By Nick Dermody BBC News Online

Not everyone has the chance to relax and enjoy the food, fun and festivities of Christmas Day.

Some people have to work to help keep the wheels of the 24-hour society turning.

It's just like another day at work, you can't escape Christmas Coastguard Andy Carroll

When most of the country can look forward to a day of eating, drinking and watching what should be the best television of the year, these people have to clock on and fit another day at work into their seasonal schedule.

BBC News Online spoke to a few of the people who we all rely on to be there when they are most needed.

Coastguard Andy Carroll has fine sea views from the Holyhead coastguard headquarters overlooking the port used by the ferry line Stena.

Like other people on his shift, he will keep an eye - and an ear - out for people who find themselves in trouble either offshore or along the many fine walking beaches of north Wales.

It is his task to monitor the weather conditions and listen for emergency broadcasts over the radio from ships at sea.

Radio

Mr Carroll, 25, has been a coastguard watch assistant for 20 months, and is one of four staff working from 0800 on Christmas Day until 0800 on Boxing Day.

He said: "We put up decorations in the room - it gets full of cards.

"There is no Christmas lunch as staff have to take turns at listening to radio.

"But we usually stuff our faces with things that people leave for us, boxes of chocolates, that sort of thing - anything that's bad for you.

"Other than that, by necessity, it is a normal working day.

"It's usually a bit quieter during the winter months but people are still at sea.

Helicopter

"People go for a swim in the morning and walks on the cliffs after their Christmas lunch, that's the sort of thing that we have to deal with.

"It's just like another day at work, you can't escape Christmas.

"The ferries stop but there are still boats out there."

One of his colleagues in the rescue service is Richard Simcock, 23, a co-pilot of the RAF Sea King search-and-rescue helicopter based at Valley on Anglesey.

Mr Simcock is part of a four-person team ready to take off in the helicopter with as little as 15 minutes' notice.

Their job can see them fly miles out to sea in all weathers day or night to take injured crew members from ships.

The rescue helicopter team are on alert

Sometimes they are called in to help in searches for people lost or injured while walking or climbing inland.

His work schedule means that once he clocks on at 0900 on Christmas Day he must stay on or near the base until almost New Year's Eve.

"I've organised to have Christmas Day with my family already," said Mr Simcock who drives in from Wolverhampton to his north Wales base.

He and his fellow crew - a pilot, winch man and winch/radio operator - sleep at the base to ensure that even at night they can be in the air within 45 minutes.

The routine includes training flights up for to four hours each day to keep their skills up to speed for when they are called on.

Training flights

"You can't really say what type of job you are going to get.

"We do a lot of jobs in the mountains."

The training flights will sometimes include a night flight.

"The rest of the time we've usually got our heads in a book or are watching a movie, that sort of thing."

One family home that will find its Christmas celebrations cut short by work is that of Richard and Ellen Sellek.

The couple, both 32, are both police officers in Cardiff and are on shift from 2200 on Christmas Day until 0600 on Boxing Day.

Before we got married we were on opposite shifts - it find it a lot easier now Pc Richard Sellek

They are stationed at separate stations in the Welsh capital, although the nature of their job means that they can sometimes pass each other once or twice during a shift.

Mr Sellek said: "Before we got married we were on opposite shifts - I find it a lot easier now.

"It should be quite quiet in Cardiff city centre - there are no shops or nightclubs open on Christmas night.

"There are some residential areas and we don't expect there to be too much going on, but then you can't predict anything in the police force."

The overnight hours mean the couple will sleep late on Boxing Day before going on to see the rest of the family.

Shifts

But the Sellek's suburban home will see a full dinner on Christmas Day, based around the duck which the couple, who met at work 18 months ago, bought on a visit to Bruges, Belgium, last weekend.

Mr Sellek said he will enjoy a drink with his meal, but just one.

"I won't be able to have more than that - that the thing about working nights, it's so far on you can enjoy the day

"It's just something you accept really if you work in the police, you work shifts, unsociable hours."