Lough Ree RNLI visited by London couple in their Porsche 911 in novel fund-raising challenge

On Thursday morning last (August 29) volunteers at Lough Ree RNLI played host to a London based couple who plan to visit all RNLI lifeboat stations in Ireland and the U.K. in 911 hours.

Belinda and James Richardson are a London based couple who having been raising funds for the charity for a number of years and last visited Lough Ree RNLI in 2022.

The arrived at the lifeboat station at Coosan Point midway through an 8,500 mile journey driving their Porsche 911 to all 238 RNLI lifeboat stations.

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The adventure which started in Morcambe, England last month and ends on the Isle of Man later this month is a fund-raising venture which will deliver a new relief ‘D Class’ lifeboat to the RNLI fleet.

On their short visit to the midlands the couple made a presentation to the crew of a specially commissioned, limited edition ‘Top Trumps’ style pack of cards which features every lifeboat station including Lough Ree and specially commissioned jigsaw commemoration the ‘911 Challenge’ and the 200^th anniversary of the RNLI.

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Welcoming the couple to Coosan were Lough Ree RNLI volunteers Mary Hearty, Bernie Larkin, Ciaran Curley, Pat Coffey, Vincent Rafter and Tom McGuire.

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Accepting the gifts, Lough Ree RNLI Treasurer Vincent Rafter thanked Belinda and James for their return visit to the lifeboat station and wished them every success in their venture. He said: ‘this challenge illustrates the importance of fund-raising initiatives to the charity as volunteers continue to respond to members of the public in difficulty on the water.’

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