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Choir fund-raiser for Penlee and Mumbles RNLI Lifeboat Stations

Lifeboats News Release

Mousehole Male Voice Choir / Keur Mebyon Porthenys held a joint concert with Pontarddulais Male Choir / Cor Meibion Pontarddulais which will help raise funds for Penlee and Mumbles RNLI Lifeboat Stations.

shows presentation of photo by two men

Colin Lawry

Presentation of photograph
The concert was arranged as part of the Mumbles Festival of Music and the Arts 2023, and all tickets for the concert were sold out in advance.

Like Penlee, Mumbles has a lifeboat station which has known tragedy – with disasters in 1883, 1903 and 1947. Most appropriately, All Saints’ Church has a striking stained glass memorial window to the lifeboat crew who were lost with their boat in attempting to rescue a ship called the ‘Samtampa’ in 1947.

Most generously, the organisers offered to make this a joint fundraising event for the two lifeboat stations.

As a token of thanks on behalf of Penlee Branch, Mousehole Choir Vice Chairman, and Penlee Visits Team member, Colin Lawry presented to Roy Griffiths from Mumbles RNLI two contrasting images from Penlee’s history – firstly a copy of Ralph Curnow’s striking image “Truly The Bravest Eight”, showing the Penlee Lifeboat Solomon Browne, the coaster Union Star and the Rescue Helicopter; and secondly a canvas print of a photograph by Phil Monckton showing Penlee RNLI’s current lifeboats ‘Ivan Ellen’ and ‘Mollie and Ivor Dent’ as they participated in the flotilla of lifeboats to Penlee Point in August 2021 to mark forty years from the loss of the Solomon Browne.

The sum raised from the concert has yet to be finalised, but each station should benefit to the extent of a figure in excess of £1,000, so that each station has benefitted from a wonderful evening of Cornish and Welsh singing.

Colin Lawry commented “Once I’d heard that this event was going to be a joint fundraiser for Penlee and Mumbles it immediately struck me that we could present something to Mumbles to cement this link and show our gratitude. Phil kindly allowed us to use one of his striking photographs, and Patch was keen to also include the Ralph Curnow image. The bond between Choirs, like that between lifeboats stations, can only be strengthened by sharing events like this.”

Funding opportunities like this will help the RNLI save lives at sea.

RNLI media contacts
For more information, please contact Phil Monckton, Penlee Lifeboat Press Officer on 07879818095 or [email protected], or Amy Caldwell, RNLI Regional Media Manager [email protected] or Emma Haines, RNLI Regional Media Officer, on 07786 668847 or [email protected].

RNLI online
For more information on the RNLI please visit rnli.org. News releases and other media resources, including RSS feeds, downloadable photos and video, are available at the RNLI News Centre rnli.org/news-and-media.

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 over 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 142,200 lives.
shows glass window at Mumbles Lifeboats Station

RNLI/Philip Monckton

Mumbles Lifeboat Station stained glass window

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, Twitter 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.