Displaying items by tag: 150th

11th August 2010

Portrush Prepares to Celebrate 150 Years of Lifeboat Service

Portrush Lifeboat station celebrates its 150th anniversary next September 19th. The RNLI is holding a service and celebration at the Royal Court Hotel in Portrush.

Portrush is a popular tourist destination on Northern Ireland's famous Causeway Coast. The town sits on a peninsula jutting into the Atlantic between two sandy beaches.

The town Lifeboat owes its existence to Laura, Countess of Antrim, who, in 1860, successfully petitioned the RNLI to site one of the three new lifeboats on the "iron-bound coast" of north Ireland. Financed by Lady Cotton Sheppard of Staffordshire, the new lifeboat was initially named "Zelinda" and arrived in December of that year. It was later titled "Laura, Countess of Antrim" and saved 27 lives.