St Abbs-RNLI lifeboat link ends after 104 years

THE RNLI has closed its lifeboat station in St Abbs, bringing to an end a 104-year association with the Scottish Borders village.

The last launch of the lifeboat is watched by locals, one of whom wears a protest T-shirt. The RNLI says that the station is no longer needed. Picture: Wullie Marr

The charity said there was “not a clear need” to have a separate facility so close to its Eyemouth station.

It said it was confident the area could be safely covered by an extra boat provided at Eyemouth.

Campaigners opposing the closure are now looking at setting up an independently-run station. The RNLI said the St Abbs lifeboat only launched about nine times a year, with a third of those being joint services with Eyemouth.

It said the new boat could reach St Abbs in “five to 10 minutes, depending on conditions”.

Operations director George Rawlinson said: “Closing a lifeboat station is never an easy thing to do and this decision was made only after extensive research that considered the location of existing search and rescue assets and changing patterns of sea use.

“The review concluded that the area should be covered from one lifeboat station.”