Be Someone’s Lifeline:Leave a Legacy During Free Wills Month and Help Save Lives

The Free Wills Month scheme gives those 55 and over the opportunity to write or update their Will with local participating solicitors and, if they wish, to include a gift to a charity of their choice, after they have taken care of their loved ones.

The RNLI’s Legacy Income Manager, Eifron Hopper says: ‘At least six out of ten RNLI lifeboat launches are only made possible because of gifts left to the RNLI in Wills, and although people taking up the Free Wills Month offer aren’t obliged to leave a gift in their Will to the RNLI, the charity hopes people will consider doing so to help fund the lifesaving service.

‘Free Wills Month is a great opportunity for people who’ve been meaning to write or update a Will to do so and to help power the RNLI’s lifesaving future in the process.

‘RNLI supporters have left all sorts of things to the charity in their Wills, ranging from a round of drinks for their local volunteer lifeboat crew, to a 100-year-old bottle of brandy to a much-loved collection of Ferraris! Whatever the value of the donation, we’re always grateful to anyone who leaves a gift to the RNLI in their Will, enabling our volunteer crews to continue to save lives at sea.’

Occasionally the RNLI receives a large gift, but smaller legacies make a big difference too. A gift in a Will of £458 pays for a new lifejacket to keep an inshore lifeboat crew member safe at sea; £872 is enough to equip a beach lifeguard; while £1,600 will provide the training for a lifeboat crew member for a whole year.

For more information – including details of solicitors in North Wales participating in Free Wills Month – call 0300 300 0124 or email [email protected]. Or for general information about Free Wills Month, visit RNLI.org/FreeWills.

Notes to Editors

· Eifron Hopper is available for interview

· Free Wills Month scheme is run as a consortium by Capacity Marketing on behalf of approximately several charities, including the RNLI. Free Wills Month (October 2019) has participating solicitors in: Bournemouth, Birmingham, Bolton, Bristol, Cardiff, Carlisle & Cumbria, Chester, Cornwall, Derbyshire, East Cheshire, Exeter, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Huddersfield, Hull, Ipswich, Lancaster, Leeds, Leicestershire, Manchester, Mid & West Wales, Milton Keynes, Norwich, North Wales, Northern Ireland, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Preston, Shropshire, Stoke-on-Trent, Southampton, Stockport, Swansea, Torquay, Wakefield

· If making a Will as a couple, only one person needs to be 55 or over

· Read about interesting gifts people have left the RNLI in the past here

RNLI media contacts

For more information, please contact Eleri Roberts, RNLI Regional Media Officer on 01745 585162 / 07771 941390 or email [email protected]. Alternatively contact the RNLI Press Office on 01202 336789 or email [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.

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.