Our All-weather Lifeboat Centre (ALC) in Poole, Dorset, is really taking shape, and the project team are on target to open the doors for lifeboat maintenance in January 2015. The ALC will go on to build six all-weather lifeboats a year, ensuring our supporters’ funds are used as effectively as possible – and it will provide our lifeboat volunteers with the best craft we can give them. Generous supporters have so far donated £4.8M towards the £5M fundraising target to help fund the building.

The centre’s steel structure is in place, along with a specially inscribed stone laid to commemorate the construction. Admiral the Lord Boyce, our former Chairman, had the honour of unveiling the stone: a ‘thank you’ for his 5-year commitment.

‘I think this is the most amazing project, and it is an enormous honour to know that this foundation stone bears my name,’ said Lord Boyce at the stone-laying ceremony. ‘I have countless happy memories etched in my mind from my time as Chairman. And at the top of all such memories was meeting our volunteers and their families.'

Also speaking at the ceremony was an apprentice who will work in the centre. ‘I’m looking forward to working at the ALC and all the practical training opportunities,’ said Matthew Camp, Apprentice Electrician. ‘We get to learn from the best in the industry while helping to provide the best possible lifeboats for our volunteer crew.’ See the next issue of the magazine for a closer look at the ALC.