Blackpool RNLI hosts fish supper to celebrate launch of new fundraising appeal
Blackpool RNLI volunteers hosted a Fish Supper event on Saturday evening (12 October) to celebrate the launch of a new fundraising appeal that aims to raise £52,000 to fund a new D class lifeboat for the station.
Fish Supper is a fundraising campaign in aid of the RNLI which encourages people to come together with friends, family or their local communities this autumn, to have fun and enjoy a fish-themed dish to help save lives.
Money raised from Saturday’s event will help launch Blackpool’s new fundraising drive to raise £52,000 in aid of their new D class lifeboat. The two D class lifeboats currently stationed at Blackpool have been on service since 2010. The lifeboats have launched on hundreds of occasions in that time but have now reached the end of their working life and need to be replaced.
Volunteer Lifeboat Operations Manager, Keith Horrocks MBE, said ‘Our D class lifeboats enable us to carry out lifesaving rescues in the tricky surf conditions at Blackpool. Without the unique capabilities of this class of lifeboat we simply couldn’t help the number of people that we do.’
The aim of the current appeal is to raise £52,000 by the end of 2020 through public donations, sponsored events and through support from local businesses. Two local RNLI fundraising branches are also keen to support fundraising efforts and representatives from the Port of Liverpool and Blackburn and Darwen fundraising branches joined Blackpool lifeboat crewmembers at the fish supper on Saturday.
RNLI Community Fundraising Manager Sophie Wood said she really hoped the local community in Blackpool would get behind the appeal. ‘The RNLI lifeboat station at Blackpool is a busy station with 108 launches last year, so we are really hoping the local community will get behind this appeal. We really enjoyed the fish supper on Saturday but that was just the start of an exciting year of events and activities.’
One key feature of the appeal will be encouraging people to donate just £1 towards the new D class lifeboat, if 52,000 people donate £1; together they will have funded an essential piece of lifesaving equipment for the Fylde Coast.
Ian Butter, Chair of Blackpool Lifeboat Management Group, added ‘We receive no government funding and rely entirely on generous donations from the public to keep our rescue service operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. We want to ensure our crews have the very best equipment available, which is why this new lifeboat for Blackpool is so important’.
Donations to the appeal can be made via https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/BlackpoolAppeal
Anyone can sign up online to host their own Fish Supper for friends and family or simply join in with the raft of Fish Suppers being organised by local RNLI fundraising teams, lifeboat crew volunteers and businesses across the UK and Ireland, between 11 and 27 October 2019.
RNLI media contacts
For more information please contact Esther Lowe Volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer, RNLI Blackpool telephone 01253 620424 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.
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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.