On Thursday afternoon 8 July 2010 the volunteers at Burry Port Lifeboat station were visited by His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent RNLI President.
The Duke was accompanied by Paul Boissier, Chief Executive of the RNLI. Earlier they had visited Port Talbot, The Mumbles and Horton and Port Eynon lifeboat stations.
The duke was welcomed to Burry Port by The Hon. Robin William Lewis Lord Lieutenant of Dyfed. During the visit the Duke of Kent met crewmembers, station officials and members of the fundraising team. The duke asked many questions about the work of the station and wanted to know about crew members.
During the visit the duke presented the Institute’s Certificate of Service to Roger Bowen who had retired from the crew last year. Roger joined the crew in 1982 during this time the lifeboat rescued 65 persons.
The Duke of Kent and Paul Boissier were presented with miniature sospans as mementos of their visit to Burry Port, the Sospan being the symbol of Llanelli.
Spencer Davies, Lifeboat Operations Manager commented after the visit: ‘It was an excellent visit. His Highness was very interested in the history, and more so, the future of the station. The station is about to receive an additional larger vessel and towing tractor, which will be housed in a temporary building near the existing boathouse. The RNLI decided to place a larger vessel as the existing inshore boat is not suitable for towing the larger vessels which accommodate the new marina at Burry Port.
‘I was delighted to see so many of our station’s supporters and fundraisers attending the visit, as we don’t often get the opportunity to get all the crew, shorehelpers, and fundraisers together. It was nice to use the occasion to have a group photograph with His Royal Highness, the Duke of Kent.’
