A new Shannon class lifeboat is coming to Fenit RNLI. Roy Barker VII will replace the station’s all-weather Trent class lifeboat Robert Hywell Jones Williams, which has served the community off the Co Kerry coast for over quarter of a century.
A seven-strong contingent representing Fenit RNLI were at the charity’s All-Weather Lifeboat Centre in Poole, Dorset on Tuesday morning (21 April) for a traditional bell-ringing ceremony. This event is held when a new Shannon class lifeboat leaves the production line and is placed in the water for the first time.
The lifeboat will soon head for its permanent home in Fenit once remaining sea trials and commissioning have been completed.
The visiting group from Fenit RNLI included two long-serving volunteers who are due to retire later this year. John McGibney, the station’s volunteer mechanic, has served 24 years, while retiring coxswain Finbarr O’Connell started his volunteering journey with the charity 32 years ago.
The wider team included lifeboat operations manager Fergus Kelliher, station technician Kevin Honeyman, volunteer crew members Wayne O’Sullivan and Cian Lawless, and Peter Clifford, chair of the lifeboat management group.
The group were present to see the new £2.7m lifeboat complete and to tour the facility where she was built.
A close up photo with the name on the new Shannon class lifeboat, Roy Barker VII | Credit: RNLI/Nathan Williams
Speaking during the short ceremony, Kelliher said everyone had gathered for a tradition that was both simple and deeply meaningful, the ringing of the bell to mark the milestone of the Roy Barker VII touching the water for the first time.
“We as a station team deeply appreciate the skill and dedication of the team here at the All-Weather Lifeboat Centre,” he said, “whose craftsmanship has ensured our volunteers will soon have this modern Shannon class lifeboat saving lives off the beautiful coast of County Kerry in Ireland. We are also deeply grateful to the donor of this new lifeboat without whom none of this would be possible.
“Our lifeboat service in Fenit, first established in 1879, has a long and proud tradition of helping those in and around our coastline, and this new Shannon class lifeboat will strengthen and continue to build upon that longstanding lifesaving history.
“In maritime life, the bell has always carried significance. It marks time, signals presence and calls people to action. Today, as we ring this bell, we do more than mark a moment, we look forward to welcoming a new lifeboat into the Fenit lifeboat station family. A lifeboat that will empower our volunteers to answer the call for help, a lifeboat to bring hope to those in danger, and to carry our crew safely through even the most challenging of conditions. Each strike of the bell is a promise, a promise of readiness, of courage and of service to all who depend on us.”
The new Shannon class lifeboat is funded from the legacy of Frederick Roy Barker, who was known as Roy. He admired the dedication, skill and bravery of the volunteer crews and, indeed, the families who supported them. He left his entire estate to the RNLI, with the request that the income received from the fund be known as the Roy Barker Memorial Fund.
Income from the fund has already funded three Trent class lifeboats at Howth in Dublin, Alderney in the Channel Islands and Wick in Scotland, as well as a Tamar class lifeboat at The Mumbles in Wales and two Shannon class lifeboats at New Quay and Troon Lifeboat Stations.
