As London Lifeboat Week launched yesterday, the Tower lifeboat was scrambled to reports of a man stuck on an abandoned jetty.
Today volunteers from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution will take to the streets in their yellow jackets and oilskins to collect donations for the charity.
Volunteers from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution will take to the streets today.
Wearing their yellow jackets and oilskins the volunteers will collect public donations for the charity as part of National Lifeboat Week.
The RNLI is more usually associated with stormy seas around the coast, but hundreds of Londoners also owe their lives to the lifeboat crews.
Martin Stew reports.
London Lifeboat Day is the biggest fundraising day of the year for the four London RNLI branches. It also raises much needed awareness of the charity's four lifeboat stations - two of which are the busiest across the RNLI's entire network.
Tower RNLI lifeboat station, situated at the heart of the capital on a floating pier in the river below Waterloo Bridge, is the busiest in the whole of the UK. They launched 499 times last year rescuing 105 people.
Chiswick is the next busiest, with 221 call-outs last year and 97 rescues.
Charlie was a talented hockey player who trained with the England under 15 team and had ambitions of representing Britain in the Olympics.
In December the family organised the first of what they hope will be an annual fundraising event with Charlie's former school - The Whitgift in south Croydon.
They hope the 'Charlie Hutton Hockey Festival' will keep his memory and passion for hockey alive, as well as to continue to raise funds for the RNLI.
Simon Hutton, who was driving the boat when a "freak wave" hit them in July, says sons are turning the tragedy into a fundraising journey.
Read the full story24 year old Tom and 22 year old Sam Hutton are now in training for the London Marathon, aiming to raise £15,000 for the rescue services who tried to save their brother.
Last October, they took part in the Great South Run raising over £5,000 and they also plan to do a 14km Thames swim in August.
Tom, 24, a trainee lawyer, said, “The RNLI were absolutely amazing in their efforts and we want to show our appreciation by raising money for a fantastic charity devoted to saving the lives of people at sea.”
There was an Olympic seal of approval on the Thames for the latest addition to the lifeboat fleet.
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Olympic rower Greg Searle officially naming The Thames's new lifeboat Dougie and Donna B, after its donors.
Olympic rowing medallist, Greg Searle, was welcomed by the crew of Chiswick RNLI Lifeboat Station to help the charity officially name its two newest lifeboats. I was out on one of the new lifeboats serving the Thames. It's faster, bigger and better for saving lives.
