Redcar RNLI fundraiser celebrates 100th birthday

Vera Robinson will continue fundraising for the charity

A celebration has taken place on Teesside to mark the 100th birthday of one of the RNLI's oldest fundraisers.

Vera Robinson has been raising funds for the Redcar RNLI lifeboat station since the age of 16, and says she has no plans to retire.

Now president of the Redcar Lifeboat Ladies Guild, when she joined in 1930 the station still operated a pulling lifeboat launched by horses.

A reception was held in her honour at Redcar Civic Centre.

A former teacher at Zetland Primary School, Miss Robinson was awarded the MBE for services to teaching in 1971.

She went on to become a local historian and in 2001 was granted the freedom of Redcar and Cleveland.

Dave Cocks from Redcar RNLI described her as "one of a kind."

He said: "Generations of lifeboat volunteers have grown up in Redcar knowing Vera, either from school or from her fundraising efforts.

"Even now she tries to be as active as she can be. Just last month she attended the ladies guild AGM and insisted on making a speech to the meeting."