Member's statement: Newcastle RLNI: 200th Anniversary

Member's statement by Mr Andrew McMurray on 6 May 2025.

MLA

Mr Andrew McMurray

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

6 May 2025

Type

Member's statement

Business

Members' Statements

Heading

Newcastle RLNI: 200th Anniversary

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4929267

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Yesterday was the 200th anniversary of the Newcastle Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) station. The RNLI is the largest of the lifeboat services operating around the coasts of the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man as well as in some inland waterways. The station was established in 1825 in Rossglass in Dundrum Bay under the auspices of the then County Down district association of the institution. It was moved to St John's Point coastguard station, where it remained until 1843. There was no lifeboat in Dundrum Bay until the institution placed one in Newcastle in 1854, following numerous wrecks. One tragedy of note was in January 1843, when 73 men from Newcastle and Annalong lost their lives in a storm at sea. Other incidents included the stranding of the Great Britain in 1846 and a call-out that, according to old log books, was made to a Spitfire in the bay during the war effort of the 1940s. Newcastle station operates two lifeboats: a D-class inshore lifeboat, which it has had since 1994, and a Mersey-class all-weather lifeboat. The Mersey will be retired later this year and replaced by an Atlantic 85, a state-of-the-art, inshore lifeboat with a top speed well over twice that of the Mersey-class lifeboat. As Newcastle is a busy coastal town with many visitors, the D-class is the busier of the two Newcastle lifeboats. Thirty RNLI medals for gallantry have been awarded to the station: four gold, 19 silver and seven bronze. More recently, two members, Shane Rice and Trez Dennison, were awarded the Royal Humane Society award for the life-saving response that they made to the call of a local resident who had fallen not at sea but in his house. The crew members attended the scene and ensured that treatment was given until medical attention was received. That saved the man's life. On Thursday past, I visited the station and met the crew as they took the Mersey and D-class out for their weekly practice.

Launching the all-weather lifeboat on a shout requires 12 to 15 people. The boat generally launches within 10 minutes of the pagers going off. If a demonstration of teamwork was ever needed, the launch of those boats would be a good start.

I have been lucky enough to spend a lot of time exploring the inland and coastal waters. I have also been lucky in that I have not had to call on the services of the RLNI. That said, while not by any stretch a safety blanket or, indeed, an excuse for taking out a boat with poor training or a lack of skills, it has always been a reassurance that those committed men and women of the institution are in place, should an unforeseen accident occur. Thank you and happy birthday to the RLNI's Newcastle station.

473 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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