A SCROLL celebrating 200 years of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) visited Lymm recently, on a journey to 300 sites around the UK.
The visit of the ‘Connecting our Communities’ scroll is the latest event in the RNLI programme to celebrate 200 years of the lifeboat service.
The scroll was signed by Lymm District RNLI Fundraising Branch Chair, Rosemary Irons, who was joined by long-serving committee member and volunteer Libby Whittle. Rosemary said signing the scroll was an “honour and a privilege”.
The scroll is made from bamboo paper and inscribed with the RNLI’s One Crew pledge, with all participating lifeboat stations promising to continue saving lives at sea for the next 200 years and beyond.
It began its journey on the RNLI’s official 200 anniversary on March 4, at Westminster Abbey where it was signed by the RNLI’s president, HRH The Duke of Kent, as well as the Archbishop of Canterbury and other dignitaries.
The scroll has a wooden spindle at each end made from a 19th Century flag pole from a lifeboat station on the Isle of Man and the case the scroll is travelling in has been made from recycled boat materials and includes a speaker that plays the pledge out loud for blind and partially-sighted people.
The Lymm Fundraising Branch, although not on the coast where most of the RNLI branches are, has been going for over 70 years and provides vital fundraising for the charity.
The enthusiastic branch consists of six committee members and over 15 volunteers, who hold annual collections throughout Lymm including the upcoming Lymm Transport Day on June 23, where there will be a scale replica model of a lifeboat on show.
If you would like to volunteer and help fundraise at local events, contact branch secretary Gaye Fletcher at [email protected]
