
Autumn sunshine blessed the naming ceremony for Scarborough RNLI’s new inshore lifeboat on Saturday.
The D-856 John Wesley Hillard IV, which cost £89,000, is the lifeboat station’s fourth D-class lifeboat to be paid for by Gay and Peter Hartley’s Hillards Charitable Trust.
The ceremony was attended by former RNLI chair Charles Hunter-Pease, who thought it was probably the only time in the charity’s history that four of a station’s lifeboats had been paid for by the same organisation.
Among those taking part were nine members of the Hartley family, RNLI deputy chair Janet Cooper, borough mayor Cllr Eric Broadbent, crew members and station officials including Scarborough RNLI chair Colin Woodhead and lifeboat operations manager Andy Volans.
Lifeboat chaplain Rev Richard Walker officiated at the dedication service. Music was played by Scarborough Salvation Army Band, led by Nigel Wood.
After the ceremony, four members of the inshore lifeboat crew took the new vessel for a spin in the south bay, to illustrate what it is capable of. Two jumped overboard to show how a casualty in the sea would be rescued.
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