An “unassuming man” who loved country life and worked on a farm has funded a lifeboat for Bangor RNLI Station in County Down. This is the story of Bangor RNLI’s new lifeboats, ‘from farm to sea’ was revealed when she was named in Bangor.
It is a remarkable story, linking shore and sea at the Northern Ireland station which was established in May of 1965 and now has a new Atlantic 85 Class boat, the third generation B Class lifeboat to be built, capable of speeds up to around 35 knots, fast, manoeuvrable, agile and versatile. The naming ceremony coincided, last month, with the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Bangor station. The lifeboat, which went on service in June last year, was funded by a legacy from Dennis Filby of Norfolk in England. His family members, Richard and Jason Clarke, were in attendance and had the honour of officially naming the new lifeboat.
The youngest in a family of six, Mr Filby was known as “an unassuming man who loved country life.” He worked for Ruby Robinson and her husband on their farm in Hingham, Norfolk and Mrs Robinson invited him to become Farm Manager after Mr Robinson died. This was on a smaller farm in Hilborough, Norfolk, which he ran until he died in 2019. It was his wish to leave the majority of his estate to fund a lifeboat to be named after Ruby Robinson in her memory.
Captain Byron Griffiths, Lifeboat Operations Manager at Bangor, said it was a “new chapter for the station and its volunteers. The Atlantic 85 is ideally suited to rescues close to the shore, yet it can also withstand challenging conditions in open sea, making it an exemplary search-and-rescue craft, particularly in the Belfast Lough area, over which we offer our services.”
He highlighted one rescue carried by ‘Ruby Robinson’ which resulted in a life saved and the four crew – Helm Russell McGovern; Navigator John Bell and crew members David Beale and Johnny Gedge being recognised with an RNLI commendation for their service: “HM Coastguard paged the crew of Bangor Lifeboat and requested a launch to search for a missing dinghy sailor. This involved carrying out a search of Bangor and Ballyholme Bays in moderate westerly winds which created challenging conditions for the inshore search. After about an hour, the crew heard faint cries for help and the casualty was located near a headland with his dinghy secured to a lobster pot marker buoy. The casualty had no means of communication or illumination and was wearing dark clothing making his location difficult to establish. He was rescued and brought ashore to safety.”
Reverend Willis Cordner and Deacon James McAllister lead the congregation in the Service of Dedication.‘Ruby Robinson’ replaces the ‘Jessie Hillyard’, which was used to save lives at sea by the shores of Belfast Lough for almost 18 years.
Bangor RNLI was established in May 1965 and since then has been served by three different classes of lifeboat. A D class lifeboat was placed on service first, followed by an Atlantic 21 class lifeboat in 1988, ahead of the latest class, the Atlantic 85 arriving in 2006. The Dedication ceremony for ‘Ruby Robinson’ establishes her as the eighth lifeboat to be stationed in Bangor.
