Joint meeting with St Asaph RC

The arrival later this year of a new super £2.2m lifeboat capable of reaching a speed of 25 knots, will be just one of the reasons why Rhyl’s seafront lifeboat station will be unrecognisable in 18 months time, members of the Rhyl & St Asaph Rotary Clubs were told at a joint meeting at Faenol Fawr. Prominent RNLI official and spokesman Ted Watson, of Abergele, an active volunteer presenter for the Institute’s Wales & Western Region, told a packed room that the new-look station would incorporate not only an invaluable purpose-designed training centre but also a unique museum packed with irreplaceable memorabilia and notable landmarks of past historic rescues and heroism performed by generations of devoted lifeboat crews and dedicated volunteer officials. Having calculated that it costs in excess of £5 per second to sustain the lifeboat service throughout the UK, he said he greatly appreciated being presented with a donation of £500 from the St Asaph & Rhyl clubs as part of the proceeds from the successful Father Christmas charity grotto they helped run at the Kinmel Bay Water Gardens centre last December. The money had been specifically earmarked for the benefit of the RNLI by the Gardens’ owners and Mr Watson said it would be put to the best possible use in support of the invaluable service, of which the Rhyl station was proud to be a part. Both Rhyl President Rod Brocklehurst and St Asaph President Roy Hamilton said it was a pleasure to help such a worthy cause and they looked forward to seeing the exciting transformation of the local station completed. Members were also treated to an illuminating talk by past President and local veterinary specialist John Hickerton on the prevailing threat of a recurrence of bovine tuberculosis posed by the unwarranted indulgence of an expanding badger population. From the manageable figure of 34,000 badgers recorded in 1979, that number had now risen to an alarming half a million in England and Wales, he disclosed, and the risk of another crippling outbreak affecting vulnerable cattle would remain an escalating risk if positive action was not taken to confront the threat posed by the protected badgers. The image of badgers as harmless cuddly creatures was wholly misplaced, he said, as they were nasty, aggressive, menacing killers and potential carriers of a decidedly dreaded disease. After answering a number of probing questions, the speaker was warmly thanked by President Rod, who announced that the next gathering would be the joint meeting with hosts Abergele club at the Black Lion, Llanfair TH on Tuesday April 11, 6-30 for 7pm.