As part of the Royal National Lifeboat Institutions 200th anniversary year, the lifesaving charity will be opening its doors for two days on May 18/19 as part of the free Poole Lifeboat Festival. The festival will close at 4pm Sunday with a parade of sail including many historic RNLI lifeboats, the current RNLI fleet, and visiting lifeboats from other countries.
The Poole Lifeboat Festival will take place at the RNLI’s central Support Centre in Poole and will include behind the scenes tours, capsize demonstrations* in the Sea Survival Centre, launch and recovery demonstrations and interactive workshops at a variety of stands. There’ll be music and food, kids’ activities, high-octane demonstrations, in-depth discussions, and lots of fun.
As part of the event, Poole Quay will also see a host of activity with Poole Quay Boat Haven hosting historic RNLI lifeboats and international visiting lifeboats. Poole Lifeboat Station will be open to visitors and other pop-up stalls including lifeboat models, static lifeboats and much more that will add to the atmosphere. You’ll see lifeboats from all over the world, and from throughout our 200 years of lifesaving history. You’ll be invited to step onboard modern lifeboats and see rescue tech up close.
The festival’s grand finalé is the Parade of Sail, at 4pm on Sunday. See the beautiful fleet of historic, international and modern lifeboats take to the waters of Poole Harbour – a majestic sight worth celebrating.
The festival is free to enter, but there will be plenty of opportunities to make a donation and help save lives at sea. There are also a couple of pre-bookable experiences.
Spread over four sites by the water in Dorset, Poole Lifeboat Festival is a celebration of those who go to sea to rescue others, and of the people back on shore who help them do so.
The four sites are…
– The RNLI Support Centre, where you’ll find RNLI College and the All-weather Lifeboat Centre
– Poole Lifeboat Station
– Poole Quay
– Poole Old Lifeboat Museum
We are one crew, working together to bring people home safe from the sea. We’d love you to join us for this big weekend. Good vibes; saving lives.
Find out more at RNLI.org/PooleFest24
