Lifeboat service forced to cancel fete
FLASHBACK: Caister Lifeboat Fete in 2015. This year's event has been cancelled due to coronavirus Picture: Nick Butcher - Credit: Nick Butcher
An independent lifeboat service has cancelled its annual fete - its main money-spinner of the year.
Paul Garrod, chairman of Caister Lifeboat, has said the annual lifeboat fete cannot be staged safely this year due to coronavirus Picture: James Bass - Credit: Eastern Daily Press © 2008
Caister Lifeboat said it had left it as long as possible to make the decision, but could not guarantee its volunteers and crew could stage the event safely.
Lifeboat chairman Paul Garrod said: “The Caister Lifeboat Fete is our biggest event, our biggest fundraiser of the year bringing us around 10pc of our annual running costs in a single day.
“This is thanks to the support of our crew, volunteers, friends, supporters and scores of local businesses.”
Having relied on holiday and tourism businesses for donations and prizes in the past he appealed to people to, in turn, support them as they emerged from lockdown.
FLASHBACK: Caister Lifeboat's annual fete in 2011. The event raises more than £10,000 in a single day for the service, but is a casualty of Covid-19 in 2020 Picture: James Bass - Credit: Eastern Daily Press © 2011
He said: “In this difficult time, we would like you to remember all of the kind and generous people and businesses that support our fete.
“They have had a truly tough time and they would appreciate your custom if you are venturing out.”
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He added the Caister museum, shop and cafe at the lifeboat station were still shut and that while fundraising had dipped the public were still supporting them “in spirit”.
FLASHBACK: Watchiing the lifeboat in action is one of the pleasures of lifeboat day in Caister. The event has been cancelled this year due to the pandemic Picture: Nick Butcher - Credit: Nick Butcher
