LLANDUDNO AND CONWY are neighbouring lifeboat stations on the north western tip of Wales, separated by just a few miles of coast but by more than 100 years in lifeboat history.

In 1850 Llandudno was a small village sheltering beneath the precipitous limestone cliffs of Great Orme's Head which towers 800ft above the sea. Its few cottages were inhabited by copper miners or fishermen and their families.

However, Llandudno began to develop as a Victorian seaside resort when holidaymakers from smokey northern industrial towns and cities sought its bracing air and sandy beaches. Among them were the Misses Brown, three sisters from Toxteth Park, Liverpool, whose pleasurable strolls along the beach on their regular visits were undoubtedly marred by the number of shipwrecks they saw or were told about.

Hundreds of ships plied the busy Liverpool shipping lanes, many carrying building materials for new homes and hotels being built in Llandudno. The overloaded, undermanned vessels were often caught in storms, sinking within sight of the shore—an occurrence all too frequent around British shores at that time. When one of the sisters died, the other two donated £200 to the RNLI as a memorial to her, on the understanding that the money would be used to set up a lifeboat at Llandudno.

Their gift was perfectly timed for the Committee of Management had just resolved to establish a station at the resort, on the recommendation of Captain John Ross Ward, Chief Inspector.

It is reported in THE LIFEBOAT journal, July 1861: "This boat completes the series of lifeboat stations on the north coast of Wales for the protection of the immense shipping trade sailing to and from the great port of Liverpool." On Monday January 17, 1861, conveyed free of charge by the London & North Western Railway Company, a 32ft Peake class lifeboat built by Forrest at Limehouse arrived at Llandudno, complete with stores and carriage. A boathouse, costing £147, had been built close to the railway station.

The naming ceremony took place the very next day—a red letter day for the whole town. Shops and schools closed, flags hung from windows and everyone wore their best clothes as they thronged to the railway station. With bands playing, they followed the flag bedecked lifeboat, her crew on board, as she was drawn through the town by a team of horses. At the beach a bottle ofwine was broken over her stern as Lady Mostyn named the lifeboat The Sisters Memorial. A stirring address was given by the Vicar of Conwy as the lifeboat launched into the sea to show off her paces in the brisk north easterly breeze.

So began the history of Llandudno's lifeboats and their brave crews.

Hugh Jones, the first coxswain, was a copper miner. When the lifeboat was needed his daughter ran to the top of the mine shaft and rapped on the side with a stone.

The Sisters Memorial carried out seven services and saved eight lives in her six years at Llandudno.

Her last service in February 1867 nearly ended in tragedy when she capsized going to the help of a ship in distress off Great Orme. A gale was blowing and it took a superhuman effort by the crew to launch the lifeboat and pull away.

When they were in sight of the casualty a tug was already towing her to safety. The lifeboat turned for home but was struck by a tremendous sea one mile from the shore and capsized. All but one of the crew were washed overboard yet managed to scramble back on board when the lifeboat righted herself.

In the enquiry that followed Coxswain Jones' opinion ". . . that the boat was too sharp forward and had insufficient beam rendering her liable to be swamped and capsize" was accepted and a new lifeboat, 32ft long, with a greater beam, was sent to Llandudno later that year.

During her 20 years at Llandudno The Sisters Memorial II carried out 16 services and saved 35 lives. In November 1869 the lifeboat rescued five crew from a cargo vessel while a gale raged.

Lady Mostyn, who had named the first The Sisters Memorial watched the rescue and was so impressed with the lifeboatmen's bravery, she gave each one a gold half sovereign.

Coxswain Hugh Jones' last service was on New Year's Day 1875. Thelifeboat was launched at 1400 in a severe gale. It took five hours to reach the casualty—a cargo vessel carrying lead ore—but the rescue was successful.

With typical understatement, in his final report Hugh Jones wrote: ". . . the storm and sea were very high and required all the strength and energies of the whole crew . . . the boat filled four times but behaved well." Hugh's brother, Richard Jones, succeeded him as coxswain and it was during his service in 1885 that the RNLI introduced a flag pole and bell as a means of calling out the crew. Before long someone rang the alarm bell for a joke but he was caught and fined £2 10s (£2.50)—a large sum of money in those days.

A memorable rescue happened when a fishing boat was hit by a sudden storm. The lifeboat launched but capsized.

Luckily the men were all wearing cork lifejackets and managed to clamber back on board when the lifeboat righted herself. Undaunted, they saved the four fishermen and towed the boat to safety. This was the last service of The Sisters Memorial II and in October 1887 a new lifeboat Sunlight No. 1 was stationed at Llandudno. She was one of two new lifeboats provided by soap manufacturers Lever Brothers of Port Sunlight, the other going to Brighton.

The new 37ft lifeboats had 12 oars and cost £528.

One stormy November night, Sunlight No. 1 went to the help of a schooner and after an exhausting pull at the oars her crew succeeded in reaching the schooner, taking off her crew of five.

