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A royal occasion remembered by Hartlepool RNLI coxswain

Lifeboats News Release

Hartlepool RNLI Coxswain Robbie Maiden features on 'The National Lottery's Big Jubilee Street Party' tv programme this Saturday talking about the time he met the Queen at the Hartlepool lifeboat naming ceremony in 1977.

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10 year old Robbie Maiden meeting the Queen back in 1977
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The visit was part of The Queen’s Silver Jubilee, marking 25 years on the throne. Ten-year-old Robbie Maiden, the Hartlepool coxswain’s son, had the honour of meeting the special guest.
‘It was a very proud day for me, and one that I still remember,’ he says today. ‘The lifeboat crew had arranged for me to have my own RNLI Guernsey jumper and red woolly hat, so I looked like part of the crew. The Queen asked me that day if I wanted to follow in my father’s footsteps. The answer was a resounding yes – and here I am today as the current coxswain!’
Watch out for a cameo role on the programme from lifeboat station mechanic Garry Waugh!

https://www.radiotimes.com/programme/b-zqz0o9/the-national-lotterys-big-jubilee-street-party/

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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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About the author

Tom Collins
Lifeboat Press Officer, Hartlepool Lifeboat Station

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