Southport Lifeboat Station now operational and will feature on Granada Reports this evening

The Trustee Directors of the Southport Offshore Rescue Trust are now pleased to announce that they have begun the process of relocating to their new lifeboat station.

The new facility, which has been paid for entirely by public donations, is the new home for the independent charity which operates the Southport Lifeboat.

After 20 years of fundraising, planning and three and a half years of construction, the new lifeboat station is a manifestation of the tremendous community effort to provide and secure a lifesaving service on the Sefton coastline.

The crew have now begun moving the equipment to new premises, which took over from the old lifeboat house as the charity’s operational base on New Year’s Day.

The building provides essential facilities for our crew and a home for the equipment they use to save lives. ‘I can’t believe how wonderful it looks.’ said Southport Lifeboat founder Kath Wilson. ‘I can’t begin to tell you how pleased I am to see it finally open; it brought a tear to my eye.’

Kath founded the Southport Offshore Rescue Trust in 1987 after her son, Geoff Clements, lost his life off the Southport coast whilst fishing with his friends.

In 2005, she started the Southport Lifeboat charity shop in Birkdale which has been raising funds to pay for the new Lifeboat Station ever since.

‘We’ve had some hard times over the past 30 or so years, but we’ve got there. This building is for the people of Southport. It’s for everyone who has donated, bought something in the shop, played LifeboatLotto, volunteered for the charity or helped in any way, shape or form.’

Alan Porter, Chairman of the board of Trustee Directors at the Southport Offshore Rescue Trust said; ‘We would like to thank the people of Southport, the surrounding areas, and further afield for their support, without whom this fabulous achievement would not be possible.

‘There’s still plenty of work to do in furnishing the inside, but we became operational from the building on New Year’s Day and responded to our first incident from there on the 2nd of January.’ 

Within the station, our crew have access to a range of rooms designed specifically for training and maintenance.

A separate workshop will allow our crew to look after their kit, whilst kitchen, shower and changing room facilities provide much-needed amenities.

The lookout tower on the seaward side of the building offers incredible views of the coast and will act as an operations control room.

‘The old boathouse served us well for three decades. It is full of history and its walls could tell many stories, but sadly, it was outdated, cold, damp and we outgrew it many years ago,’ said Trustee Director John Shawcroft, who was a founding member of the Southport Offshore Rescue Trust.

‘We want this space to be a home for our crew.’