Saturday 3rd August saw the sun shine, the clouds disperse and the bunting flutter only slightly in a lovely soft breeze. Perfect weather for our annual Lifeboat Gala Day. We think it’s fair to say that it was a fantastic day with crowds of visitors and locals joining together to support and celebrate our Lifeboat. Crew were on hand at the Lifeboat Station to show people around the boat and the facility, crew were also stationed at the local putting green to assist with the annual putting competition, whilst the rest flipped the burgers and assisted with parking. The fundraising team meanwhile manned stalls, raffles, sold merch, baked cakes and even “quenelled” the cream onto those scones. It was a huge team effort and is always an event which very much brings the community together, so a big thank you to all the team who took part.
But enough about us! We could not even entertain the idea of a gala without our amazing supporters. So to all those that helped on the stalls, to those who donated baking, raffle and tombola prizes, to all the local businesses that donated prizes (see below for full list), to the car-booters, and to Giacopazzis for keeping the ice cream flowing on a warm day and to the Old School Cafe for their delicious scones – a huge thank you to you all. A particular thank you also to the amazing generosity of Tescos who gave us the wetsuits and beach shoes that have been flying off the shelves and are still available through our Lifeboat shop in the harbour.
Another huge thank you goes out to the businesses that made a donation to the running of the event, namely DR Collin, Verdant Leisure, Trotters, The Old School Cafe & Thistly Cross Cider.
A fourth huge thank you goes out from everyone, organisers and crowd alike, to the Coldingham Ukulele players, Frank Stride Band, Andrew Valentine and Just John and Friends for providing the entertainment, and to Dr Andy Leach for bringing his wonderful barrel organ.
Yet another huge thank you goes out to Annabel Hamilton and Tom Blackburn for donating the Pumpkin Patch parking to us for the day. This always makes such a difference to everyone in terms of making the event more accessible and therefore more successful.
And last but not least – a big thank you to everyone who came, who played, who raffled, who listened, who chatted, who putted, who ate, drank and bought merch. Thank you for supporting our lifeboat and helping us to continue to provide a first class life-saving service.
See you all next year…….and what will the 2025 tee-shirt colour be??????
The full list of our amazing supporting businesses:
Donations : DR Collin and Verdant Leisure
Donations of vouchers and items for prizes : The Anchor, Belhaven Brewery, Borders Pottery Cafe, Ebb Carrs Cafe, Edinburgh Zoo, Hannah Redden, Looks Ahead, Marshalls Cafe, Morrisons, Occasions Eyemouth, Old School Cafe, Rosie Crowe Nails, St Abbs Charters, Alnwick Garden
Donations of items for sale and services given freely : Tesco, Thistly Cross Cider, Trotters, Vital Signs, Campbell family, Old School Cafe, Jim Vanko for putting up all the signs….and taking them down and our very own Marion for making sandcastle flags.
