Tenby, September 29, 1986: Summer was officially over, yet on this day Tenby was bustling with visitors, and overcast skies cleared miraculously by afternoon allowing the sun to shine warmly on a town celebrating a very special event. It was thirty years since Princess Marina, President of the RNLI, had visited Tenby to name the new lifeboat Henry Comber Brown. Today her daughter Princess Alexandra, elegantly dressed in a suit which perfectly matched the blue of the sky, was here to christen RFA Sir Galahad—a 47ft Tyne class lifeboat, the RNLI's latest design and twice as fast as her predecessor. Largely funded through a successful appeal by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary to help provide a lifeboat in memory of officers and men who were casualties in the 1982 Falklands conflict, it was fitting that representatives of the RFA and the Falklands were among the guests at the lifeboat's naming. It was fitting yet poignant too, that the stirring music was played by the Band of the Welsh Guards, since it was while disembarking Welsh Guards in Bluff Cove that RFA Sir Galahad came under severe attack.

A small battalion of Gurkhas flanked the Royal dais having provided and erected the platform and all the seating for the event.

Brownies, guides, scouts, sea cadets and members of the ATC and Girls Nautical Training Corps, lined the route down to the pier. In the small harbour, flag bedecked yachts and fishing boats circled the old and new lifeboats and high above onlookers crowded the cliff top and paths.

Lisa Thomas, the coxswain's elder daughter, presented a bouquet of flowers to Princess Alexandra and Zoe Crockford, eldest daughter of the lifeboat's mechanic, presented her with a souvenir programme.

Mr A. Thomas, chairman of Tenby lifeboat station opened the proceedings and welcomed guests. Captain C. Butterworth, CBE, RFA (ret'd), president of the RFA Lifeboat Appeal and representing all donors, delivered the lifeboat over to Mr Raymond Cory, a deputy chairman of the RNLI who accepted the lifeboat on behalf of the RNLI and handed her into the care of Tenby lifeboat station. Mr E. Bancroft, station honorary secretary, then accepted the lifeboat.

After a moving service of dedication led by The Right Reverend G. Noakes, Bishop of St Davids, Dr Evan Williams, president of Tenby lifeboat station, invited Princess Alexandra to name the lifeboat. In her speech she said: 'Your new lifeboat will open a fresh chapter in the station's history—her crew will carry on the proud traditions. She is named in memory of men who lost their lives serving others in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. It seems a most fitting tribute as this boat will also serve—in saving lives.

Those who worked so hard in raising the money to provide the lifeboat must be proud to see her today and to think ahead to the work she will do in future years.' . As the champagne broke across the lifeboat's bow, a helicopter from RAF Brawdy flew over streaming the RNLI flag. The Princess then went on board the lifeboat to meet Coxswain Alan Thomas and his crew and took a short trip on RFA Sir Galahad before adjourning to have tea and meet the families of the crew as well as branch and guild members and many other guests.

photographs by courtesy of Jeff Morris.