https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55352969
This raised my spirits this afternoon.

That’s genuinely lovely, though I thought 250 GTO SWBs usually went for much more than that!?!

Wow! What an amazing thing to leave in your will. I wonder if they had a quick spin before selling them.. 😊

That is awesome

The RNLI Directors will get a decent Christmas Bonus then….

Cor, a nice story- what a refreshing change! 🙂

That’s genuinely lovely, though I thought 250 GTO SWBs usually went for much more than that!?!

It’s a 250 GT, not a GTO – that’s what goes for stupid money, I think.

Excellent – The videos I see of the RNLI regularly make me tear up. Their courage is amazing.

Excellent – The videos I see of the RNLI regularly make me tear up. Their courage is amazing.

I know what you mean. There’s some great people doing this.

It’s a 250 GT, not a GTO – that’s what goes for stupid money, I think.

I think you’re right, Nick Mason’s got one. Plus a few others.

https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/cars/article/pink-floyd-nick-mason-cars

That’s pretty awesome. Legacy giving makes such a massive difference to this sector.

The RNLI Directors will get a decent Christmas Bonus then….

Do they get a Christmas bonus? Source? If they do is it greater than the 50% pay cut the Chief Exec took this year?

I work with a number of RNLI volunteers. Hats off to them, they have saved the lives of many people.

It’s criminal that the RNLI aren’t government funded, but that’s a great story

It’s criminal that the RNLI aren’t government funded, but that’s a great story

I disagree, we don’t want the government meddling with them…introducing target and KPI’s and then cutting the services that don’t meet them to save cost. Maybe a hefty donation, but even that would come at a risk.

I disagree, we don’t want the government meddling with them…

A million percent this.

RNLI inshore pulled me out of the water before 8ft faces rubbed me up some very unpleasant rocks.
A massive a fan and supporter since. (You try collecting for RNLI in Wantage, pretty much as far from the sea as you can get… 🙂 )

Great story. Born in Coventry and live in Huddersfield so about as far from the sea as it’s possible to get, but still have vivid memories of the Penlee disaster. The courage of these people is humbling.

The california version of the red one was Cameron’s Dad’s….

Great story

Great story indeed. I was extremely lucky to be taken for a spirited drive up Angeles Crest Highway (no, not a euphemism) in a 275 GT convertible (Californian?) back in ‘85. It had a V12 engine which sounded lovely bouncing off the hillsides. Vrooom!

I disagree, we don’t want the government meddling with them…introducing target and KPI’s and then cutting the services that don’t meet them to save cost. Maybe a hefty donation, but even that would come at a risk.

A very valid point. Just grates that such a vital public service is not properly supported by government then, and by properly, I mean without interference.

Do they get a Christmas bonus? Source? If they do is it greater than the 50% pay cut the Chief Exec took this year?

No source – just a bit of an off hand comment. Big fan of the RNLI but not how the management handled the Jersey lifeboat crew a while back.

Maybe a hefty donation, but even that would come at a risk.

Depends on the terms. Libor fines handed to Air Ambulances worked out quite well iirc. A number of services provided by the third sector paid for by statutory funding so it’s not without precedent.

Assuming reasonable terms on what would be restricted funding the bigger issue might be becoming over reliant on state funds.

Big fan of the RNLI but not how the management handled the Jersey lifeboat crew a while back.

Fair enough, I think I’ve heard criticism about that before, possibly here.

but still have vivid memories of the Penlee disaster.

39 years today. Remember it like yesterday. If you’ve never seen it, give the documentary a watch, but be prepared….

They are a well funded charity and so they should be. We did some bits and bobs for our local boat, a few friends and customers are involved. They got donated a new boat a few years ago. It was from one man and his family, the boat was named after his wife. At the naming ceremony the family took the RNLI lady to one side just before the ceremony began and told her that the money had been put in place for the boats replacement, when it was needed. She started to well up when she told me the story. Now that’s how to be loaded, what better feeling than giving people things.

