Many local organisations and clubs in Filey have arranged special fund raising events throughout the year to help fund Filey' s new Mersey class lifeboat, due on station early in 1991. But none can have been more spectacular than the sponsored lifeboat pull by members of the Filey Brig Angling Society, ably assisted by patrons of the Grapes Hotel.

The pull took place on August Bank Holiday Sunday and dozens of volunteers armed with collecting boxes mingled with the crowds who lined the promenade, filled the beach or watched from vantage points on the cliffs.

The Oakley class lifeboat Robert and Dorothy Hardcastle, which together with her carriage weighs nearly 17 tons, was set at one end of the 200m course and at the sound of a maroon fired by the coxswain, followed by the command 'pull', the team began to haul.

The first 160m were covered in four-anda- half minutes, and the remaining 40m were completed at an agonisingly slow crawl, the now-exhausted men being urged on by the crowds.

The jubilant team then enjoyed a wellearned beer, courtesy of Brian and Joan at The Grapes, and thanks to their fine efforts an incredible £2,726 was presented to the station.

(photo Scarborough Evening News).