RNLI marks 200th anniversary with time capsule relay from Silloth to Salford

A relay celebrating 200 years of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) began on Saturday.

The 'Coast to Cobbles' relay will see a time capsule travel from Silloth in Cumbria to Salford in Greater Manchester.

The capsule will be passed from lifeboat station to lifeboat station as it journeys down the north western coast of England, with each crew given the opportunity to add something to it.

Eventually it'll be sealed and displayed at Lytham St Annes Lifeboat Museum, where it won't be opened for fifty years.

The relay is also in commemoration of the world's first street collection, which paved the way for how the RNLI fundraises today.

In 1886, 27 lifeboat men lost their lives in their mission to rescue crew from a German ship that had got into difficulty off the coast of Southport. In response, local communities paraded a lifeboat through Manchester to raise money in 1891 - believed to be a world first.

Speaking in Silloth today community manager Dani Beckett said: "Coast to Cobbles is an 11 day relay starting here in Silloth and making its way down all of the north west coast, past every north west lifeboat station, and ending in 11 days in Salford Quays.

"What we're doing in our 200th anniversary year is really celebrating the rich history (of the RNLI) in the north west of England," she said.

The RNLI relies solely on donations, and isn't funded by public money. Silloth's Chair of Fundraising said "money is raised just by the kindness of the public."

"All over the country RNLI stations are out working, run by volunteers, putting their own lives at risk sometimes to save other people."

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