The RNLI was well represented at the Isle of Wight’s County Show yesterday (Sunday), with crew and visits team members from the Cowes lifeboat station, Guild members from Bembridge station, and a representative of the charity’s nationwide Lifeguard operation all occupying an extensive area of the show.
To further raise the charity’s profile, an RNLI team won a Wight Fibre-sponsored rock-climbing contest in the main ring, involving 8 teams from a variety of organisations. Their prize was £300 for the charity.
A D-Class lifeboat, provided by the East Cowes-based Inshore Lifeboat Centre, was on display.
Later in the day, crew member Dominic Roberton became the centre of attention when passers-by were invited to each cut small bunches of his long auburn hair, which had not been cut for 9 years. Dominic, a structural engineer with a firm of naval architects, planned to donate the hair to an alopecia charity, and divide cash donations between the RNLI and NileSwimmers Org, a charity that seeks to reduce the number of drownings in Africa.
One of the people to wield the scissors, and give a handsome donation, was Maj Gen Martin White, the Island’s Lord Lieutenant and President of the Royal IW County Agricultural Society.
