Wales' lifesavers remembered in memorial

Flags at RNLI lifeboat stations around Wales will be lowered this Thursday (3 September) as HRH The Duke of Kent unveils a national memorial at the RNLI HQ in Dorset, dedicated to those lost while saving lives at sea,. The 778 people commemorated on the RNLI Memorial come from all corners of the UK and Republic of Ireland, including 97 from Wales.

Relatives, friends and RNLI staff will attend the Ceremony of Dedication, being held in memory of those connected with the charity who made the ultimate sacrifice while saving lives at sea. During the Ceremony, at 12.20pm, a one minute silence will be held;RNLI lifeboat crews and supporters throughout the UK and Ireland will observe the silence. As an additional mark of respect, RNLI lifeboat stations and offices throughout the UK and Ireland will lower the RNLI flag to half-mast.

Captain Roy Griffiths MBE, Deputy Launching Authority for The Mumbles RNLI lifeboat station, will be representing Wales during the ceremony.

He comments:

‘This memorial is incredibly fitting and will honour the bravery of our former crew volunteers who were prepared to go out in all conditions, sometimes extreme and dangerous, to help save others. Many lifeboat stations across Wales will be lowering their flags to half-mast in memory of those that lost their lives.

‘In Mumbles alone, we have had three lifeboat disasters and have lost 18 crew members. In 1883 we lost 4 crew, in 1903 we lost 6 crew and in 1947 we lost 8 crew when they went to the aid of Santampa, a boat which went down losing 39 of its own crew.

‘I’m deeply honoured to attend the ceremony and read the names of the stations from Wales and the west who have lost crew members.’

Members of the public are invited to pay their respects too, by participating in the one minute silence at 12.20pm and/or by adding a tribute to the RNLI Online Book of Commemoration at www.rnli.org.uk/commemorate

The RNLI Memorial, designed by Sam Holland ARBS stands more than 4.5m in height and symbolises the history, and future, of the RNLI in its most basic and humanitarian form. The sculpture is positioned on a dark plinth on which flat bands of stainless steel weave. The bands provide both the effect of waves and a material onto which the names of the people who have lost their lives can be engraved – thus becoming an intrinsic part of the memorial.