6-year-old William Stockley completes his Mayday mile challenge at Wells RNLI
On Friday 31 May, William Stockley, aged 6 from Codsall, near Wolverhampton, ran his final mile in his amazing fundraising endeavour for the RNLI, as part of the Mayday mile challenge.
Wells RNLI Coxswain Nicky King welcomed William to the station and gave him a tour of the Shannon all-weather class lifeboat Duke of Edinburgh. William completed his 31 miles walking from the town of Wells-next-the-sea, to the lifeboat station, supported by his parents, siblings and the family’s dog Ted.
Michelle Stockley, William’s mum said ‘William was inspired to fundraise this year and wanted to help the RNLI. William doesn’t want people to drown and he felt it important to raise the awareness of the RNLI and their vital life-saving work the volunteers all do and raise some much needed funds.'
Whilst completing his mile a day, William spent one day litter picking. He asked his mum Michelle to buy him a litter picker to use. Another walk he visited a funfair and won a goldfish on a stand, he has called it ‘Mayday’. Some days he was completing the walk at 6.30am before School.
William spoke at a school assembly and talked of the life-saving work the RNLI volunteers carry out and the meanings of the flags the lifeguards display on the beaches.
William’s daily walks have been varied. William’s Dad, Sam, is a firefighter and one mile was spent walking the length of a hose, 19 times to equal a mile. William’s grandparents also supported him by walking with him, as did a teaching assistant another day.
The Wells RNLI Shannon class lifeboat has a special meaning to William and his family as his great grandparents names are on the port side of the ‘Duke of Edinburgh’. William was very happy to find their names on the benches positioned outside the boathouse.
William has completed the Mayday mile challenge in his yellow RNLI wellies and his helmet adorned with family and friends names, who have sponsored him to help him raise £710 to date. The link for William's fundraising page is
https://fundraise.rnli.org/fundraisers/williamstockley
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Notes to the editor
Volunteers are the lifeblood of our charity and 97% of our frontline lifesavers are volunteers.
Our vision is to save every one. To find out more about the RNLI and make a donation, please visit RNLI.org/donate. Every penny counts.
The Wells RNLI is located at Beach Road, Wells-next-the-sea, Norfolk, NR23 1DR. There is a well stocked shop in the boat house, usually open Fridays to Mondays, 10am-4pm, staffed entirely by volunteers. Some changes to these days are likely, due to staff shortages.
The current lifeboats at the station are a Shannon class All Weather lifeboat No 13-46, Duke of Edinburgh, new to the station in 2023 and a D-class Inshore lifeboat No. D-797 Peter Wilcox, in service since 2016.
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.
Learn more about the RNLI
For more information please visit the RNLI website or Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. News releases, videos and photos are available on the News Centre.
Contacting the RNLI - public enquiries
Members of the public may contact the RNLI on 0300 300 9990 (UK) or 1800 991802 (Ireland) or by email.