Our last day of a fantastic week in Wales and we visited three stations along the North Coast.
Rhyl Lifeboat Station
The first was Rhyl, just 20 minutes from our accommodation, situated on the promenade of this popular holiday destination. It was very quiet in the area being out of season and fairly early on a Friday morning. We parked next to the station and took our evidence photo to start with.
We could hear voices in the station and knocked on the window. We were greeted by Coxwain Mark who was busy cleaning the Shannon Class Lifeboat. He was happy for the excuse to sit and have a cup of tea and chat. We also met Mechanic Callum who was also doing station maintenance duties.
Rhyl Station opened in 1851. Just 2 years after opening the lifeboat was capsized on service with the loss of 6 of the 9 crew. In 1854 the RNLI took ownership of the station and built a new boathouse on the west side of Rhyl. In 1897 a wooden boathouse was built by the pier. This was damaged in 1955 by gales and was replaced on the same site. In 2001 the current boathouse was built on the lower promenade to house the All-Weather and Inshore boats. The crew room contains an impressive display of models of the previous boats as well as photographic history of the station and crew. Mark had served as man and boy on several of the boats following in his fathers footsteps. Similarly Callum’s service runs in the family.
Both took us on a tour of the impressive station and the boats. They have a Shannon Class Anthony Kenneth Heard (13-34) which arrived on station in 2019. They also have a D-Class Mary Maxwell (D-770) which is due replacement in the next year or so.
After a photo on the Shannon, we let the lads get back to work cleaning the boats and the vast quantities of sand that had found its way into the station.
Llandudno Lifeboat Station
Our next stop a little further west along the coast was the beautiful historic seaside resort of Llandudno. It is known for its fabulous North Shore beach and 19th century pier and is overlooked by the Great Orme headland accessible by a 1902 Tramway. Well worth a ride if you are in the area.
The imposing 2017 lifeboat station lies at the eastern end of the town. The RNLI first established a presence in the town in 1861 close to the railway. In 1903 a new boathouse was built between the West and North Shores allowing the boat to be launched from either shore. The boathouse still stands today in Lloyd Street.
When we arrived there was a lot of maintenance activity going on and we were met at the door by the station mechanic. It was not really safe for us to look around so we chatted at the door and grabbed a few photos of the Shannon Class, William F Yates (13-18) and their D-Class, Dr Barbara Sanderson (D-793) before heading to our next visit.
Conwy Lifeboat Station
We had some time to kill so we had a bite of lunch and headed back to Beaumaris to pick up a Pin Badge from the shop which was closed on our previous visit. We got back to Conwy and had time for a cup of tea and a walk along the picturesque waterfront next to the imposing Castle. Conwy is an historic walled town, dating back to the 13th Century, overlooking the River Conwy Estuary.
The lifeboat station lies on Conwy Quay beneath the outer walls of the castle. It was opened in 1966 for an inshore lifeboat to serve the North Wales Coast and the Estuary. We received the warmest of welcomes from several crew and the Lifeboat Management Group Chairman, David. We sat in the crew room having a fabulous discussion with everyone over a cup of tea. We learnt that the Connecting Communities Scroll was also due to arrive and we were invited to stay and watch the ceremony.
The Conwy D-Class, May-Bob (D-765) was parked on the Quay hitched to its launch tractor. It was here in front of the boat that the Scroll signing ceremony took place. We were extremely lucky and privileged to see the Scroll at Flint earlier in the week, so to see it twice and get to hold it for a photo was incredibly humbling. Thank you to all of the amazing crew at Conwy for making us so welcome and allowing us to witness this ceremony.
And that concluded our week in North Wales. 19 stations visited from New Brighton to Aberystwyth making our total up to 80. Along the way we received more donations bringing our total to £1155 including a very generous donation from the owners of the holiday cottage we stayed in. We are so grateful for all the incredible volunteers at every station we have visited. It has been a truly memorable trip.
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