200th Anniversary RNLI Exhibition at North Down Museum

15th July 2024

The Groomsport Lifeboat panel image pictures Christine Scholes (left) and Ann Blachford. The last coxswain of the Groomsport lifeboat, Robert Waterson, was Ann’s grandfather and Christine’s great uncle

An exhibition celebrating the 200th Anniversary of the RNLI is currently running in the Long Gallery at the North Down Museum in Bangor on Belfast Lough.

Over the years, the charity’s volunteers have answered the call to rescue day or night on calm seas or into ferocious storms, saving more than 144,000 lives in total.

The first Lifeboat established by the RNLI in North County Down and the Ards Peninsula was in Groomsport about two miles east of Bangor, in 1858. This exhibition explores the vital role played by the RNLI at several stations in North Down and Ards since that date.

Published in Belfast Lough, Northern Ireland Waters, RNLI Lifeboats

Published in Belfast Lough

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Betty Armstrong

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Betty Armstrong is Afloat and Yachting Life's Northern Ireland Correspondent. Betty grew up racing dinghies but now sails a more sedate Dehler 36 around County Down

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