Station prepares for £2m lifeboat

The Tamar class is the result of years of research and development

Essential work is to be carried out at a Cumbrian lifeboat station ahead of the arrival of a new £2m rescue vessel.

Barrow Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) station receives the Tamar Class boat at the end of 2007.

But in order to accommodate the new lifeboat, to be named Grace Dixon, the station's slipway must be modified.

The new vessel will replace the 19-year-old Tyne Class James Bibby, and will be bigger, faster and more able to cope in bad weather.

Barrow coxswain Alec Moore said: "We'll be sorry to say goodbye to the James Bibby as she's been a wonderful servant for more than 20 years.

Next generation

"However, everyone at the RNLI in Barrow is very excited at the prospect of receiving our new lifeboat, which will help us reach casualties faster and more safely than ever before."

The boat will be named after Grace Dixon, from Welton in East Yorkshire, who died in 2002 and left her entire estate to the RNLI.

The Tamar is the result of several years of research and development to produce the next generation of slipway-launched lifeboat.

Barrow will be the first lifeboat station in the north of England to receive a Tamar. The first went into service at Tenby in Wales in 2005 and since then five more have been introduced.