An incredible £67,000 was raised recently at the Douglas RNLI’s 200th anniversary gala dinner at the Villa Marina Royal Hall.

The evening saw a dinner, speeches, a raffle full of prizes and an auction alongside plenty of dancing, with all funds raised now going towards the operations of the RNLI across the island.

Chairperson of the Douglas Lifeboat Guild, Gilli Cowley, said: ‘All of us at Douglas RNLI would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported our 200th Gala Dinner.

‘It was a fantastic evening celebrating 200 years of RNLI lifesaving here in the Isle of Man, the birthplace of our special charity.

‘I also want to say a huge thank you to our headline sponsor for the event Ørsted. Alongside the many other partners and supporters who helped make the evening such a success. Thank you to Appleby, Annexio, Retrospect, KPMG, and Ramsey Crookall.

‘With everyone’s collective “one crew” effort and the incredible generosity, we raised an astonishing £67,000! Your support goes directly towards our mission to save lives at sea, and we couldn't be more grateful.’

Headline sponsor Ørsted have a long-standing partnership with the RNLI and are currently developing the first offshore windfarm in Manx territorial waters – Mooir Vannin.

John Galloway, development director for the Isle of Man at Ørsted, said: ‘We’ve been a keen supporter of the RNLI and the vital work its crews and volunteers provide here in the Isle of Man and around the UK.

‘We’re delighted to have been involved with such an incredible milestone celebration and we look forward to building on the extraordinary work we’ve achieved together in the past nine years - supporting over 1,800 launches, aiding more than 3,000 people at sea and saving 127 lives.’

Another RNLI 200 Manx partnership that was highlighted during the evening was with The Fynoderee Distillery, which has already raised thousands of pounds in donations from sales of their RNLI edition ‘Manx Dry Gin’.

During the gala dinner, bottle number one of the Refuge Manx Rum – which has been aged in the Tower of Refuge throughout 2024, was auctioned off.

The bottle was auctioned off at a winning bid of £1,325, with 100% of the money raised going to the RNLI.

Tiffany Kerruish, the Fynoderee Distillery co-founder, said: ‘We were delighted with the “Bottle one” auction result and our grateful thanks goes to everybody who placed a bid, Douglas RNLI and Murrays Auctions for facilitating such a splendid reaction on such a special night.’

The Gala Dinner was the final event of a recent week of RNLI activity, which saw the 200th anniversary ‘Connecting our Communities’ scroll relay complete its final leg on the island after being signed by over 900 representatives from the charity.