Sea Shanties Save Souls

The Blakeney Old Wild Rovers have raised over £24,000 for Wells-nextthe-Sea lifeboat station

On Friday 17 February the Blakeney Old Wild Rovers were invited for a tour of the new lifeboat station and viewed the station’s state of the art Shannon class Lifeboat, Duke of Edinburgh Everyone was in good spirits and there were lots of laughs and appreciation for their ongoing support and fundraising for Wells lifeboat station

Gary Mears of The Old Wild Rovers said: ‘We are all based by the sea and have connections to the local lifeboat stations, Wells, Sheringham and Cromer, with some of the crew being great mates of ours, so the RNLI is a charity close to our hearts ’

Since 1999 the Blakeney Old Wild Rovers have been singing their way round Norfolk raising money for the RNLI and other charities close to their hearts To date they have raised over £250,000, holding various events within the local community, and regularly supporting at lifeboat station events

On behalf of Wells RNLI Coxswain Nicky King said: ‘We are extremely grateful to the Blakeney Old Wild Rovers for all their hard work and continued support in raising funds for Wells lifeboat station We all appreciate the significant donations they have made to the RNLI

‘The RNLI as a charity relies on the kindness and generosity of people such as The Old Wild Rovers, and what better way to help our volunteer crew continue to be able to save lives at sea 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year, than with a sea shanty ’ choirs The Made in Worstead marquee will highlight local artisans and there’s an art exhibition for painters Talented people from around the county have booked up almost all the pitches for their stalls More space has been made available and can be booked at our website worsteadfestival.org

Mrs Bond says, “We keep the entry price low so that families can afford to have a really good time on a budget Children under 12 can enter for free and there’s free parking too Thank you to all the volunteers and to the sponsors We couldn’t do it without you ”

Those to benefit from money raised last year were: The North Norfolk and District Foodbank, St Mary’s Church, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Worstead & District Riding School for the Disabled, Broadland First Responders and Worstead Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers The local primary school is also hatching some ambitious plans