22/06/2026
🎉 West Kirby Lifeboat Station is celebrating 60 years of lifesaving in 2026 🎉
1966 may best be remembered as the year England won the World Cup, but closer to home here in West Kirby, it was also the year our lifeboat station was born!
This week, we'll be looking back at six decades of lifesaving, sharing some of the stories, people and rescues that have shaped our station since 1966.
🔹 1966–1976 🔹
West Kirby Lifeboat Station’s story began in June 1966, when the station received its first ‘Inshore Rescue Boat’ (IRB), D-100. At the time, these inflatable lifeboats were still a relatively new idea for the RNLI, designed to respond quickly to incidents close to shore as more people began spending time on the water.
The station's first launch came just days after the boat arrived, but it wasn't long before crews were involved in a lifesaving rescue. In August 1966, a small boat capsized off West Kirby in challenging conditions. One casualty was found unconscious in the water, with one of the crew jumping in and bringing him aboard the lifeboat. First aid was started immediately before he was taken ashore. Thanks to the crew's swift actions, he went on to make a full recovery.
During the summer of 1967, lifeboat D-14 served at West Kirby before being replaced in September by D-155. As the station settled into its role on the Dee Estuary, crews were regularly called upon to help those in difficulty. One particularly busy day on 23 September 1968 saw the lifeboat tasked to assist a vessel in distress before being diverted to a capsized dinghy. After bringing two people safely ashore, the crew headed straight back out and rescued a further four casualties from the original incident, landing six people in total within the space of an hour.
The decade also saw rescues involving people cut off by the tide (a type of call that remains very familiar to the crew today). In February 1970, volunteers launched in severe weather to rescue two men and their dog who had become stranded by the incoming tide at Burton Marshes, chest deep in water.
By 1975, the station welcomed a new D class lifeboat, D-230 Miss Winfield. She would remain part of the station for more than ten years and play a role in saving 51 lives during her service. From rescuing casualties from capsized boats to helping people cut off by the tide, the station's first decade gave an early glimpse of the lifesaving work the crew would continue for many years to come.
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