Morecambe RNLI volunteers sign special scroll to mark charity’s 200th anniversary

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Representatives from RNLI Morecambe lifeboat station took part in a relay-style event – one of the ways in which the charity is marking its 200th anniversary in 2024.

RNLI’s ‘Connecting our Communities’ relay-style event sees a scroll, bearing the RNLI pledge, being passed through RNLI communities – lifeboat stations, lifeguard units and fundraising branches – around the UK and Ireland and being signed by representatives at each location on its route.

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The pledge reads: ‘Whoever we are, wherever we are from, we are one crew, ready to save lives. We’re powered by passion, talent and kindness, like generations of selfless lifesavers before us. This is our watch, we lead the way, valuing each other, trusting each other, depending on one another, volunteering to face the storm together. Knowing that, with courage, nothing is impossible. That is what has always driven us to save every one we can. It's what makes every one of us a lifesaver.’

Beneath the pledge, printed in seven languages (English, Irish Gaelic, Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Ulster Scots, Manx, and Cornish), it says: ‘Signed in 2024 by representatives of the RNLI’s lifesaving communities, on behalf of all who strive to save every one.’

Morecambe RNLI volunteers signed a special scroll as part of a relay-style event held as part of the charity's 200th anniversary.Morecambe RNLI volunteers signed a special scroll as part of a relay-style event held as part of the charity's 200th anniversary.
Morecambe RNLI volunteers signed a special scroll as part of a relay-style event held as part of the charity's 200th anniversary.

At RNLI Morecambe lifeboat station, the scroll was be signed by seven volunteers including the chairman, lifeboat operations manager, water safety officer, station visits officer, press officer, shop volunteer and a representative from Morecambe RNLI Crew.

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Over the course of seven months, the five-metre-long scroll has passed through 240 RNLI locations around the UK and Ireland before finishing its journey in October at Douglas on the Isle of Man, which was home to the RNLI’s founder, Sir William Hillary.

By this time it will carry around 700 signatures.

The scroll has been made bespoke, involving RNLI craftspeople and using materials of significance to the charity.

Morecambe RNLI volunteers signed a special scroll as part of a relay-style event held as part of the charity's 200th anniversary.Morecambe RNLI volunteers signed a special scroll as part of a relay-style event held as part of the charity's 200th anniversary.
Morecambe RNLI volunteers signed a special scroll as part of a relay-style event held as part of the charity's 200th anniversary.

The wooden handle has been made by a carpenter from the RNLI’s All-weather Lifeboat Centre in Poole (where the charity builds and maintains its all-weather lifeboats), using wood from an old flagpole from Ramsey lifeboat station on the Isle of Man.

Apprentices from the RNLI’s Inshore Lifeboat Centre on the Isle of Wight have made the protective fibreglass casing and set the scroll spindles and accessories into the case.

The scroll began its journey on Monday March 4 2024, at a Service of Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey to mark the charity’s official 200th anniversary, where it was signed by RNLI President, HRH The Duke of Kent, as well as the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Dean of Westminster, the RNLI’s Chair and the RNLI’s Chief Executive.

When the seven-month-long journey is complete, the scroll will be displayed in the RNLI College in Poole, where the charity’s lifeboat crews and lifeguards are trained.

Founded on March 4 1824 following an appeal from Sir William Hillary, who lived on the Isle of Man and witnessed many shipwrecks, the RNLI has been saving lives at sea for 200 years. Since the charity was founded, the charity’s lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,000 lives.

Two centuries have seen vast developments in the lifeboats and kit used by the charity’s lifesavers, and the charity’s lifesaving reach and remit has also developed over the course of 200 years.

Today, it operates 238 lifeboat stations around the UK and Ireland, including four on the River Thames, and has seasonal lifeguards on over 240 lifeguarded beaches around the UK. It designs and builds its own lifeboats and runs domestic and international water safety programmes.

While much has changed in 200 years, two things have remained the same – the charity’s dependence on volunteers, who give their time and commitment to save others, and the voluntary contributions from the public which have funded the service for the past two centuries.