Lifeboat family sees 200th rescue

The 21-year-old James Bibby will be retired at the end of 2007

A family which funded a Cumbrian lifeboat were on hand to witness its 200th rescue.

The James Bibby, a 21-year-old Tyne class lifeboat, was donated to Barrow's station in 1986 by John Benjamin Bibby, in memory of his great grandfather.

Eight members of his family were on a tour of the station on Saturday when the boat was called out to tow a stricken vessel to safety.

The James Bibby will be replaced by a Tamar-class boat at the end of 2007.

Speaking on Saturday, coxswain Alec Moore said: "Today's rescue was the 200th service carried out by the James Bibby since she was stationed here 21 years ago, and all of those services were made possible by the generosity of the Bibby family."

The Tamar-class lifeboat, which is bigger, faster and more able to cope in bad weather, will come into service once the station's slipway has been modified.

It will be named after Grace Dixon, from Welton in East Yorkshire, who died in 2002 and left her entire estate to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).