
A fantastic week of fundraising at Portpatrick RNLI Lifeboat week
The volunteers at Portpatrick Lifeboat Station hosted their extremely popular annual lifeboat week from Sunday 4 August to Saturday 10 August 2024.
The week kicked off with a special blessing of boat ceremony for the station’s Shannon class lifeboat, The Stella and Humfrey Berkeley. Throughout the rest of the week, the crew organised a variety of fun filled fundraising activities including singalong film night, Zumba classes, race night, fun putting and family fun bingo.
On the final day, Saturday 10 August, emergency crews from across Dumfries and Galloway joined Portpatrick and Stranraer RNLI for a static emergency services display on the harbour. Local teams from HM Coastguard held a cliff rescue demonstration before joining a combined lifeboat exercise with the Stranraer and Portpatrick crews.
The week’s events concluded on Saturday night with the volunteer crew hosting a barbeque followed by a bonfire and a spectacular firework display.
Ian Beck, Chairman, Portpatrick RNLI, expressed his appreciation for the efforts of everyone involved in organising the event, ‘Lifeboat Week has become a tradition in the village of Portpatrick for both visitors and locals. Our volunteers whether crew, fundraisers or shop team have all put in a tremendous effort to ensure the success of this year’s event making it bigger and better than ever. The main goal of the event is to raise funds for the RNLI and to continue to support the charity’s lifesaving mission. The final fund-raising amount is still being tallied but we hope to announce the amount that will be donated to the RNLI very soon. Meanwhile, I want to extend my gratitude to the team in Portpatrick who made it happen, to all our sponsors for their generous support and everyone who attended Portpatrick Lifeboat Week, you are all lifesavers.’
It is public support that allows the RNLI to continue to save lives at sea and our volunteers need your support.
To make a donation to the RNLI visit RNLI.org/support-us/give-money/donate
Notes to Editors
· Portpatrick Lifeboat Station has been operating since 1877. To learn more about the lifeboat station go to Portpatrick RNLI Lifeboat Station
· Ian Beck, Chairman, Portpatrick Lifeboat is available for interview.
· Click here to access the RNLI 200th anniversary media pack, which contains a selection of RNLI archive images from key points in the charity’s history, a RNLI history timeline, and a film of ‘200 years in 200 seconds’ – all of which can be downloaded.
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.