Eight-year-old Joshua goes large with Betty’s Pot.
Eight year old Joshua along with his family, mum Vicky, dad Jimmy and little sister Daisy were on holiday from Oldham when they called in at St Bees RNLI with £70.40 in five pence coins.
Stormy Stan member Joshua Bennett loves everything about the RNLI the sea and the beach and really liked the idea of Betty’s Pots (collecting individual jam pots and filling them with five pence coins). As he enthusiastically collected the coins he found the small jars were not up to the job so his Nana found him a much bigger pot. With young Joshua collecting at every opportunity from friends, family and anyone he spoke to, it only took the large version just over six months to fill.
Joshua arrived at the lifeboat station carrying his large pot of five pence coins. The jar weighed just over 7.5Kg and contained 1,408 coins worth £70.40. Dad Jimmy kindly donated an additional £20.00. After a tour of the lifeboat station and a look round both the lifeboat and tractor Joshua presented his jar to one of the volunteers at St Bees.
Dick Beddows St Bees RNLI volunteer Lifeboat Operations Manager said ‘Its great when young people like Joshua put a lot of their time into raising money for charities like the RNLI. On behalf of all the volunteers at St Bees RNLI I would like to thank Joshua and his family for their magnificent fundraising achievement. This will help us to continue to save lives at sea’.
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
Members of the public may contact the RNLI on 0300 300 9990 (UK) or 1800 991802 (Ireland) or by email.