North Wales – Day 1, Flint and The Wirral
- Allan & Helen
- Oct 16, 2024
- 4 min read
We based ourselves in Abergele for our week in North Wales. We are staying in a lovely holiday cottage that we have used for the past 8 years, ideally located for each day of visits.
Flint Lifeboat Station
Day 1 and we headed along the coast to Flint Lifeboat Station. On the Friday before we left for Wales we had been contacted by Christopher Smith. He is driving around the country visiting each Lifeboat Station on behalf of the RNLI’s Connecting our Communities celebration marking the 200th anniversary of the RNLI. He told us he would be visiting Flint at the same time we were. More about that shortly.
When we arrived at the picturesque location in Flint we were greeted by Wayne and Tracey who made us very welcome. We had a tour of the station and the boat including a fascinating discussion with Vernon, their Water Safety Officer. It is his job to coordinate education on Water Safety and since he took on the role the number of school, cubs, brownies and WI visits has increased by over 300%. He helps deliver vital information to youngsters and adults on the dangers around waterways and the sea.
Flint Lifeboat Station is close to the 13th century ruins of Flint Castle and was opened by the RNLI in 1966. The station is unique in that the door does not face the sea. Instead, their ILB is launched via carriage and Landrover from several locations depending on the location of the casualty. The current station was built in 1985 almost entirely by the crew. This houses their D-Class Inshore Lifeboat called Lady Barbara (D-795) and their launch landrover.
Christopher had arrived with the Connecting our Communities Scroll which was set up on a table in front of the Station ready for the official signing. Representatives from the station signed the bamboo paper scroll containing the One Crew Pledge. After several photos of the ceremony we were honoured to be invited by the crew and by Christopher to join the photos. We were also given the unique opportunity to have our photo take with the scroll. Find out more about the Connecting our Communities celebration and the details of the amazing scoll, at the link below.
A huge thank you to Wayne, Tracey, Vernon, Scott, Bill and all the crew members that made us so welcome at the station and allowed us to be part of their historic event.
New Brighton Lifeboat Station
Our journey continued over the Wales/England border on the Wirral. Our first stop here was New Brighton. A busy seaside town on the northerly tip of the Wirral with views across to Liverpool and the docks. We were a little early arriving so we took a short walk to a house in one of the side streets of New Brighton to see a mural. We had been given information that there was a mural on the side of a house depicting one of the long serving crew members, Mike Jones. Sure enough we found the impressive artwork.
Back at the station we were met by Ian the Lifeboat Operations Manager (LOM) and other crew members. They were busy setting up for a Restart a Heart event organised by one of the crew members. This offered important practical advice to members of the public on how to provide lifesaving CPR.
We were shown around the station by Ian and learnt about some of the major rescues and history of the 1863 station. Due to the event, their Atlantic 85, B-837 was parked on its carriage outside the station. Their boat is one of several Civil Service funded Lifeboats and is called Charles Dibdin (Civil Service No. 51). The boathouse is in a strange location opposite a supermarket set back from the beach. The boat is launched further down the promenade from a slipway. After some photographs with the crew and the boat we headed off to our third visit of the day.
Hoylake Lifeboat Station
Just a short drive down the Wirral Coast lies the town of Hoylake, arguably most famous for The Royal Liverpool Golf Club. The current impressive Lifeboat station was opened in 2008 but Hoylake is one of the oldest in the country having been founded in 1803. The RNLI took over the station in 1894 and there has been a long history of station along this stretch of coastline ever since. The current station was purpose built for the Shannon Class lifeboat. Currently on station is Edmund Hawthorn Micklewood (13-06) along with its SLARS, Roland Hough (SC-T06).
Also on station is one of 4 station allocated hovercraft, Hurley Spirit (H-005). This was original allocated to New Brighton until 2016 when it was moved to Hoylake. It is ideally suited for the vast sand banks of the Mersey Estuary and the Wirral coastline.
Our thanks to all the volunteers and crew who took their time to show us around the station and explain the fascinating history of the area over a lovely cup of tea.
West Kirby Lifeboat Station
Our final visit of the day was to West Kirby. Just a short drive around the coast from Hoylake. Here we were welcomed by Eve, the station LPO and several crew members. They had very kindly got kitted up for some photos.
There has been a Lifeboat Station established here since 1966 following a tragic accident in the River Dee. In 1990 the boathouse was seriously damaged by storm flooding and was demolished, being replaced by the current station in 1992. This now houses their D-Class, Leonard Pownall (D-883) which is only a year old. West Kirby also have a unique launch vehicle. Following trials with various vehicles including a Landrover fitted with tracks, nothing was found suitable for the challenging Dee Estuary conditions. In 2013 a Hellgeth Hagglunds BV206 was introduced. This type of vehicle is used by rescue teams and armed forces in over 25 countries but is the only one of its kind allocated to a station in the RNLI fleet.
After a good discussion and more Tea we took our final photos and headed back to our Abergele basecamp. What an incredible first day we had. Day 2 sees us head west to the beautiful Llyn Peninsula.
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