Leverburgh lifeboat station has been officially opened as a permanent service covering a maritime emergency gap in the Western Isles.
RNLI’s chairman, Admiral the Lord Boyce officially installed the station as Scotland’s
first all-
He opened the lifeboat station in front of a large crowd at Leverburgh. RNLI’s operations director, Captain Michael Vlasto, also attended.
Lord Boyce praised the lifeboat crew and onshore volunteers for striving along their “challenging journey” to get the lifeboat.
He added: “It’s a journey that began with a request that the RNLI set up a lifeboat station.
“Many people have played a key part in making that vision a reality and it’s a pleasure to come along to meet you face to face and to congratulate you on becoming a permanent station.
On his last official RNLI function before retiring after 40 years with the service, Michael Vlasto said the case for Leverburgh was “compelling” and bridged the rescue gap in hazardous waters.
He said: “Lifeboat stations don’t just get set up by magic-
“Everyone in Leverburgh has shown a can-
The boat’s cox Calum Macmillan praised the local community n both sides of the Sound of Harris for its support.
He said: “The community has raised a lot of money and showed plenty of support for the lifeboat.
Pupils from Leverburgh and Selibost Schools sang the Lifeboat Anthem and station’s chaplain, Rev Ruairidh Maclean led the dedication service.
The need to coastal gap around Harris and Uist was rammed home by a trial lifeboat being called out to double the number of maritime emergencies than previously expected with 17 incidents over the last 12 months.
The crew of 17 men and 1 woman of Leverburgh lifeboat are now on 24/7 standby to speed to any boat in trouble.
The nearest stations are at Stornoway, Portree and Barra and they took time to get to the Sound of Harris area where Leverburgh is situated.
The need for a permanent lifeboat was proved after 17 maritime incidents in less
than a year, making it one of the busier boats in Scotland -
Dedicated volunteers from the small community willingly came forward to train as crew.
Leverburgh’s shouts have been varied. They include helping fishing boats, rescuing a family from an island, searching for a missing canoeist, being on standby when a young Minke whale was in the village harbour, rescuing a sheep stuck on a ledge, and being on standby when a body was found at the bottom of cliffs.
The average length of a service has been about 3.5 hours, with the longest taking
up to nine hours. There are currently 17 enrolled crew, including one woman and a
part-
Leverburgh has a Mersey class lifeboat, The Royal Thames. The RNLI is going to replace
the Mersey class lifeboats with the new Shannon class and therefore Leverburgh may
in due course receive a Shannon boat. It costs on average £4,100 a week to operate
an RNLI all-
The cost of setting up the station is £90,000 with the annual running cost set at £135,000.
