Thanks to George for sharing this news with VB readers. In his own words. Ed
A man with strong links with the Isle of Wight is planning to take part in the London Marathon to raise funds for the £1-million Cowes RNLI lifeboat station appeal.
This will be the second event for the appeal involving Richard Acland, a member of the RNLI Council and of the Fordingbridge and Ringwood Branch.
He was one of the driving forces behind a one-night performance of Noel Coward’s ‘Design for Living’, recently staged at the Salisbury Playhouse and which raised over £5,000.
£4,000 pledged already
Already sponsorship totalling over £4,000 has been pledged for his marathon run which takes place on Sunday 22 April. And he would like more pledges before the big day. Those interested in helping him achieve a bumper amount are invited to look him up on a special Website.
It’s been on my to-do list
Richard, who will be 50 in July, said, “Running the marathon is one of those items on my ‘to do’ list before I get too ancient to be able to.” He drew some confidence in successfully completing the New Forest Half Marathon last September.
He had sailed ‘all his life’ from Cowes and Seaview, still owned a Seaview One Design and had sailed many different yachts in Cowes Week. He is a member of both the Royal Yacht Squadron and Seaview Yacht Club.
Aware of importance of RNLI volunteers
He pointed out that the new station, to occupy the former Customs House, will help Cowes lifeboat get out into the Solent quicker than now. “Having personally witnessed lifeboat crews in action, I can vouch for how selfless, dependable and courageous they are. It is amazing the lengths they are prepared to go in order to do their job of saving lives at sea.
“On one occasion, my then ten year old daughter spotted a yacht in trouble at St Anthony Head near Falmouth and we called out Falmouth lifeboat. On another my family was involved in a fatal accident in CowesWeek, where the RNLI were the only people able to help.”
Meanwhile thanks to the Playhouse event and a whole host of other money raising efforts and generous donations the appeal has now raised something not far short of £700,000, of which over £150,000 came from the Island. And more events are in the pipeline, including a supper and auction with Alan Titchmarsh at the Royal Yacht Squadron on 27 March.
