A dream was realised for the RNLI crew at Angle on Tuesday, when the station's modern new Tamar class lifeboat arrived at its new home. The RNLI's most technologically advanced lifeboat will reach casualties faster and help the volunteer crew save even more lives at sea. It will be officially placed on service once the crew have completed an intensive training programme.

The arrival of the Tamar is the culmination of three years of fund-raising, which RNLI supporters began so effectively at grass-roots level in Birmingham and Pembrokeshire following an appeal launched in 2006.

A £1.6M donation from the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons, a branch of the Freemasons, completed the task to foot the bill of the £2.7M lifeboat. The significant windfall will give the donor the right to name the lifeboat, which will be called Mark Mason, during a dedication ceremony this summer.

Angle is the second RNLI lifeboat station in Wales to take delivery of a Tamar class lifeboat, the first being Tenby, which welcomed Haydn Miller into service in 2005. The Angle RNLI crew collected their new lifeboat from the RNLI's headquarters in Poole on Friday. Following a passage through Weymouth, Plymouth, St. Mary's and Padstow, they arrived in Angle on Tuesday afternoon.

The Tamar class is the latest design of RNLI all-weather lifeboat and features cutting edge technology to enhance its lifesaving capabilities. The new lifeboat replaces the station's Tyne class all-weather lifeboat, which was built in 1986. Compared to the Tyne, the Tamar is bigger - 16 metres as opposed to 14 - and faster, with a speed of 25, rather than 17 knots.

John Allen-Mirehouse, RNLI lifeboat operations manager at Angle, said: "This is a very exciting day for the volunteer RNLI crew at Angle and a momentous occasion for the station. We are extremely proud to be the second of the RNLI's 31 lifeboat stations in Wales to take delivery of this fantastic boat and seeing her arrive in the distance was quite a moment for everyone. As a charity, the RNLI is eternally grateful to everyone who has given so generously to make this dream a reality."

Extensive modifications have been carried out to the boathouse and the slipway to allow a new larger lifeboat to operate. The re-profiled slipway was put to the test in December when a relief Tamar was put through its paces to ensure everything was operating correctly, in anticipation of the arrival of the new boat.

Mr Allen-Mirehouse added: "Last year, the Angle all-weather RNLI lifeboat launched 25 times and rescued 21 people. A large proportion of call-outs for the volunteer RNLI crew at Angle are to vessels in trouble a long way from the shore. Angle's crew spent 72 hours at sea during 2008 and many shouts were long towing operations. The Tamar class lifeboat is not only faster which will ensure the lifeboat is able to reach casualties quicker, but it is more comfortable and safer."

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 boat 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.