There were celebrations in Tenby yesterday (Thursday), when the Royal National Lifeboat Institution's new Tamar class lifeboat, the first in the UK to be allocated to a lifeboat station, arrived in town.

Hundreds of people, including a group of cheering schoolchildren, gathered at every vantage point on Castle Hill to greet the state-of-the-art vessel.

It was a proud moment for the volunteer crew who have undertaken intensive training before bringing the new £2m lifeboat home to Tenby.

The volunteer crew have spent weeks getting acquainted with every aspect of the new lifeboat, which is to be named Haydn Miller in honour of the donor. The crew had the honour of accompanying RNLI inspectors and engineers in sailing the state- of-the-art vessel into Tenby.

The arrival into Tenby was the last leg of a six-day passage from the RNLI's headquarters in Poole, Dorset, which has seen the new lifeboat visit various places such as Salcombe, St. Marys, Kilmore Quay, Bangor, Holyhead, Pwllheli and Fishguard.

The Tamar, which will replace Tenby's current Tyne class lifeboat RFA Sir Galahad, which has been saving lives off the Pembrokeshire coast since 1986, features state-of-the-art technology to enhance its lifesaving capabilities. Compared to the Tyne class, the Tamar will be bigger - 16 metres as opposed to 14 - and have a faster response time, with a speed of 25, rather than 17 knots.

Tenby's Tyne class lifeboat RFA Sir Galahad will remain on station until the Tamar is officially placed on service.

Locals were given a sneak preview of the Tamar class last March when the pre-production vessel visited the station to undergo slipway trials. The Tamar has more safety features built in to protect the crew, including a new seat design that will reduce loadings on crew members' spines in rough weather. A new on-board computer known as SIMS (Systems and Information Management System) further improves safety because a lot of the lifeboat's functions can now be managed remotely. This means the crew do not have to move around the lifeboat while underway, reducing the risk of accidents. Using SIMS also allows better task sharing between crew members, as the various functions required to operate the lifeboat can be accessed via screens at any of the six crew positions.

Fred Broomhead, lifeboat operations manager at Tenby, said: "This has been an exciting day for Tenby and for our volunteer lifeboat crew who have been working hard to ensure they are at the peak of their skills before they begin saving lives at sea in this thoroughly modern lifeboat.

"Being the first lifeboat station in the UK to take delivery of the new Tamar is a proud and memorable moment not only for the crew, fund- raisers and station officials, but for the whole town."

Among those lining the shoreline was Mayor of Tenby, Clr. Mrs. Tish Rossiter.

"It was quite moving to see both the new lifeboat and the old one come in. It was a wonderful occasion and a great way to welcome our new lifeboat," she said.