Peterborough man's love of the coast remembered with donation to RNLI

Family and friends of a Peterborough man who loved the Norfolk coast have raised money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution in his memory.

Money was raised in memory of Alan George Smith at his funeral on at Peterborough Crematorium on September 11. Alan passed away aged 82 on August 7.

Mourners donated £250 to the work of the RNLI in a collection afterwards.

Alan's 76-year-old widow Jo and family members presented the money to lifeboat volunteers at the Hunstanton station at the end of October.

Paul Stewart, one of Hunstanton's deputy launch authorities, said the work of its volunteers would not be possible without the kindness of its supporters.

Alan's oldest son Mark, said: "As a family, we've had a caravan on different sites up here for 30 years.

“It's a coastline that Dad just really loved.”

He added that his father discovered his love of the sea growing up in Ramsgate, in Kent, during and after the Second World War, in which his father George served on Russian convoys, before his parents moved back to Peterborough.

Alan, who worked as a toolmaker, met his future wife Jo in the early 1960s.

She worked as a nurse in the hospital in Peterborough and helped care for him after he injured his knee and needed an operation.

The couple, who married on 25 September, 1965, would go on to enjoy many holidays at Hunstanton with their two children, where in later life they spent happy times together and made many friends in the area.

Hunstanton is one of the busiest RNLI stations in Norfolk.It's volunteer crew have so far launched 25 times during 2023, to shouts ranging from people cut off by the tide to kite surfers, jet skiers and fishermen in danger or in difficulty.