'Who said Braintree did not need a lifeboat?' writes 15- year-old A. Taylor who took this photograph at Braintree's fun day on May 15. The D class inflatable lifeboat, he said, was really only there for display! Despite a partly flooded field after a night of very heavy rain, Braintree and District branch members stuck to their posts, in the best RNLI tradition, and took £91 at their souvenir stall..