Moelfre RNLI to open new boathouse and name lifeboat

The £2.7m lifeboat has been named Kiwi

Moelfre RNLI's new £10m boathouse on Anglesey was officially opened and its £2.7m lifeboat named on Saturday.

The lifeboat was named Kiwi by the niece and great nephew of a New Zealand-born merchant seaman who was rescued by a lifeboat after he was torpedoed during World War Two.

Reginald James Clark left £2.2m to the RNLI when he died in 2004.

The boathouse has been in use since March and the lifeboat has completed 36 rescues, helping 45 people since 2013.

Terry O'Cuneff, a relative of the Mr Clark, was among those at the ceremony.

Moelfre RNLI operations manager Rod Pace said: "As a tribute to Reginald Clark's New Zealand roots and heritage, Bill Huaki from Bethesda performed the Haka on the stern of the lifeboat before the volunteers launched the Kiwi from the new boathouse."