Members of the RNLI Salcombe Lifeboat Crew were recently invited to attend the Baltic Exchange Caledonian Lunch at London Scottish House.

A special invite was also given to Bruce Munro, designer of the Salcombe Field of Light, for his extraordinary gift in support of the RNLI.

Following lunch, Bruce gave an enthusiastic and well received speech about his reasons for supporting Salcombe RNLI with the Field of Light.

In responding, Mark Jackson, Chief Executive of the Baltic Exchange, long-time supporters of RNLI Salcombe, thanked the crew and especially Bruce for their continuing efforts to ‘Saving Lives at Sea,’ and presented a cheque for £40,000 on behalf of the Baltic Exchange Charitable Foundation.

With raffle and auction funds added in, the Baltic Exchange donated in the region of £50,000, in support of the Salcombe Lifeboats.

This past week saw Calancombe Estates joining the support Salcombe RNLI has received in this 200th year celebration, when they sponsored a Fundraising Christmas Lunch in aid of the RNLI Salcombe.

The well attended event, held at the Harbour Beach Club, saw guests enjoy a pre-lunch get together, before sitting down to great food and fun.

In the lead up to the lunch a Silent Auction had been running for a painting by the artist Steve Kenna, ‘Morning Sunrise.’

With the lunch complete the time had come to announced the winner – it was The Baltic Exchange with a bid of £11,000. On top of that a further circa £700 was raised with a traditional raffle.

Salcombe RNLI would like to thank Calancombe Estates, The Harbour Beach Club and, of course, to our long-time supporters, The Baltic Exchange.

Salcombe Lifeboat Station is the base for Royal National Lifeboat Institution search and rescue operations at Salcombe.

The first lifeboat was stationed in the town in 1869.