Newly married couple Jackie and Peter Gracey have presented RNLI Bangor Branch with a cheque for £1403.86. Three weeks ago Mr and Mrs Gracey held a wedding party at the Ballholme Yacht Club and in lieu of wedding presents they had requested that a donation be made to Bangor RNLI.

The presentation was made during the RNLI Bangor Lifeboat BBQ held at Ballyholme Yacht Club.

Jackie and Peter (centre) present their cheque

During the evening crew members and guests raised over £1500.00 for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution Bangor Branch.

RNLI senior helmsman Kyle Marshall said 'We would like to thank everyone who attended the crew BBQ and helped raise this fantastic sum of money.' He added 'Special thanks must go to Jackie and Peter; their very special wedding gift will save lives at sea, on behalf of the crew at Bangor Station I would like to wish them a very happy future together.'

Lifeboat volunteer crew at Bangor have launched on service numerous times this year, in all weather conditions and on many occasions during the hours of darkness.

The majority of call outs have been to leisure craft including canoes, powerboat, yachts and speedboats. Difficulties have been caused in the most part by mechanical failure of one kind or another. The rescues have been diverse, taking RNLI's Bangor Lifeboat right across Belfast Lough to Black Head and up towards Belfast as far as the M3 bridge over the River Lagan. Rescues are not always confined to boats in distress. A number this year have been related to suspected attempted suicides and missing persons, others have been to people stranded on rocks caught by the rising tide.