With celebrations taking place across the UK this year to commemorate 200 years of the RNLI, Sheringham Lifeboat station held a number of events last week with lots more planned.
4th March saw the official 200th birthday of the RNLI and Sheringham hosted a number of events including a street collection, a special celebration at St Peter’s church, a gala dinner and a unique video produced by The Sheringham Shantymen.
On Saturday a street collection was held in Sheringham town centre with over £1,700 generously donated by the public to the RNLI, a particularly impressive figure considering it was a cold winter Saturday and relatively quiet compared to the busy summer months.
In the evening a special event was held at St Peter’s church, Sheringham with entertainment provided by The Sheringham Shantymen. Sheringham mayor Peter Ratcliffe presented Sheringham RNLI with the freedom of the town, a huge honour, particularly as this was the first time the ‘Freedom of the town’ has ever been bestowed in Sheringham and was unanimously voted for by Sheringham Town Council members.
The evening featured speeches by Duncan Baker MP, the Grandmaster of The Oddellows (long time supporters of Sheringham RNLI) who presented Sheringham RNLI with a cheque for £500, Sheringham RNLI Chairman Dr Peter Sampson and a historical story of a Sheringham lifeboat rescue by Tim Groves of Sheringham Museum.
The following morning members of The Oddfellows visited Sheringham Lifeboat station to watch a training launch and recovery.
Graham Deans, former landlord of The Lobster held a charity quiz night at Oddfellows Hall which raised over £100 for the RNLI and local knitters have adorned some Sheringham letterboxes with fantastic RNLI- themed knitted box-toppers
On Friday 8th March a 200th anniversary Gala Dinner was held at Sheringham Golf Club with Sir Norman Lamb as guest of honour and again attended by Duncan Baker MP and members of the local community.
The Sheringham Shantymen, lifelong supporters of the RNLI, recorded a special video of the RNLI anthem ‘Home from the sea’, featuring an introduction with Cromer all-weather lifeboat launching to music (based on the RNLI pager tone) composed by Sheringham RNLI member Jon Payne. The video was made by Shantymen & Sheringham lifeboat crew member Chris Taylor, with the Shantymen surrounded by former Sheringham RNLI lifeboats at Sheringham Museum and has so far had over 20,000 views online & been shared all around the UK.
The video can be seen here: https://youtu.be/LDcd__X0OAg?si=y4QgvDZk-Etq_opV
Sheringham RNLI has plenty more events planned throughout the year including a poetry competition, a parade through town, a community art project, a ‘flower wall’ on the lifeboat station and lots more.
All images courtesy of christaylorphoto.co.uk
