Keystone Slipway Official Opening
The Keystone Slipway was formally opened on Friday October 3rd at SARA’s Sharpness Station by R.W.Bro.Benjamin Addy, the Assistant Grand Master of Mark Master Masons, whose £85,000 donation has funded the project.
The donation by the Mark Masons is in recognition of the efforts of SARA in the July 2007 floods in Gloucestershire.
In a press release issued before the event, the Provincial Grand Master R.W.Bro.John Eley said “I am delighted that the Assistant Grand Master will attend to unveil a commemorative stone, carved by one of our own members David Yeates, and that SARA have invited a wide range of Civic Dignitaries from the area they serve to attend. SARA depends on charitable support and we are proud to be associated with them in improving their response to rescues on the Severn”.
SARA Executive Chairman Alan Stanley said “without the donation from the Mark Master Masons it is doubtful how SARA could have continued their rescue facility at Sharpness due to the condition of the 1903 crane which was their only means of launching the lifeboat. Now with a dedicated slipway, this will not be a problem in the future.”
Sharpness Station Chairman Geoff Dawe said “Over the last 21 years the SARA Sharpness Lifeboats have been deployed in saving numerous lives and will continue to do so with the benefit of the new Keystone Slipway thanks to the generosity of the Mark Masons”.
As with all such life-saving organisations, the ceremony included a Dedication Prayer and Hymn, and was followed by a demonstration launch from the new boathouse and slipway.
See this story elsewhere: http://www.gandhmark.org/PublicPages/SARA.aspx
