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Concert celebrates 200th anniversary of the RNLI and Hunstanton lifeboat station

Lifeboats News Release

Songs of the sea will be performed at a special concert celebrating 200 years of lifesaving by the RNLI.

RNLI/Janet Foster/Chris Bishop

Hunstanton Concert Band will be performing a special concert to celebrate 200 years of lifesaving at Hunstanton
This year marks the bicentenary of both the charity that saves lives at sea and the founding of a lifeboat service at Hunstanton, in Norfolk.

On Saturday 27 April, Hunstanton Concert band will be performing at St Mary's Church at Old Hunstanton from 3pm.

Paula Cuthbertson, the 30-strong band's director of music, said: 'We recently celebrated our own 25th anniversary and recalled that the very first concert we ever performed as a new band in 1999 was at a naming ceremony for the then new RNLI Atlantic 75 Class lifeboat DJS Haverhill at Hunstanton in May, 1999.

'It therefore seems entirely appropriate that we should play some music to honour this very special 200th birthday occasion.

'We have joined forces with St Mary’s Church at Old Hunstanton who are kindly providing the event venue and we all hope the concert will be well attended by local RNLI supporters and music lovers alike.'

The concert will have a nautical theme, with music including Vaughan Williams Sea Songs, film scores from Pirates of the Caribbean and Titanic, plus the Norfolk premier of a recent work called Ocean’s Journey by local composer Jack Culpin.

Admission is free, with a retiring collection.

Notes to editor

Hunstanton RNLI operates a fast inshore lifeboat, Spirit of West Norfolk and is one of just four stations which also operate a search and rescue hovercraft.

Like more than 200 stations around the coast of the UK and Ireland, Its crew's lifesaving work is funded entirely by donations and legacies.

RNLI media contacts

For more information call Chris Bishop, Hunstanton RNLI volunteer Deputy Lifeboat Press Officer on 07584 147219 or Clare Hopps, RNLI Regional Communications Manager (North and East) on 07824 518641.


Janet Foster

Hunstanton Concert Band perform in St Mary's Church at Old Hunstanton

RNLI/Chris Bishop

RNLI search and rescue hovercraft Hunstanton Flyer

RNLI/Chris Bishop

Hunstanton lifeboat Spirit of West Norfolk launching from the beach

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.