Brisk winds did not spoil the sunshine in Walmer on 11 May when 200 guests attended the naming of the station's new D class lifeboat.

Len Stephens, honorary treasurer of the Welling branch handed the lifeboat over to the RNLI and Barbara Hopkins, licensee of the Lord Kitchener public house, named the lifeboat, Lord Kitchener.

The £12,000 lifeboat was funded through the generosity of Bass Tavern and the local licensee, Ms Hopkins who allowed the local branch free use of the function room at the pub for fundraising events, and even met some entertainment costs. Additional funds were raised by the staff of Securicor Custodial Services, who organised a sponsored cellular prison van pull from Bexleyheath to Welling (see page 28 of the Autumn 1996 issue of The Lifeboat The appeal was topped up with donations from Bass Tavern's weekly pub raffle and a lapel badge appeal and individual donations..