VIP guest Val to attend ceremony for new lifeboat

COURTMACSHERRY’S historic lifeboat station will be the venue, on Saturday, for a naming ceremony of the Val Adnams, its new Shannon class lifeboat.

The lifeboat station is one of the oldest of the RNLI stations in the country and can date its first lifeboat, The Plenty, to 1825.

But what will make the event all the more special is the arrival of the eponymous Val Adnams.

Val and her family will be travelling from America especially for the ceremony, which will see the new lifeboat named in her honour.

A lifelong supporter of the RNLI, and an avid sailor and sportsperson, Val grew up in Preston and Weymouth.

She said her respect and admiration for the RNLI increased as she witnessed the callouts of the local Weymouth lifeboat crews going to the help of others in distress at sea.

The donor is especially proud that the new lifeboat – the 11th lifeboat to be stationed in Courtmacsherry – is jet-driven, which will give it increased manoeuvrability.

At 23, Val moved to Washington DC where she worked on Capitol Hill for some years.

There, she met her partner Ed and they settled in Idaho.

The organisers are hoping there will be a big turnout on September 9th to welcome Val and her family, and to mark this new chapter in the history of the local lifeboat station.

The lifeboat was also partly funded by generous legacies from Mrs Sylvia Anne Walker and Mrs Petrina Johnson.