Cowes lifeboat station has benefited from two very different recent fundraising efforts, one involving staff of the Southampton based Ordnance Survey offices and another concerning the annual national sailing championships for firefighters.
Ordnance Survey employees chose the RNLI as the beneficiary of its corporate charity events held over the past 12 months, ranging from running races to a Christmas fayre and a cake sale. Of the £7,734 raised it was envisaged that the RNLI’s Cowes, Calshot and Lymington stations should each receive £1,500 to pay for two crew members undergoing five days of training at the charity’s Poole headquarters.
There was already a link between the RNLI and Ordnance Survey, as the Southampton organisation’s infra-structure operations manager, Richard O’Callaghan, lives on the Island and is one of the Cowes station’s volunteer helms.
Welcoming the Ordnance Survey cheque to train six volunteers, the RNLI’s fund-raising manager Roseanne Blaze said:
“This will prepare them to go out on a shout in various conditions such as freezing water, choppy waters and torrential rain as well as for all of the different rescues that they may come across.”
The firemen’s championships involved eight-strong crews aboard yachts chartered from Port Solent, Portsmouth. This year over 20 yachts competed in the races, staged in central and eastern Solent.
Cowes lifeboat was one of several good causes to receive £1,500 cheques at the closing gala dinner, held at Cowes Yacht Haven. The evening also included a raffle.
Over the last ten years over £56,000 has been raised for a range of good causes by the sailing championships. As well as firemen, the event also attracts entrants from the police, ambulance and mountain rescue bodies across the country.
The guest speaker at this year’s closing ceremony was Simon Weston, OBE.
