THE Bude Lifeboat Singers have celebrated 50 years of singing on the lawn of the Brendon Arms in Bude.

Fifty years ago, in 1967, the Bude Lifeboat Singers led the singing on the Brendon lawn at Lifeboat Day for the first time. Alas, there are now more of the original singers ‘above’ than still here, but this is an unfailingly special occasion in the Bude year, with so many families within the community getting together to raise the right elbow in celebration.

The members always have a silent moment to remember ‘absent friends’, which is followed by the singing of the White Rose, a favourite song through the length and breadth of Cornwall.

This year, the singers remembered members of their merry band who have passed on — notably John Bolitho, Jimmy Marshall, Len Merrifield, Mike Moyle, Bridie Pugh, Johnny Murt from Padstow and Mike Bond, unwell and unable to be with the singers.

In this, their 50th year, the singers have also remembered Chris Cunningham, grandson of the first senior helmsman, Ken Cunningham, when the boat came on station in 1966. The singers originally formed in 1966 and 1967 from visiting the Brendon for a pint after the crew training exercise.

Chris’ mother, Val — Ken’s daughter, who now lives in Yorkshire — made a donation to the RNLI in her son’s memory, but additionally sent a generous sum down to Bude for the Lifeboat Singers’ beer money, to mark the moment and also in appreciation of the Lifeboat Singers, who played a prominent part in the celebration of Ken’s life at his funeral.