No sooner had the lifeboat been hauled back into the lifeboathouse than she was needed again, but while helping to drag the lifeboat back to the beach one of the launchers fell in front of a carriage wheel and was crushed to death.

Then, most of the crew refused to go out with the coxswain in charge, claiming he was incapable of taking command.

Eventually, under the command of the bowman, the lifeboat launched but hours of weary searching, in atrocious conditions, proved fruitless and the men were cold, wet and thoroughly exhausted after a day battling against the elements.

In 1892 the station was renamed Llandudno instead of Orme's Head.

The same year another helper was killed when he fell under the carriage wheels as the lifeboat was being launched. By 1899 it was difficult to find enough horses to launch the lifeboat and at 5s (25p) each they were also expensive to hire, so more helpers were used instead.

Sunlight No. 1 carried out 19 services and saved 26 lives. Before she was replaced in 1902 the coxswain and two most experienced crew members were invited by the RNLI to visit other stations in different parts of the country to choose the type of lifeboat they thought most suitable for Llandudno.

Their choice was a 37ft self-righting type with 12 oars, powerful and large enough to stand up to the seas around Orme but not too difficult to launch and recover. Theodore Price cost £908.

To accommodate the new lifeboat larger boathouse was needed. This was built in Lloyd Street, in the centre of town, for a quicker launch either from the promenade or North Shore on one side, or west shore on the other. The lifeboathouse is still in use today.

Theodore Price was at Llandudno for 28 years, launching 42 times and saving 39 lives, proving the choice had been right, for the lifeboat crew were full of praise for her seaworthiness. Coxswain John Owen won the RNLFs bronze medal in March 1919 after rescuing two people from a schooner in a fierce north west gale.

Two reserve lifeboats served at Llandudno from 1930-1933, carrying out four services. Then a new 35ft selfrighting motor lifeboat, built by White of Cowes and costing £3,010, was placed at Llandudno. Her naming ceremony was presided over by Lord Mostyn, whose grandmother had named the station's very first lifeboat.

Thomas & Annie Wade Richards remained at Llandudno for 20 years, launching 57 times and saving 38 lives.On June 1, 1939, a tragic sea disaster took place in Liverpool Bay, 15 miles out from Llandudno. The newly launched submarine HMS Thetis failed to rise after a dive and Thomas & Annie Wade Richards took out a doctor.

Ninety-nine people were lost, only four escaping by means of the Davis apparatus.

During the war, in common with number of other lifeboat stations, many of Llandudno's calls were to British or German aircraft which had crashed into the sea. Over the next 11 years three further lifeboats served at Llandudno, Tillie Morrison Sheffield 1953-1959, temporary lifeboat 1959-1963 and Annie Ronald & Isabella Forrest 1959-1964.

They launched a total of 56 times, saving 29 lives.

The current Llandudno lifeboat is the Lilly Wainwright. She is a 37ft self-righting Oakley class lifeboat, built in 1964 and named by Princess Marina, then President of the RNLI. Meurig Davies joined the crew in 1964 and became coxswain of the Lilly Wainwright in 1971. He hopes his son, now at college, may one day succeed him. It takes seven crew to man the lifeboat and another seven to launch and recover her.

Meurig, who runs his own fishing boats, still uses a whistle to launch and recover the lifeboat, which is now a quite rare procedure. When crew and launchers are mustered and ready, Meurig blows the whistle twice to set in motion a chain of actions needed to launch the boat and once more to mark their completion. No words are exchanged.

Similarly, two blasts of the whistle start the sequence of actions needed to recover and rehouse the boat, and one blast when the operation is completed.

There is traditional comradeship and respect at the station, presided over by Lt Cmdr Ted Yates, the popular station honorary secretary. Weekly meetings take place in the lifeboat corner of The Snowdon pub decorated with lifeboat photos and memorabilia. The men's years of service range from four to 27 years and shore helper Leslie Lloyd Jones can trace members of his family in the crew back to 1880. Their varied occupations include a butcher, foundryman, postman and harbourmaster.

Friendship among the crew extends to their colleagues at Conwy, Rhyl, Beaumaris and Moelfre. Often they combine in sea exercises and public open days. Always they attend each other's eagerly awaited annual crew dinners! Occasionally joint rescues are carried out, one instance being in May 1968 when the Swedish liner Kungsholm was anchored off Llandudno. Most of the 421 Americans on board had been ferried ashore for a sight-seeing coach tour of Snowdonia. As the wind got up the liner moved to a safer anchorage five miles out to sea. The MV St Trillo, (Continued on page 167)(Continued from page 162) taking the tourists back to the liner, ran into trouble as her propellers became fouled about a mile from the pier.

She rolled heavily in the rough seas, her passengers becoming increasingly seasick. The Llandudno lifeboat quickly launched with medical aid and, as the weather deteriorated, tied alongside St Trillo. She was joined by the Beaumaris lifeboat which tied up on the other side.

