Family donates lifeboat to Fowey RNLI

A new RNLI lifeboat has been donated to ensure a town's "lifesaving heritage continues".

More than 100 people gathered at Fowey Town Quay on Saturday for an official naming ceremony and service of dedication for its new Atlantic 85 lifeboat, the Spirit of Daisy.

The RNLI said the donor of the new lifeboat, Alan Jackson, his wife Annette and his family, named the boat after his late mother Daisy, who introduced him to the RNLI.

Carolyn Greene, the RNLI's chief people officer, said successive generations of lifeboat crews in Fowey had been "keeping these waters safe" since 1859 and that it had launched its service 1,829 times and saved 301 lives.

She said: "That is a remarkable number of people who have been reunited with their families thanks to the selflessness, kindness and courage of Fowey lifeboat crew.

"This B class lifeboat, built at our inshore lifeboat centre on the Isle of Wight, will ensure Fowey's lifesaving heritage continues."

Greene said the Spirit of Daisy had already been launched 11 times and helped 18 people.

Alan said his mother introduced him to the RNLI when he was a teenager when he started boating in Beer in east Devon.

The RNLI said his mother was "was concerned about his safety on the open sea" so one of the local fishermen kept "his eye on Alan, which comforted his mother".

"To repay his help, his mother Daisy would raise money for the RNLI, collecting in their local town Solihull during lifeboat appeals."

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