PALMERS Brewery has raised almost four thousand pounds for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s (RNLI) lifesaving work through sales of one of its five fine ales.
The Bridport Brewery has paid 5p from the sale of every pint of Copper Ale sold in pubs in Hampshire and Sussex to support the RNLI. The funds will go towards the charity’s Shoreham RNLI lifeboat station in West Sussex.
The cheque, for the sum of £3933.47, was collected at the brewery in Bridport on behalf of the RNLI by members of the nearest lifeboat station at Lyme Regis, volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer Richard Horobin, and Lifeboat Operations Manager Grahame Forshaw MBE, who is also Harbour Master for Lyme Regis. Lyme Regis is celebrating its Lifeboat Week from 27 to 31 July 2011.
Presenting the cheque, Palmers Managing Director John Palmer said: ‘My family has a long association with the RNLI – my father, Tony Palmer, was the President of the Bridport RNLI fundraising branch in the 1970s to mid 1980s when he passed away.
‘So we are delighted to support the RNLI with this initiative.’
Ellie Prowse, a free trade sales executive who promotes Palmers Copper Ale as well as Tally Ho!, Best Bitter, 200 and Dorset Gold to pubs across Hampshire and Sussex, said: ‘As many of our pubs are based in and around the coast, and the RNLI’s headquarters are in Poole, landlords like to support the RNLI where they can.’
Helen Patrick, RNLI Corporate Partnerships Manager, said: ‘We’re pleased that Palmers continues to raise funds for the RNLI. As a charity, the RNLI depends on public donations and support from businesses. Initiatives like this raise vital funds and awareness, helping to ensure that our volunteer crews can go on saving lives at sea.’
The Palmer family’s record of giving goes back many decades – in the 1970s they gave the land for the Bridport branch of the St John Ambulance. In the 1980s Bridport Leisure Centre was originally funded by the sale of land Palmers gifted to the West Dorset Sports Trust.
