Midlands pupils fill their boots for the RNLI

Children from Woodthorne Primary School in Wolverhampton travelled more than 100 miles to find their nearest lifeboat station – and handed over a cheque for £758 to Conwy RNLI.

The youngsters from Tettenhall held a fundraiser for the RNLI and managed to fill the equivalent of 17 wellies with their donations. This week the children visited Conwy to present the cheque to Conwy RNLI Chairman Frank Ranson.

French teacher Emma Unwin said: “The RNLI has always been very special to a couple of us on the staff at Woodthorne Primary, so we explained to the children what the RNLI does and how important it is to raise funds. The children have been fascinated by it and they’ve really become quite engaged.

“After our last visit to Conwy, we decided the time was right to do a fundraiser, because the children have been made so welcome on their visit to the lifeboat station, they’ve seen all the equipment, and heard about the work that the volunteers do, so they were very keen to start raising funds to help them out.”

The school set out with the aim of raising enough money to buy a few pairs of RNLI yellow wellies but they far exceeded their initial target following a specially-themed RNLI sports day which included events such as welly hoopla, welly wanging and welly skittles.

Emma said: “The children just love the whole experience of coming here, the location is so different to home, and we’re very conscious of the fact that people who live inland maybe aren’t quite so aware of the dangers that the sea can present. When you live by the coast, safety around the water often becomes second nature, but our children are keen to learn all the safety messages.

“Our school has around 400 children and we do a lot of charity and community work, it’s a big part of our ethos, and it’s nice to come here and to create that link.”

Conwy RNLI Chairman Frank Ranson said: “It’s always a pleasure to see the children from Woodthorne Primary, they are so engaged and enthusiastic about what we do. It is truly remarkable that they were prepared to spend time raising such a great sum of money for the RNLI. We cannot thank them enough and we look forward to seeing the staff and the children again in the future.”