2017 news archive from Penlee Lifeboat Station

Cornish Bunch & Tremenheere Gardens fundraising

Selling locally donated flowers in aid of the RNLI

Donation from Mount's Bay Pilot Gig Club

£200 donation for the new Penlee Station

Saturday Gang at the Godolphin Arms Marazion fundraising

£1163.31 raised for the new Penlee Station

Donation to Penlee from Sunday lunches

£400 raised in Redruth for Penlee

A tribute to Dudley from Spurs

The station received a letter from Spurs paying tribute to Dudley Penrose

Another sad announcement from Penlee

It is with deepest sadness we notify to of the loss of Dudley Penrose

A sad announcement from Penlee

It is with deepest sadness we notify to of the loss of Binkie Wallen

Another donation from pensioner paper boy David

David Rickard visits Penlee with another donation and so far totalling over £4K

Penlee Crew wish you a Happy New Year

Happy 2017 and a huge thank you to our supporters

Huge thanks to Brenda Lemon from 'Cornish Bunch' for her RNLI fundraising event at Tremenheere Gardens on Sunday 26th Feb.

The beautiful flowers were kindly donated by Green Yard Flowers, Varfell, Graham Curnow and Brenda Lemon.

We will let you know how much was raised as soon as we can

Each year Mounts Bay Pilot Gig Club generously donate up to 10% of their annual club fundraising efforts to Charitable Community groups based in Penwith. Last year the club members and their supporters raised almost £2000 for club funds, running activities designed to raise the profile of the club locally.

Events have varied from a quiz night, cake and clothes sales, to supporting the Mounts Bay Colour Run and Marazion Carnival.

The club focus on encouraging local young people, women and men of all ages into the sport of Cornish Pilot Gig Rowing off the slipway at Marazion Beach.

This year the club donated £200 to our station appeal - the cheque was presented to Penlee RNLI Fundraising Chairman, Mr Eric Taylor, during a Coffee Morning at The Godolphin Hotel, Marazion.

We are extremely grateful for this generous donation.

There was a great turn out for the Saturday Gangs RNLI Coffee Morning and Auction. Huge thanks to The Godolphin Arms (St Aubyns Estates) for hosting the event, to Geoffrey Pearce and staff for all their hard work in securing such amazing raffle & auction prizes, to the Penzance Sea Cadets, all our RNLI volunteers, our very talented auctioneer, Russell Whitlock, all the amazing cake bakers, and to everyone who came along to the event and donated so generously.

An amazing £1163.31 raised. The cheque was presented to our Fundraising Chairman, Eric Taylor, by the lovely Zoe from the 'Saturday Gang'.

We are extremely grateful for this generous donation.

On 14th Feb our fund raising Chairman, Eric Taylor, was invited to Chyventon House, Redruth, to collect a donation for the Penlee Lifeboat Station Appeal. Councillor Alison Biscoe, consort to the Mayor of Redruth, handed over the donation in the community room of Chyventon House.

The money was raised by Christine Gilbert, and her partner Melvyn Giles, who collected raffle prizes from various businesses around Redruth. Christine and Melvyn then hosted a Sunday lunch for 25 people, sold raffle tickets, and raised a fantastic amount of £400.00 towards our appeal.

We are extremely grateful for this generous donation.

The letter says it all...

A tribute to Dudley as a lifelong supporter of Tottenham Hotspur

It truly is a very sad day for Penlee Lifeboat Station - our flag is flying at half mast to pay tribute to our long-serving Head Launcher, Dudley Penrose, who passed away earlier today.

Dudley, a Mousehole man born and bred, joined the Penlee Lifeboat Shore Crew at the age of 17yrs. He was a 'runner', who at the sound of the maroon would run from his home on Raginnis Hill, Mousehole to the lifeboat station at Penlee Point to assist with the launching process. In 1970 he became Head Launcher and served 47 years with the RNLI, retiring in 1983 when the lifeboat moved to Newlyn. Dudley loved the RNLI and everything about it - he was a loyal, dedicated, hard working, well respected volunteer, who was much loved by all at Penlee - in Dudley's words, 'The RNLI was my life, the lifeboat always came first'. During a recent interview for the new Penlee history book and referring to the Shore Crew he said, 'To launch the lifeboat was a 'We job' they couldn't go without 'We' and they couldn't come back without 'We'!

On retirement Dudley was presented with a vellum from the RNLI - during his service 218 lives had been saved.

Dudley was a true son of Mousehole who was involved in all aspects of village life. He was a founder member of Mousehole Harbour Lights and Mousehole Harbour Sports, a lifetime supporter of the 'Seagulls' Mousehole AFC, and of course his beloved Spurs. Our thoughts are with his daughter Linda, Mark, and the family. Another loyal member of our lifeboat family has crossed the bar.

It is with deep sadness that we share the news that our long serving and loyal volunteer, Binkie Wallen has passed away.

Binkie was box secretary for 35 years, chair of the Ladies Guild for 23 years, and was the current president of our fundraising branch. She moved to Cornwall in 1970 and almost immediately volunteered for the RNLI Penlee branch, together with her daughter, Rosalie Whitlock, who is our branch honorary secretary. Binkie was one of a kind, working in the RNLI shop in Penzance until the age of 91yrs. In her 96th year she was still sorting used postage stamps to raise money for the Penlee Lifeboat.

Binkie was awarded the RNLI Silver Badge, Gold Badge & Bar, and was extremely proud to receive and wear them both. She was a remarkable woman who gave many years of loyal support to our lifeboat - and she enjoyed every single minute!

Our thoughts are with Rosalie and the family - Rest in peace Binkie.

Despite a biting cold wind, there was a great turn out for David Rickard's cheque presentation on Thursday 26th January.

He was an absolute star, happily doing interviews with The Cornishman, BBC Radio Cornwall, BBC Radio Devon, Pirate FM, and BBC Spotlight.

As always we are extremely grateful to David for his generosity, kindness and friendship....he really is one of a kind.

On behalf of the Coxswain and crew we would like to thank all of you for your amazing support, your wonderful comments and likes throughout this year, it is very much appreciated. Also a special thanks to Elaine Trethowan for all the fantastic work she does, not only as Press Officer, but for all the hours spent on keeping this Facebook page going. To Martin Brockman, our Visits Officer, for all the work he does on the Penlee Website, to our amazing Fundraisers, and to everyone who has donated to the RNLI.

Thank You.