Portishead's station history
2014
Work started on the new boathouse and slipway with the demolition of the old Masonic Lodge. The new building will provide a safe and secure home for the new Atlantic 85 lifeboat that will be allocated in due course. Launching will be via the new main slipway (called the ramp) down to the beach with an extended hard roadway track across the intertidal zone where a slipway will be used for low water launch and recovery.
2015
The new station Atlantic 75 lifeboat B-759 Spirit of Clovelly was placed on service 24 April 2015.
The new station Atlantic 85 lifeboat B-884 My Lady Anne was placed on service 17 September 2015. Lifeboat B-759 Spirit of Clovelly has been withdrawn.
The Portishead Lifeboat Trust (PLT) has been operating a lifeboat service from Portishead since October 1996. This evolved out of the rescue service previously provided by the Portishead Yacht and Sailing Club (PYSC) since 1970. The station’s current lifeboat Spirit of Clovelly is an inshore B class Atlantic 75 lifeboat.
The construction a new boathouse marked the culmination of several years of consultation and negotiation leading to the RNLI’s adoption of the independent lifeboat service run by the PLT. The PLT operated out of facilities at the local sailing club at Sugar Loaf Bay.