The third Paignton Probus meeting of 2022 was well attended with 28 members present at The Paignton Club, the best attendance since before lock down in March 2020.
Our speaker was Alan Salsbury and his talk was entitled The Torbay Lifeboat – this went from 1866 when after a disastrous storm where many ships were smashed against the quay at Brixham with a lot of lives lost, a group started fund raising for a Lifeboat until the present time.
The first boat was called ‘The City of Exeter’ after merchants from Exeter donated most of the money to buy her.
In those days the boats had to be replaced about every 10 years as being made of wood the hull would rot out.
From 1876 to 1923 Torquay had its own Lifeboat but after the Torquay boat was taken out of service the Brixham Lifeboat was renamed the Torbay Lifeboat.
Today’s boat ‘The Alec and Christine Dykes’ came into service in 2001 after a donation of £750,000 from Christine Dykes, in memory of her husband, towards the total cost of £1,700,000.
In October 2017 the boat was taken to The Isle of Wight for a complete re-fit.
The Torbay Lifeboat Station is one of the busiest in the country.
Barry Ross gave the vote of thanks.
The meeting ended at 11.50 am and after the meeting quite a few members enjoyed a drink in the annex to the dining room as the bar was fully laid up for diners.
Next week’s speaker is Alex Graeme and his talk is ‘Tales of a Devon Tour Guide’
Paignton Probus Club 