St Davids RNLI celebrates new lifeboat and station

A double celebration has taken place at a Pembrokeshire lifeboat station.

St Davids RNLI officially opened its £10m lifeboat station on Tuesday and named its £2.7m Tamar class lifeboat Norah Wortley.

The new station and slipway took two years to build and are positioned in the cliffs next to the old station at St Justinian.

About 200 people, including past and present crew, attended the ceremony.

The Norah Wortley was funded by a bequest from Diana Symon from Devon and since its arrival at the station four years ago has launched more than 60 times, helping to rescue 50 people and save four lives.

Champagne was poured over the bow as the lifeboat was officially named and handed over to Capt James Wilcox, lifeboat operations manager at St Davids RNLI.

Capt Wilcox said: "The thanks of everyone connected to St Davids RNLI goes out to Diana Symon and all the other donors who made this day possible.

"Their generosity and the support of the local community mean our volunteers will be able to save lives at sea off the coast of St Davids for many more years to come."

The new lifeboat station is one of the RNLI's most ambitious build projects in recent years.

It was part funded by the community and as well as housing the Norah Wortley, is home to the smaller inshore lifeboat.

Tuesday's ceremony also paid tribute to the past with the Watson class lifeboat, which served St Davids RNLI for 22 years until 1985, in the water for the event.