Future Events

Saturday 31st Jan

The lifeboat station will be open to visitors betwen 11am and 3pm. We invite you to "Slurp Our Soup" "Sizzle our Sausages" and "Sort Out Santa" by bringing any unwanted Christmas gifts. The hairy crew will need sponsoring as they offer themselves up to

"Strip Our Skins"

All donations will go to RNLI SOS Day which raises money specifically for Training.

Past Events

Saturday 8th November

The Dart lifeboat station was open to visitors for the morning. £200 was taken in sales of souvenieres and cards and several people joined the "local membership scheme" RNLI Christmas cards remain on sale from Shipmates chandlery in Newcomen Road, Dartmouth.

Dartmouth Lifeboat Week. 26th July to 2nd August 2008

Saturday 26th July. The Flag day in Dartmouth in support of the Dartmouth Lifeboat Appeal was organised by Elizabeth Essex and was very successful.

Monday 28th July. Tony and Chris Scorer opened their "sub tropical garden" at Crieff Lodge, Clarence Hill. They were finalists in "The Times" Small Garden Award in 2002. Refreshments and some plants were available and £150 was raised.

Friday 1st August. The local RNLI Fete was held in the Royal Avenue Gardens, Dartmouth. In spite of the uncertain weather there was a good attendance and £949 was raised.

On the 3rd of July eighty RNLI supporters boarded the Cardiff Castle for a "Gipsy river cruise." They were entertained with music by Marc Walpot, troubadour, and consumed a glorious candlelit feast prepared by Philip Watts.

Robin Shiffner, Chair of the Dart Management team thanked Bob Hattersley and his team for all their hard work and for raising over £700 for the Appeal.

John Risdon, Deputy Head of Dartmouth Community College in the 1980's, completed a sponsored trip to Dartmouth on June 27th. raising £600 for the Lifeboat Appeal. He walked 70 miles along the old Mariners Way from Bideford Quay to Totnes and then boarded a yacht for the final stage to Dartmouth. He was met by members of the local fundraising team and crew members, including Kevin John who had run the Coastal Marathon for the Appeal back in February.

The Dart lifeboat crew reached a gallant third place in the annual Canoe racing at The Malsters at Tuckenhay on Sunday 1st June. This was inspite of posting the second fastest time round the course. A large crowd of supporters and onlookers had a very enjoyable afternoon on the quayside in the hot sun. Over £400, raised from the Bar B Q, Tombola and Raffle was donated to the Dartmouth Lifeboat Appeal.

An excellent evening of entertainment was enjoyed at The Flavel on 7th April. Bearne's Antiques hosted an evening of "Call my Bluff". They sent three of their Heads of Department who each spelt out exactly what the object of antiquity was before us - unfortunately two of the three were lying! £696 was raised for the Lifeboat Appeal fund.

The Nautical Quiz at the Royal Castle Hotel, Dartmouth, on Sunday 17th Feb was great fun as well as raising around £700 for the Lifeboat Appeal. Geoff Evans of NONSTOP Sail had arranged general knowledge questions, as well as setting some very difficult nautical ones. Those who knew the most abstruse answers were automatically disqualified and recieved a prize for coming last! A few had ventured into nautical dress but were no better at their demonstation of the Hornpipe that those who had not! The Dartmouth RNLI Fundraisers are very grateful to the local businesses that donated such generous raffle prizes.

SOS fundraising day Friday 25th Jan. 2008

The Coffee morning in the "Over 60's" Rest Room,in Dartmouth Market Square raised £80.

Dartmouth Primary School

The entire school visited the Lifeboat Station, class by class, during the week leading up to SOS day. Much of the weeks teaching was based around the work of the RNLI, including introducing the pupils to concepts such as volunteering and Charitable giving, as well as problem solving, Mathematics and History. On SOS day the pupils arrived in decorated Wellies, for which there were prizes. Each class had ideas on how they would make money for the RNLI at the School Fair and £306.98 was raised.

Arthur Curnow, ex Coxswain of the Torbay lifeboat, gave a most entertaining, off the cuff, talk to an enthusiasic audience at the Dartmouth Yacht Club on the 19th of January. £100 was raised for the Appeal Fund and we are all looking forward to seeing his slides on a future occasion!

Dartmouth Lifeboat Station Open day Saturday 10th November.

Over 250 visitors were shown round the station by members of the volunteer crew and operations team. It was the first opportunity for the public to come inside the new building and the facilities were well recieved. Many left donations to the Appeal Fund.

Dartmouth Lifeboat week 2007

The magnificent sum of £9100 was raised over the week towards the Dartmouth lifeboat station Appeal. D520 was shown to the public for the first time at the Fete in the Royal Avenue gardens where a cheque from the Dartmouth & Kingswear Society for £500 was handed over by their Chairman Doug Twigg.

Saturday 12th May 2007

Dartmouths new lifeboat crew found themselves up the creek with a paddle at the annual Canoe racing event hosted by Canoe Adventures at the Maltsters Arms, Tuckenhay. After closely fought races against 'White Feather' and 'Stoke Up' the crew powered home to their fist victory against 'Luscombe Might', coming home a full 20 seconds in front. (picture) However, their luck didn't hold and they were beaten in their final race by a canoe full of Morris Dancers, 'Great Western'. Crew captain Chris Tracey said 'It was a great day, The team worked well together and we are already looking forward to coming back next year." Several local firms sponsored the crew and gave money for crew tee shirts. £415 also went to the Dartmouth Lifeboat Appeal.

Wednesday 16th May 2007

The Studio room at the Flavel was packed to hear Kevin Pyne read excerpts from his books of poetry, "Further up the river" and “First across the line”. Tickets included wine and nibbles and £200 was raised for the Dartmouth Lifeboat Appeal.

Friday 27th April 2007

David Morgan, RNLI Director of Engineering, gave a fascinating talk on Lifeboat development. The meeting started with a buffet at the Royal Dart Yacht Club Kingswear and £313 was ahnded over to the Lifeboat Appeal.

On the 3rd March 2007 sixty five guests and supporters had a very enjoyable evening at Alf Resco's with Hanging Johnny singing their rumbustious Sea Shanties.

The Health and Safety group of the MCTi in Dartmouth was very aware of the need for an inshore lifeboat and in the Spring of 2004 sent their recommendation to the RNLI in as well as making it one of their key projects.

The MCTi (Market and Coastal Town initiative) held a public display of all their projects at the Guild Hall, Dartmouth between 2pm and 9pm on Thursday 9th Feb.

John Tucker, District Councillor, came straight from Committee in Totnes, to announce the news that SHDC was prepared to negociate terms for the RNLI to use the site of the condemmed pavilion on Coronation Park as a temporary lifeboat station.