Hunstanton Royal National Lifeboat Institution crew welcomes top officials to meet its members

A crew has welcomed top officials to its lifeboat station to meet its members.

Two senior officials from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) visited Hunstanton lifeboat station where volunteers welcomed them.

Mark Dowie, chief executive of the charity that saves lives at sea and Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, its vice president and former deputy chair of its board of trustees and chair of the operations committee, toured the boathouse on Sea Lane on Saturday morning.

They met some of the men and women who respond to emergencies on its inshore lifeboat, Spirit of West Norfolk and its hovercraft, the Hunstanton Flyer.

They also spoke to members of the shore team who assist with launches, some of the volunteers who work behind the scenes at the station and staff from its souvenir shop, which helps raise vital funds towards the work of the RNLI.

Rigil Kent, lifeboat operations manager, said: “They were here to look at the kit we’ve got, how we use it here and how we think it could be improved.

“It was a very positive visit.

“They even brought some good weather with them.”

Mr Dowie and Sir Timothy were on their way to Wells for the naming of the town’s new Shannon Class lifeboat, Duke of Edinburgh.