The Isle of Wight Inshore Lifeboat Centre will host a special bicentenary event in celebration of the RNLI’s 200th anniversary on Sunday (May 26).

At the free open day, RNLI volunteers will carry out guided tours of the state-of-the-art factory in Clarence Road, East Cowes, and visitors can observe the naming ceremony of a new ‘D’ class lifeboat.

Youngsters will get the chance to meet RNLI mascot Stormy Stan, learn to tie marine knots, get their faces painted and watch afloat lifeboat demonstrations in the marina. 

Isle of Wight County Press: RNLI Inshore Lifeboat CentreRNLI Inshore Lifeboat Centre (Image: Glyn Ellis)

A programme of live entertainment includes musical interludes from The Slipshod Singers, the Cowes Concert Band, the Inshore Lifeboat Station’s ukulele band and Medina Marching Band.

You can look around the Island’s RNLI Heritage and Visitors Centre, have a photo taken in the lifeboat and meet the RNLI team face-to-face.

Glyn Ellis, business operations manager at the Inshore Lifeboat Centre, said: “Come along and meet the staff who build the lifeboats and see how the lifeboats are built during a day of family fun.

“It’s a chance to commemorate our brave crews past and present, celebrate the world-class lifesaving organisation we are today and 146,000 lives saved, and inspire the crew, supporters and volunteers of tomorrow.”

The special event takes place between 10:30am and 3:00pm.

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