Matt Judge and his Lego model of the Whitstable RNLI boathouse at the model lifeboat show to mark RNLI 200 at Whitstable RNLI on Sunday Credit: RNLI/Chris Davey
Normally visitors to Whitstable RNLI can expect to see only one lifeboat in or outside the boathouse but on Sunday they were treated to the spectacle of 16 lifeboat’s gracing the boat hall albeit somewhat smaller than Lewisco the stations B-Class lifeboat.
The occasion was courtesy of the Herne Bay based Heron Model Boat Club and Kent Model Boat Display Team who have been supporters of the station for several year’s with their annual exhibitions in the boathouse however on Sunday their display was devoted to various classes of lifeboat to mark the 200th anniversary of the RNLI.
Chairman Robin Graham said,
“We had a display of 16 miniature lifeboats representing the various classes from over the years and as such I think the display was very impressive and we had around 600 to 700 visitors”,
“Of the classes of lifeboats on display perhaps one of the most interesting was Adam Maplesden’s model of ‘Queen’ one of only six steam powered lifeboats built for the RNLI and dating from 1897 which used water jet propulsion from a turbine some 120-years before the development of the Shannon class lifeboat which also uses water jet technology a model of which was displayed by Ray Stockley”.
Robin continued,
“Many of the model lifeboats have taken our members several years to build for example Ken Goddard spent 6-years building his model of Dover’s Severn Class lifeboat”.
Also on display was a Lego model of the Whitstable boathouse complete with the stations B-Class on the pad outside. Built by Matt Judge, son of Lifeboat Operations Manager Mike Judge, Matt explained that he wanted to do something unusual to mark the 200th anniversary so embarked on the 4-month long construction of his Lego version. His time was well spent as his efforts were very much admired.
The model boat club invited visitors to vote for what they thought was the best exhibit and the vote was very close, Adam Maplesden beat his dad Paul into second by just 4 votes.
Robin concluded
“A great day was had by all, we witnessed a real launch of the lifeboat and the safe return of the crew. It was a privilege to be around such brave people doing the job on a purely voluntary basis.”