Donations wanted to help upkeep of historic Whitby rowing boat
A Just Giving page has started for funds to maintain the William Riley
People are being asked to donate money to help the upkeep and maintenance of a historic rowing lifeboat in Whitby.
The William Riley served the area between 1909 and 1931, before it was found in a derelict state in 2005 and then went through a full restoration.
It is now used for charity and corporate events, educational purposes and public displays but around £2,500 is needed to keep that going.
Whitby RNLI Mechanic, Richard Dowson, has been helping Whitby Historic Lifeboat Trust and said: "The boat's been locked away for the last couple of years during lockdown, we haven't really been able to use the boat and now we're looking to start to try and get it going again this year. The boat needs a little bit of work doing to it, it sits on a trailer as well so we can transport the boat, the trailer needs a little bit of work and there's insurances to pay for.
"We just need some funds to keep the boat going really. The guys when they set up the Historic Lifeboat Trust back in 2005, they did an absolute marvellous job of restoring the boat to what you see today and it just needs that bit of maintenance to keep it going, so we're just trying to help raise some funds to keep the boat going for the next generation.
"We want the boat to be used. We don't just want it to be used as an ornament, so if anybody's got anything in mind that they think 'we'd like to do a corporate day with the boat like a teambuilding exercise' or anything like that, we can take the boat pretty much anywhere. It's going to Scotland this year so if anyone has anything in mind, please do get in touch."
Barry Brown is from Whitby Historic Lifeboat Trust and said: "We do use it in Whitby a lot and they're helping to keep this boat alive if you like and keep it on the water. We use it for educational purposes as well for trying to teach people about cold water shock, water safety and tides etc. We do have two or three regular volunteer crew onboard it."
To donate, visit the Just Giving page and find out more about William Riley here: https://www.officialwilliamriley.org.uk/