Sunshine boosts Redcar RNLI lifeboat day total

The day was organised by the station volunteers themselves and included fundraising stalls, and was topped off by a search and rescue demonstration at sea with a coastguard helicopter.

The day began with the lifeboats being taken in their launching carriages into the main shopping area so that the public could see the craft close up and meet the volunteer crew. Members of the Redcar Lifeboat Ladies Guild were on hand to run the fundraising stalls, and sea cadets from TS Zetland helped to man the collecting buckets.

The total raised was £3,374. Peter Haslett, treasurer at the Redcar RNLI station, said: ‘We were really pleased with the amount raised. The total was £800 more than last year, so I’d like to say a huge “thank you” to everyone who made a donation.

‘Our volunteer crews can’t do what they do unless they get the support of the local community.’

A further £1,200 has been raised by the crew who have just completed a virtual rowathon. Using rowing machines the crew, by RNLI lifeguards and local police and sea cadets, have rowed 425 miles, equivalent to the distance by sea from Redcar to the RNLI headquarters in Poole, Dorset.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

• Redcar lifeboat station has been operating since 1802
• Redcar currently operates a B-class lifeboat named Leicester Challenge III, paid for by the people of Leicester, and an IB1-class lifeboat named Eileen May Loach-Thomas, paid from the legacy of the late Nicolas Thomas of Shropshire
• For more news, information and images go to www.redcarlifeboat.org.uk
• Find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/redcarrnli
• Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RedcarRNLI

RNLI media contacts:

For more information please contact Dave Cocks, RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager on 07894 558 483, Alison Levett, RNLI PR Manager, North, on 01642 754828 or 07786 668912 or at [email protected]. Alternatively, contact Clare Hopps, RNLI Press Officer, North on 01642 754811 or 07824 518641 or at [email protected], or contact RNLI Public Relations on 01202 336789; [email protected]

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.

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Contacting the RNLI - public enquiries

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