‘With Courage’ rose set to bloom in Hunstanton for RNLI’s 200th anniversary

A nursery which created a special rose for the RNLI’s 200th anniversary has planted four young bushes in Hunstanton.

Peter Beales Roses from Attleborough bred ‘With Courage’ to celebrate two centuries of saving lives at sea.

The specially-cultivated variety, which took three years to perfect, ‘wowed’ crowds at the Chelsea Flower Show in May where it featured in a gold medal-winning display which included a D-class lifeboat.

Since then, thousands of plants have been sold with 20% of the proceeds being donated to the RNLI, while hundreds more have been planted at RNLI bases including the charity’s support centre at Poole and the National Arboretum in Staffordshire.

On October 22, Peter Beales’ nursery manager Ian Limmer planted four of the highly-acclaimed bushes in an area of the Esplanade Gardens at Hunstanton, which is dedicated to the RNLI.

He said: “You should be able to see them by mid-June. You’ve got some nice soil here.”

Ian presented a cheque for more than £16,000 to Sara Wilcox, the RNLI’s fundraising and partnership lead for the North and East, with crew members standing by.

He said: “We’re planning to continue, hopefully there’ll be a similar-sized cheque next year.”

Sara said: “Partnerships like this are so important to us but what stood out about this one was the teamwork.

“We were all one crew. To get a boat to the Chelsea Flower Show was quite a challenge but we did it.”

Celebrities including Joanna Lumley, Amanda Holden and Anthea Turner all gave the rose the thumbs-up at Chelsea in May.

The display earned a Gold award from the Royal Horticultural Society which is the 29th Peter Beales has earned at the show.

Ian also presented a rose to David and Melanie Hockey, from Hinkley in Leicestershire, who own a holiday lodge at Searles Leisure Resort in Hunstanton.

The couple, who are celebrating their 45th wedding anniversary, won the bush in an RNLI raffle at the resort.

Reporting by Phoebe Cornell