MEMBERS of a lifeboat crew have been invited to join in the Queen's official 90th birthday celebrations.

Scarborough Royal National Lifeboat Institution is sending 10 personnel to the party in London on June 12 after being offered all the places allocated to the national charity.

It is a big year for Scarborough RNLI, with a new lifeboat house being built for a new vessel.

RNLI spokeswoman Claire Siddons said: “The RNLI has been invited to attend and the chairman and chief executive would like to invite Scarborough lifeboat station to represent the RNLI.

“Scarborough have been allocated all 10 tickets for this event, which is a great honour and reflects directly on your hard work, commitments and the high standards achieved at your station."

Scarborough RNLI lifeboat operations manager John Senior added: “We are very proud to have been chosen to represent both the RNLI and Scarborough. The crew themselves have selected the most deserving 10 and they are all very much looking forward to their visit to London and the Mall."

The 10 who will be travelling to London in June are coxswain Tom Clark, committee chairman Colin Woodhead, Gladys Freeman of the Ladies Lifeboat Guild, lifeboat shop manager Michael Turner, deputy launching authority Steve Jones and crew members Dave Jackson, Peter Billingsley, Richard Egan, Rudi Barman and John Evans.

They will be among other representatives of the 600 charities receiving the Queen’s patronage. There will be 10,000 guests at the event all together.

The Queen has been the RNLI’s patron since 1952.