A former lifeboat volunteer who donated a ship’s bell to the station he helped run has marked his 99th birthday by checking up on his donation.

Fred Day, from Uplyme, was honorary secretary of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) station at Lyme Regis for seven years in the late 80s and early 90s.

He was presented the bell of the 101605-tonne oil tanker, British Argosy, after 32 years of service as a merchant navy chief engineer for BP oil tankers.

Mr Day later presented the bell to the RNLI to mark the opening of the new class B Lyme Regis lifeboat station in 1997 and it hangs just inside the entrance to this day.

A few weeks ago, Mr Day visited the lifeboat station to check on the bell he had donated to the station.

Lifeboat press officer, Richard Horobin, said: “Fred was pleased to see the bell but politely pointed out that it needed a bit of a polish.

“As he was leaving the station, he reminded me he would be 99 in a few weeks’ time, so we thought it would be nice to give the bell a good polish and invite him back to inspect it on his birthday.”

Lifeboat station tour guide, Chris MacDonald then spent a few hours bringing the bell back to its gleaming brilliance.  

Upon returning to the station on his birthday on Sunday, October 29, Mr Day said: “That’s much better I hope you can keep the bell shining for years to come.”

The Lyme Regis lifeboat station was established in 1826 on the historic Cobb and is now home to the Atlantic 85 class lifeboat, with the crews presented with 20 awards for gallantry.