Portishead RNLI volunteers celebrate one year at new lifeboat station
Sunday 24th April was the first anniversary of official operations for the volunteers and crew at their state of the art RNLI purpose built lifeboat station in Portishead.
It has been a very busy 12 months which has seen the crew launch on service 36 times, assisting 33 people and one dog since their adoption in to the RNLI. Prior to the building of the new station the volunteers operated an independent lifeboat service for 19 years from Sugar Loaf Beach.
Bob Crane, volunteer Lifeboat Operations Manager, said: 'It is a far cry from our old station which was an old, damp, cold container really with no proper changing facilities or tea making equipment. The crew and fundraising volunteers use this fantastic new building all the time, not only for training and fundraising meetings but we host a huge amount of visitors at the station giving them valuable talks about water safety, thanks to our education volunteers. We have stirred up quite a lot of media interest as well including TV crews, newspaper and magazine reporters coming to see us. Our shop has been a big hit with the local community, which is placed 16th out of 257 RNLI shops in the whole country.
'It still amazes me just how many volunteers give up their time to help run this complete rescue service and educational facility, I am very proud of each and every one of them. The people of Portishead together with many others continue to support us in a massive way, without them we just would not be able to job we do that of saving lives at sea.'
Their fundraising year is just kicking off once again with new events planned for 2016. The calendar is filling up rapidly which started last Saturday at the Portishead open air pool, which hosted along with the RNLI, their first Water Safety Day. Simon Perks, fundraising coordinator said: ‘It was wonderful to see so many people at our first event with the outdoor community pool, and see them interested in what we and all the emergency services do. If anyone would like to come along and help at any of our events this year just get in touch with me on [email protected] or pop in our shop and leave me a message.’
A ‘Wear Your Wellies To Work Day’ is planned for this Friday 29 April, show your support for the RNLI on their Mayday weekend and send them your photos of you in your wellies. You can come and buy yellow welly themed cakes at our RNLI shop on bank holiday Monday 2nd May from 10am.
Closely followed by that there is a Race Night at Clarence House on 13th May, tickets are £10 which includes a hot supper and are available from our shop or call Roger on 01275 269925.
Here is to another busy year of saving lives at sea….
RNLI media contacts
For more information please contact Helen Lazenby, volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer, on 07800 595995 or the RNLI Press Office on 01202 336789.
Key facts about the RNLI
The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,000 lives.
Learn more about the RNLI
For more information please visit the RNLI website or Facebook, X, TikTok and YouTube. News releases, videos and photos are available on the News Centre.
Contacting the RNLI - public enquiries
Members of the public may contact the RNLI on 0300 300 9990 (UK) or 1800 991802 (Ireland) or by email.