Official Boat Naming & Blessing
Sunday 19th June 2016 marked a special day in the history of Duddon Inshore Rescue as we held the blessing and naming ceremony of our new boat. This was linked to the first ever boat launch as it occurred on the same date and tide time as the original launch in 1970.
Invites were designed in the same style as the 1970 invites and included a list of original crew members as well as todays crew to further tie the events together.
Reverend Allan Mitchell completed the blessing and naming ceremony stating it was the first time he had had the honour of completing a task like this in over 35 years service. The boat has been named Anyon Arthur Kay in memory of Anyon Arthur Kay and in recognition of his generous donation to Duddon Inshore Rescue which enabled us to purchase the boat. As occurred in 1970 we again used a bottle of Sass to pour over the hull to complete the ceremony.
Ian Standing ensured the 3 original crew members from 1970 who attended were given much deserved recognition before the current crew headed out on the boat to showcase its capabilities.
A man over board exercise was completed as part of the display.
A presentation in the boat house explained the history of the Inshore with photos showing the development in the building and equipment. Everyone had the chance to look around the boat house and enjoy drinks and delicious cakes.
There was a great amount of support on the day and it was great to see and speak to members of the public and representatives from other organisations such as the Coastguard, RNLI and Mountain Rescue plus other local Inshore representatives.
We would like to thank everyone who attended and made the day such a success.
The event was featured in local press with some great pictures. Links below:
http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/news/14326483.Generous_legacy_gives_rescue_team_new_lifeboat/