I’ve had to call on them 3 times over the years (never for me touch wood) and they have impressed every time. As a regular on the water I direct debit to them every month as figure it’s only a matter of time before I my limited talent runs out and I find myself being blown towards Norway!

I think you’re right, Nick Mason’s got one. Plus a few others.

I’ve seen all of those in that article, plus a significant number of his other vehicles, he opens his gardens for charity every year and has a bunch of his cars spread around the grounds. The 1930’s Aston Martin in that article is one of three the family own, his wife and daughter race the other two. 250GTO is the star of the show, and no mistake!
He lives in Corsham, not far from me, so easy to get to on the open weekend. Though sadly not this year, for obvious reasons.
The crucial thing with the RNLI is the crews are all volunteers, often through generations of locals, and when watching programmes like ‘Saving Lives At Sea’, shows that the term ‘hero’, often overused, really does apply to the men and women who take the boats out come hell and high water. Not unlike the volunteers in mountain rescue teams.
I live roughly sixty miles from the nearest proper bit of coast, but there’s a pretty active RNLI fund-raising team in town, and I always donate to them.
Well done to the bloke donating the Ferraris, a lot of good will be done with that money over the years.

As a child, my grandparents owned a beach, it’s one of the places I call home. (Military, nomadic childhood)

It was open to the public, and boat parking was by permit. We sold the permits from the house, overlooking the beach. The cost of the permit?

One of us grandchildren, standing in front of you, holding a lifeboat collection box.

Notes were forced in. Many notes. Raised a shedload of cash every year. The local lifeboat was the subject of a TV show, illustrating the normal people, everyday people in everyday jobs, who dropped everything when the flare goes up. Ordinary people who risk EVERYTHING for others when they’re out on a shout. Proper, genuine heroes. You want to see ‘stunning and brave’? It’s not some sleb updating their Instagram status, it’s a barber downing tools and running to the boat. It’s a carpenter turning away from paid work to save lives. The word legend is often overused, but every single person who runs when called? Legend.

I’ve never needed them, and I hope I never do, but to this day, I can’t walk past a collection box without making a donation.

Great post CFH.👍👍

No source – just a bit of an off hand comment. Big fan of the RNLI but not how the management handled the Jersey lifeboat crew a while back.

I’m on the crew at another station, and think this is a bit unfair. Like all large organisations there are things that irk me, but they have to run certain things consistently otherwise they’ll have all sorts of issues around insurance, taking care for volunteers etc. There’s often a gigantic gap between reality and what gets put in the papers. I know first hand some on our crew that went to help with maintenance/mechanical cover and there were multiple stories of people trying to cause trouble and outright lying about maintenance and supplies etc.

At the end of the day it’s an organisation with 230+ stations spread out, and it has a duty of care both to the volunteers and to using funds sustainably. What it isn’t is an old boys club, and if you have problems being caused by someone or a family that view it as their toy and causing issues for other volunteers they have to step in and sort it. Unfortunately no one ever looks good in these cases, particularly once the DM get wind of it and find someone to “share their story”.

Agree with this.

My Dad was coxswain at a station through the late 80’s and 90’s (having been crew since the late 60’s), my brother’s 2nd Cox now and I did a couple of years when I was still at home.

From what I can see, the organisation is probably more “professional” now than it was 20 or 30 years ago, but not necessarily in a bad way, it’s inevitable given the sums of money that are required to run it. But I can definitely see how some of those changes would not sit well with some of the older hands.

It truly is an incredible organisation – I well up every time Saving Lives at Sea comes on!

I well up every time Saving Lives at Sea comes on!!

Me too, although I’m always amazed at how idiotic some people are. Thinking about the guy who tried, twice iirc, to sail to America in a tiny boat with just a sandwich for supplies and a laptop for navigation.
Darwin’s theory, right there!