New Brighton Lifeboat station bowled over by club’s donation to £50,000 training and equipment appeal

Aug 24 2011 by Lorna Hughes, Wallasey News

NEW Brighton Lifeboat volunteers have been bowled over by the latest donation to a £50,000 fundraising appeal.

New Brighton-based Magazine Bowling Club raised £500 for the lifeboat station’s training and equipment appeal.

The money came from the club’s annual Magazine Charity Cup, an annual knock-out competition which has been running since 1989.

Fifty-eight couples from bowling clubs across Wirral took part this year.

In the final Matthew Cunliffe and Dave Wilson of Manor Road Bowling Club beat father and son duo Steve Wharton and Steve Wharton Junior from Great Meols Bowling Club.

The Magazines Bowling Club has a long-running connection with the RNLI – one of the founders of the charity cup, Jonathan Clare, is the brother of Tony Clare, RNLI Sea Safety Co-ordinator for Northern England and former New Brighton volunteer crew member.

Cliff Downing, lifeboat operations manager at New Brighton Lifeboat Station, said: “It’s a big thank you to the Magazines Bowling Club for their support.

“We really appreciate the considerable effort that their members have put in to raising this money for us. “Without this sort of help we could not continue to provide the services that we do to save lives at sea.

“This is a great contribution towards our stations Training and Equipment appeal.”

The donation brings the total raised in the appeal to £38,000.

Vital protective kit such as dry suits and lifejackets will be funded by the New Brighton campaign. It costs £319 to replace a drysuit; £166 for a safety helmet and £222 for an inshore lifeboat lifejacket.

To donate, call the RNLI on 0161 787 8779 or email north@rnli.org.uk