revolutionary invention was the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS), a beacon that automatically sends distress alerts from ships in trouble. "It's brilliant, absolutely brilliant. It's saved thousands of lives - it's a wonderful system. Many, many people owe their lives to the beacons," he explained.

He urged a note of caution, however, and said that while the latest technology meant that people could push the boundaries of their capabilities, he encouraged them to take the appropriate measures to get themselves trained.

Despite the centre's worldwide role, Mr Rabett stressed that, alongside this, just as essential work was done saving lives in the local community, both through rescues and educating locals and holidaymakers about safe practices.

"We're still very conscious of the need to promote the safety messages that apply to coastal path walking," he said.

Mr Rabett concluded: "I have to say, I'm very proud to be the manager of a coastguard station that commands such a reputation. It's a good job and a very satisfying job. They are an excellent team to work with - very committed, very conscientious at maintaining their levels of training and competence. We work well together."

Mr Rabett has been working with watch officer Henry Purbrick to put together a book detailing the history of the MRCC over the last quarter of a century. Although they are yet to find a publisher and are not allowed to make any money out of it, the pair hope that the book will be of interest. Mr Purbrick said: "We're highlighting a lot of the major and interesting incidents we have covered over the last 25 years."

The rescues are co-ordinated from the centre via the operations room, which is manned in shifts by one of four watch managers and a series of watch officers.

Downstairs, Lois Iddon, officer manager for the Maritime Coastguard Agency, heads the joint administrative side for the Falmouth Marine Officer and Falmouth Coastguards. She joined the centre in 1989 as an operations room auxiliary and in 2000 moved to the administration side - initially to cover sick leave. She has been there ever since. She said: "We're like a family. It's like you've found your little niche in the world! I wouldn't want to work anywhere else."

Also based at Falmouth coastguard station for the past eight years are the team of three surveyors headed by Chris Moss, who have responsibility for ship safety.

The surveyors used to be part of the old Marine Safety, which amalgamated with the coastguard to form the MRCC eight years ago.

They provide a statutory service on commercial vessels and passenger ships - in other words all vessels that carry passengers. They have the power to detain ships if they consider them to be un-seaworthy or a danger to the crew, as well as the power to board ships in danger and assist and advise the captain.

The team inspect all the ships that come in, including the P&O ferries, and described their job as "an MOT station for ships." They have powers to prosecute in their own right and provide reports on collisions for prosecutions, such as a boat collision outside St Mawes in 2005 that left one man dead.