In March this year, the RNLI are celebrating their 200th Anniversary. The RNLI is the charity that saves lives at sea. Newhaven RNLI is calling for people who have been rescued by Newhaven Lifeboat to get in touch and share their story.
Stephen Duncombe/ Watch and Shoot Lifeboats
Newhaven RNLI's Severn class 'David and Elizabeth Acland'
The charity has a rich and varied programme of events planned throughout 2024 to mark this significant milestone of service. Each of the RNLI’s 238 lifeboat stations around the UK also have their own local programme of 200th anniversary celebration plans.
Nick Gentry, Navigator Mechanic and currently Newhaven’s longest serving volunteer crew member, says: ‘Our location provides an enormous variety of shouts for the Newhaven crew. From vessels in danger in the Channel to pleasure craft or walkers in difficulty along the coast.’
‘It is the human factor that stays with us and keeps us doing what we do. The relief in someone eyes, knowing they will return home.’
Newhaven RNLI would like to hear from people whose lives have been touched by a rescue. A first hand emergency, when you were in trouble on the water, a point from which everything could have been different if Newhaven Lifeboat had not been there to help.
Or the remembered rescue of a loved one, without whose survival you might never have existed.
Were you saved by Newhaven Lifeboat? Or do you know someone who was? A recent rescue or a rescue of many decades ago. Email [email protected] to share your story.
Notes for the Editor
There has been an RNLI lifeboat station in Newhaven since 1854 and the crew there have operated their current all-weather lifeboat, the ‘David and Elizabeth Acland’ for 24 years.
RNLI media contacts
For more information please telephone Roz Ashton, RNLI volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer on 07900 887423 or [email protected] or contact the RNLI Press Office on 01202 336789.
RNLI Newhaven social media
Twitter: @NewhavenRNLI
Instagram: newhavenlifeboat
Facebook: @newhaven.lifeboat
RNLI online
For more information, please visit the RNLI website or Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. News releases, videos and photos are available on the RNLI News Centre.
Key facts about the RNLI
The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 142,700 lives.
