A lifeboat memorabilia collector has donated two Victorian RNLI artefacts to Aberdeen’s RNLI station.
Keith Webb travelled from Wrexham to hand over two Newburgh lifeboat service boards which recorded rescues from the 19th century.
The first, in 1882, relates to an operation by the vessel Alexander Charles and William Aird, where two lives were saved after local boat Conqueror ran into trouble.
Then, in 1889, the crew saved 11 lives when the steam trawler Gannet, from Granton, ran aground at the mouth of the River Ythan.
Mr Webb has been a member of the RNLI Enthusiasts Society since 1971 and a life governor of the institute since 1975.
In the 1980s, Mr Webb started running marathons to raise funds for the RNLI. To date, he has run events in London, Paris, New York, and he is currently in training for the Chicago marathon in 2018.
Bill Deans, lifeboat operations manager at the station, said: “It’s wonderful to see a rare piece of local lifeboat history come home.
“We’re very grateful to Keith Webb and hope to make arrangements for the service board to be displayed at the Sand Bothy community café at Balmedie Country Park, where they already have a display describing shipwrecks and lifeboat rescues on the local coastline.”
