Last Santa trip for good old Doris...
OVER the coming months, the Clogherhead lifeboat, the Doris Bleasdale, will make many final journeys.
Come June 2 2019, Doris will officially retire from the service after spending 27 years in the waters off Clogherhead.
The 38-feet long boat arrived in September 1993 and the Mersey Class vessel was given her name in traditional champagne smashing style. The £700,000 craft was launched in earnest five times in its first six months to come to the rescue of sailors in distress.
Doris was named after a Lancaster-based lady who left the RNLI a legacy to build a boat.
Its twin engines, both rated at 285 horse power, can power the craft to a top speed of 17.5 knots
Once again, she was the vessel that brought Santa Claus to the village recently, the dramatic image of the man in red on board Doris always something treasured by the local children.
Clogherhead is getting a new Shannon Class boat next year, having raised €200,000 towards it.
It is a state of the art boat with two jet engines and it will cut travel time by half.
Doris will stay on duty as back up for three months before heading back to Poole in Dorset where she will form part of the reserve fleet.
‘ The Doris Bleasdale came to us in 1993 and has been very well maintained in that time,’ PRO Gerry Kelly stated.
‘ The support we have received from around the region as part of the new boat has been terrific,’ he added.
After dropping Santa at the lifeboat station, the fun really began with the lifeboat choir entertaining a large crowd and Podge O’Hare and the McEvoy family providing the music.