IN WHAT has been described as a first for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution in its 186-year history, a lifeboat crew in one station has raised funds to provide a lifeboat in another.
The institute in Bangor, Co Down, raised the €39,000 needed as a tribute to two colleagues, Bradley and Sonya Burns, a married couple with two young children who died within months of each other in 2006.
Bradley had battled cancer and 10 months later, Sonya died suddenly, it is suspected from a blood clot.
Bradley had been a volunteer mechanic in Bangor and Sonya had managed the administration.
The Bangor crew wanted to ensure the lifeboat remained within Ireland, the institute being an England and Wales, Scotland and Irish organisation, a spokeswoman explained.
The lifeboat Bradley and Sonya was formally handed over at an emotional ceremony in Fenit on Saturday, with up to 60 volunteers from the Fenit and the Bangor volunteer crews attending the ecumenical ceremony.
The lifeboat was named by their mothers Mary Connolly and Eileen Savage. The couple’s children, Rory (15) and Charlie (6), and other family members were there.
Andrew Jaggers, chairman of the Bangor lifeboat management group, said the provision “epitomises the fellowship between lifeboats everywhere”.
The D-class lifeboat is the workhorse of the RNLI, the ceremony heard, and can reach a maximum speed of 25 knots. It can carry five survivors and three crew.
Ger O’Donnell, Fenit Lifeboat manager, said they were extremely grateful to Bangor. “It may well mean the difference between life and death.”