When the Pembrokeshire-wide appeal to raise £20,000 towards Tenby's new lifeboat station was launched in February 2004, the target figure seemed vast. Eighteen months on, the amount has not only been reached but exceeded, so that the fund is now in the region of £25,000!
The new station is finally open for visitors to admire and to buy souvenirs in the gift shop. It currently awaits its Tamar class boat, which will arrive before the end of the year.
The appeal is no longer actively seeking to raise funds, but is still very grateful for contributions, which will go towards the running of the station. A recent, most generous anonymous donation took the appeal to its current figure, but it has been all the efforts of a large number of individuals, working together, which has captured local imagination and that of well-wishers further afield.
One of the latter is Rachel Coster from Bedford who, by saving money earned from baby-sitting and from craft sales and other enterprises, has given a staggering £1,226. On Friday, August 26, she was presented with a certificate of thanks by station operations manager Fred Broomhead and Tenby appeal secretary Jennie McIntosh, watched by her proud family. The group was then given a tour of the station.
Another recipient of a certificate was Doug Waters, of the Buccaneer Inn, whose customers had amassed a wonderful £374.40 in a large collecting bottle on the bar counter.