The Rhyl lifeboat launched with members of the Gwynedd Sub Aqua Club to try to clear the fouled propellers.

Because the seas were so rough it was too dangerous to attempt to take off any of the mainly elderly passengers.

Eventually a motor trawler arrived from Conwy and towed St Trillo back to Llandudno pier, where the passengers were disembarked at 2245.

As a top holiday resort, Llandudno was allocated an inflatable lifeboat in 1965, relieving the bigger lifeboat of inshore work during the summer.

Many notable rescues have been carried out by the inflatable lifeboat. In 1974 the thanks of the Institution on vellum was awarded to Robert Jones for his courage in saving a man whose dinghy was blown onto the rocks at Little Orme. The D class operates all year round at Llandudno and altogether its inflatable lifeboats have launched 439 times and saved 175 lives. The bigger lifeboats have launched 324 times and saved 234 lives.

Holidaymakers and residents alike cannot fail to know when the Lilly Wainwright is called out. Apart from the sound of maroons, summoning the crew, the lifeboat can be impressively both seen and heard as she is driven through the main streets of the town by tractor. Every Thursday during the summer at 7.30am, before they go to work, the Llandudno crew take the Lilly Wainwright to the beach, where she is on display to the public until early evening when the crew return her to the boathouse. Each year many hundreds of pounds are collected in the pedestal collecting box standing alongside the lifeboat.

The picturesque town of Conwy, dominated by a superb castle built by Edward I in 1284, lies a few miles west of Llandudno. In medieval times it was a major port of North Wales but in the "Swinging 1960s" Conwy's importance was as a popular holiday resort as visitors with more leisure time to enjoy crowded into the small town.

But as the number of holiday makers grew so too did the number of casualties involving yachts, dinghies and other pleasure craft. It was a similar story at resorts all round the coast. In 1963 the RNLI responded by introducing inflatable lifeboats into its fleet. The small, fast, manoeuvrable lifeboats coped admirably with the inshore rescue work and in 1966 one was allocated to Conwy.

Keith Robinson, who has been LOOKING TO THE FUTURE station honorary secretary since 1984, volunteered as a shore helper when the station was set up and has been involved ever since. He remembers when the lifeboat arrived at Conwy in June 1966.

The town celebrated in style with the Mayor going out in the lifeboat for her inaugural launch.

Apart from his duties as honorary secretary, Keith now helps to raise thousands of pounds each year, mainly from selling souvenirs from the lifeboathouse.

Nestling as it does beneath the majestic castle the lifeboat station is at the centre of the tourist trail and few can walk by without buying from the long table of souvenirs, just inside the lifeboathouse (but fitted with large castors so that it may be hastily wheeled away if the lifeboat is called out!) Keith is helped by his wife Denise, a member of the ladies' guild and a loyal band of helpers.

Keith's business is a fresh fish shop a few yards further down the quay and supplied daily by fishing trawlers often skippered and manned by lifeboat crewmembers. There are a dozen crew at Conwy whose other jobs include chef, engineer and cafe proprietor. Unusually, Ian McNeil, assistant harbour master, may crew the lifeboat at Conwy by day but his home is in Llandudno where he has been a crew member for over 19 years.

It takes just five minutes to launch Conwy's lifeboat. There are usually three crew members plus an extra two to help launch her into the water from her drive-on, drive-off tractor.

The lifeboat remains operational all year, most of the calls being to yachts or dinghies and increasingly to windsurfers.

Although Keith considers people are generally more prepared these days, he is often concerned when a number of people without lifejackets cram themselves into small dinghies with a single outboard engine.

An outstanding rescue took place in 1970 when Brian Jones, Ronald Craven and Trevor Jones won the thanks of the Institution on vellum after rescuing two men from a 30ft motor cruiser beneath rocks near Great Orme. Lifeboats at Conwy have launched a total of 213 times, saving 108 lives.

The future promises to be even busier for the lifeboat with a 2,400 ft tunnel being built under the river at Conwy to link up with the A5 and A55 expressway.

It will cost at least £200 million to build and take five years to complete, and the tourist trade in Conwy is certain to increase. Already there are plans to build a marina for 500 boats plus moorings for a further 1,200—double the existing number.

Both Conwy and Llandudno are in line for new lifeboats. Conwy's existing D class lifeboat, now 11 years old, is to be replaced this summer by a new D class, an EA16 designed by the RNLI and built by Avon Inflatables at Llanelli. She is being funded by YACHTING MONTHLY magazine and its readers following an appeal launched by the magazine last January.

Llandudno's crew must wait a year or two for their new lifeboat for it is possible they will receive a Fast Carriage Boat, once the new design has passed all her tests. Sad they will surely be when the time comes for the Lilly Wainwright to leave Llandudno, but like the crews before them they will also welcome a brand new lifeboat design and the start of another era in Llandudno's lifeboat history..