Llandudno has a Lifeboat Shop!

Sorry that I haven't been around for a while but we have all been working so hard to get our new Lifeboat Shop up and running!

It actually opened at the beginning of November and, now that all our volunteers are trained up and the shop is running smoothly, we are having an Official Opening on 14th December 2011. The mayor of Llandudno will cut the ribbon at 11am and declare the shop officially open for business.

It is the only High Street RNLI shop in Wales (the others are all attached to their respective boathouses) so we are a bit of a flagship and we are determined to make it work! To be fair, even though we haven't got all our signs up yet, people are finding us and we are selling more than we had expected to already.

From left to right the picture shows me, Lyn and Jean all of whom are to be found in the shop on a regular basis!

In the shop we have sweets, biscuits, toys, Christmas cards, calendars, diaries and gifts, nautical gifts, key rings, fridge magnets, pens, notepads, address books, notecards, model ships of all sizes and a range of clothes from caps to sweat shirts. That gives you a flavour of what you will find in the shop but there are other bits and pieces too and we are always getting new stock.

The address of the shop is 9, St George's Place, Llandudno and we are open every day apart from Christmas Day and New Year's Day.

So, if you are in Llandudno at any time, do drop in and see us and, of course, tell all your friends about us!

Our Last day on the Prom in Llandudno!

Sunday 25th September 2011 will see the RNLI stall on the prom at Llandudno selling lifeboat souvenirs for the very last time - well as a full stall anyway! We will still have a smaller stall each year in August on our Emergency Services Day.

This Sunday would have been our last day this season anyway - even we aren't daft enough to stand out in the winter - but there is a reason why we won't be back next year.

We are getting a shop in town! It isn't ready yet but we should be trading by the end of October so if you have a few hours to spare and you would like to volunteer to help in the shop just let me know and I will point you in the right direction.

I will let you know all the details of the new shop once it is ready to open but in the meantime, if you want to see us in Llandudno, you'd better get a move on down to the prom on Sunday 25th!

Llandudno Lifeboat Week!

Here in Llandudno the week from 1st to the 7th August is Lifeboat Week. We don't normally have an actual Lifeboat Week but this year we are celebrating 150 years of having a lifeboat here on site.

During the week we will be getting support from a shop in town called Clare's situated in Mostyn Street. They will have one of their windows dressed with historical RNLI items and we will be selling souvenirs in the arcade outside their shop all week. Their staff are even dressing up as pirates, mermaids and sailors at the weekend to add to the general nautical theme!

The 7th August is Emergency Services Day and there will be stalls on the prom representing many of our emergency services including the fire brigade, mountain rescue, police, rescue dogs and ambulance - of course the RNLI stall will be there selling souvenirs too.

In the morning the crew are organising games on the prom and in the afternoon the All Weather Lifeboat - The Andy Pearce - will launch at about 4pm to perform a rescue exercise accompanied by the helicopter from RAF Valley (providing it isn't otherwise engaged on a shout). Believe me this is a sight worth seeing!

Mew - the RNLI Fundraising Cat!

A while ago I introduced you to our cat Mew and I told you that he is Mr February on the 2011 RNLI calendar.

Earlier this year we had a request for more cat pictures for the 2012 calendar and I sent in a few of Mew  hut heard nothing so I assumed his fame was to be short lived.

We have now received our Christmas cards and calendars to sell on the stall and guess what? Now if you can't guess what I am going to say next you really aren't concentrating are you? LOL!

Yes - that's right - he's there again! This time he's Mr June with a cropped version of the above photograph.

So he is officially a fund raising cat! We sell souvenirs from a stall on the prom every Sunday here in Llandudno and I proudly show people the picture and say - that's my cat!!

RNLI Sblash Llandudno Sea Swim

I am pleased to report that the choir concert last weekend was a great success and about £500 was raised for the RNLI overall.

On Saturday 18th June 2011 there is an altogether different event - again run by the RNLI - and this time it is a sea swim in Llandudno Bay. This beach has Blue Flag status so the water is clean and safe to swim in!

Swimmers can do one lap of the course which is 750m or two laps for 1,500m at the same time familiarising themselves with the swimming course for the Triathlon which will take place here next month.

The race will start at 11am and entrants are encouraged to raise money for the RNLI through sponsorship.

More details can be found at http://www.xtramileevents.com/events/calendar/rnli-llandudno-sea-swim

Of course the RNLI stall selling souvenirs will be on the prom on Sunday so you can treat yourself and help the lifeboats at the same time - see you there!

England meets Wales with much singing!

On Saturday 11th June 2011 there will be an evening of music in The Town Hall, Llandudno.

The Dalesmen Male Voice Choir from Derbyshire have very kindly offered to perform in aid of the RNLI and the Penrhyn Welsh Male Voice Choir will be joining them - hence the tag line England meets Wales!

It promises to be a wonderful evening so if you fancy hearing some traditional male voice choir music The Town Hall in Lloyd Street, Llandudno is the place to be on Saturday 11th June 2011.

Admission costs just £5 and the doors open at 7pm with the performance beginning at 7.30pm.

