Pwllheli RNLI’s all-weather lifeboat has taken part in a national event to celebrate their first street collection.
The RNLI’s Coast to Cobbles time capsule relay, organised as part of the RNLI’s 200-year anniversary, arrived at Salford Quays on Thursday, 10 October after travelling down the north west coast of England from Silloth.
The relay saw a specially designed time capsule pass from lifeboat to lifeboat, with each RNLI crew given the opportunity to add something before it is put on display in Lytham St Annes Lifeboat Museum.
Sophie Wood, RNLI Community Manager said: “It’s important that we’re connecting our people in this way and collecting mementos from each station to be sealed away for 50 years, so those crew that we inspire on this journey can look back in 2074, when the charity is 250 years old.”
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The capsule contains items including an RNLI Navigational Chart plotting each leg of the journey signed by representatives from each station and the charity’s chief executive and RNLI clothing.
The capsule’s journey took 11 days from 28 September-9 October, to ensure it reached Greater Manchester in time for the anniversary of the world’s first street collection on 10 October.
Graeme Harold, Pwllheli RNLI lifeboat crew member who took part in the event, said: “It was great to support the event, and for the public to meet the RNLI people and fleet.
“It was also a fantastic training opportunity for some of the Pwllheli lifeboat crew, having go at various roles on the lifeboat. It was an invaluable opportunity to do something different and see what the lifeboat can do in different waters.”
The first Lifeboat Saturday took place in the streets of Manchester on Saturday, 10 October 1891. A lifeboat was paraded along the cobbles to drum up support for the charity following a disaster. Five years earlier, 27 men from Southport and St Anne’s died while trying to rescue sailors from the stricken vessel Mexico.
Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its volunteer crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,000 lives – this equates to an average of two lives saved every day for 200 years.