RNLI honours crash victim at boat naming

8:30am Monday 21st April 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

Royal National Lifeboat Institution was honoured at the weekend when a lifeboat was named in her memory.

Jacky Hunsley died in a coach accident while on holiday in South Africa, in September 1999, leaving a share of her estate to the lifeboat service on the North- East coast.

Her legacy paid for a £29,000 D class inshore lifeboat, along with a technology upgrade and crew training at Redcar RNLI, in east Cleveland, for five years.

And on Saturday, RNLI volunteers said a thank you to their benefactor - by naming the vessel the Jacky Hunsley. At the ceremony, on Redcar seafront, Jacky's sister, Pauline Jackson, officially named the boat during a dedication service and handed it over to the RNLI.

She was joined by about 80 of her sister's family and friends, including former colleagues from BT in Leeds, where Jacky lived and worked for many years.

Ms Jackson said: "Jacky was a very special person and it's wonderful to know that the lifeboat that bears her name is helping to save lives at sea.

"It's a testimony to the person she was that so many friends wanted to come along and see Jacky's lifeboat being named on a very moving day for us all."

The Jacky Hunsley went into service in August last year and, since then, has been involved in seven rescues.

Dave Cammish, Redcar RNLI lifeboat operations manager, said the lifeboat had already proved her worth.

He said: "Our new D class lifeboat is faster and more manoeuvrable than her predecessor and is a great asset to the RNLI's sea rescue operations along the North-East coast. As a charity, the RNLI relies on the generosity of people like Jacky Hunsley to provide the lifeboats, equipment and training we need to carry on saving lives at sea."

Gilbert Gray, vice president of the RNLI, formally accepted the lifeboat from Ms Jackson on behalf of the RNLI. He then placed it in the care of Redcar lifeboat station.

Redcar RNLI spokesman Dave Cocks said it was a memorable occasion for everyone.

"It was an emotional day, certainly for Jacky's family, and very special for them that Jacky Hunsley's name lives on," he said.

"It was a good day for us, too, having the boat named. There must have been 200 people there, about 100 of them from Jacky's friends and family. It was quite something."