There will also be RNLI souvenirs on sale.

Memories of Bank Holiday Weekends

Well, with two consecutive Bank Holiday weekends, we ended up working 5 days out of 10 on the promenade selling RNLI souvenirs! We had sunshine for all of the five days although the wind was keen and cold at times.

We begin at 9am by fetching all the tables out of the van. putting them together and pinning RNLI flags around the front. The flags are hoisted on the caravan too so people can see us from a distance.

We then unload a huge amount of stock - well we did on day one but this had diminished considerably by day five - and arrange it ready for sale. We usually have between one and three of each item on the tables depending on the size and nature of the souvenir and as they are sold I constantly restock from the boxes in the van. This means that I am on my feet from 9am until 6pm when everything is packed away! It is certainly a good workout I can tell you!

Of course for the three days of the May Bank Holiday the Victorian Extravaganza was taking place so there was a parade each day at noon which brought lots of customers to our stall as it passed and we were entertained by the music from the stage which was set up just along the prom too.

Our boat - The Andy Pearce - is on the slipway ready for launch whilst the stall is in place so that members of the public get the chance to see her and see just what their donations are used for.

As it is our 150th anniversary of the lifeboat here in Llandudno in 2011 I will tell you more about the history of the boats and the events scheduled for later in the year in subsequent posts.

For now I will sign off by saying thank you to all who made our efforts so worthwhile by buying our souvenirs and remind you all that we will be on the prom every Sunday (weather permitting) until the end of September.

A Royal Day and an Extravaganza!

Well the 25th Victorian Extravaganza here in Llandudno has begun a day early this year as we have an extra Bank Holiday for the Royal Wedding.

The weather is looking good for the weekend so it should be a good one!

There will be a parade of steam vehicles, marching bands, traction engines, people in Victorian dress and much more each day at 12 noon.

The main street in Llandudno is closed to traffic and there will be traditional stalls with old fashioned games such as Hook a Duck and Coconut Shies and also some really old one armed bandits! There are some great old fairground rides including chairoplanes (pictured), ghost train, helter skelters, gallopers and a couple of more modern ones in dodgems and waltzers.

There are various stages where there will be singers, dancers and various other acts performing.

The fun extends onto the promenade where there is usually one of the stages, a helter skelter and of course our stall selling Lifeboat souvenirs! We will be there on Saturday, Sunday and Monday so come and say 'hello' if you are in Llandudno.

We aren't on the promenade today as we are all at home watching the wedding!

Easter Sunday Brought us Sunshine!

We have had a brilliant day today with plenty of sunshine and plenty of customers.

We sold lots more souvenirs and had plenty of laughs but I am feeling tired now after two 9 hour days!

Next week it will be three consecutive days on the prom for the May Day Bank Holiday - Saturday, Sunday and Monday so this weekend has been good practice.

I shall have to get round to emptying some collecting boxes tomorrow as I am also the Box Ssecretary for the Llandudno Lifeboat Guild!

What Happened to the Weather?

We have had beautiful weather for the best part of a fortnight now - until today! We set up the RNLI stall on the prom and it was cloudy and quite cold for the majority of the day.

We managed to sell souvenirs but not as many as we would have hoped - lets hope for better weather and better sales tomorrow.

Despite the weather we sold plenty of buckets and spades and saw them being used on the beach - even though most people kept their woollies on!

Feeling tired now but I am sure, after a good night's sleep, I'll be ready to do it all again tomorrow!

An Introduction to Mew

When we moved to our cottage on The Great Orme in Llandudno a stray cat kept coming to our door and meowing so loudly that we eventually allowed him to adopt us. We asked him what his name was and he said 'Mew' so that's his name!

If any of you think you recognise him it could be because he found fame this year (2011) as Mr February on the RNLI calendar and this is the photograph that they used.

At the moment his favourite thing is catching rabbits and eating them - six so far in the last seven days! I do feed him honestly!

I'll keep you posted on Mew's adventures as my new blog develops.

Lifeboat Fun on the Promenade!

On Easter Saturday and Sunday we will be dusting off the tables and setting up our souvenir stall on the prom at Llandudno for the first time this season.We start at about 9am by fetching out all the tables, setting them up and covering them with souvenirs to sell and finish at about 6pm by putting everything away again! So you can see it's a long day and it is hard work but it is also great fun!

We sell all sorts of things from pens and notepads to toys and teddies and from tea towels and sweets to key rings and fridge magnets so there is something to suit every budget. There are far too many things to mention here so you'll have to come along and take a look.

This year we also have a range of 150th anniversary items as we have had a lifeboat on site at Llandudno for 150 years now and I will be telling you all more about that in later posts. We have various events planned during the year too and I will keep you posted on those too.

Our lifeboat will also be on display on the slipway next to the stall ready for action if she is needed.

We do the same thing again the following weekend on Saturday, Sunday and Monday for the May Day Bank Holiday and Llandudno Victorian Extravaganza. This year we will be on the prom for 5 out of 10 days so we will be needing a rest after all that I can tell you!