Children can join lifeboat crew for a day

Bridlington Lifeboat Station, with lifeboats outsideImage source, RNLI
Image caption,

Bridlington Lifeboat Station is staging events to celebrate the RNLI's 200th birthday

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Children are being invited to become lifeboat crew members for a day.

A free event is being held at Bridlington Lifeboat Station on Saturday, between 10:00 and 14:00 BST, as part of the RNLI's bicentenary celebrations.

Visitors will be able to meet volunteer crew members, see how the station works, learn new skills and complete challenges.

Volunteer Anna Needham said she hoped the event would "inspire our next generation of crew".

Image source, RNLI
Image caption,

A scroll will be signed by over 700 people to mark the RNLI's bicentenary

The Kids Crew for a Day event is aimed at children aged seven and above, but there will be activities for everyone, along with a display of artwork by students from East Riding College.

The fun day is part of a series of events to mark the RNLI's 200th birthday.

A scroll relay, which is touring the country, will visit the Bridlington station on 1 June at 12:00.

The scroll includes a pledge, which will be signed by staff and crew members, before heading on to Flamborough.

Lynn Shaw, the volunteer chairwoman at Bridlington RNLI, said everyone at the station felt "honoured to receive the scroll".

Over the course of seven months, the 5m-long scroll will pass through 240 RNLI locations around the UK and Ireland, before finishing in October at Douglas on the Isle of Man.

The scroll has been made using materials of significance to the charity, including wood from an old flagpole from Ramsey Lifeboat Station on the Isle of Man.

It visited Skegness on Friday and will move on to Mablethorpe on Saturday, Grimsby and Cleethorpes on Sunday and Driffield on Wednesday.

The charity was founded on 4 March 1824 by Sir William Hillary, who lived on the Isle of Man and witnessed many shipwrecks.

Since the RNLI was founded, the charity estimates its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved more than 146,000 lives.

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