GALLERY: How Skegness said farewell to lifeboat

A crowd gathered on Skegness beach on Monday to say a final farewell to the RNLI Lincolnshire Poacher lifeboat - and to honour its coxwain Ray Chapman who is also retiring.

The lifeboat, which has been launched for more than 353 shouts since arriving in the resort 27 years ago, will now join the relief fleet at RNLI headquarters at Poole in Dorset.

Skegness' old lifeboat lthe Lincolnshire Poacher leaving the resort for the final time. ANL-170703-091226001placeholder image
Skegness' old lifeboat lthe Lincolnshire Poacher leaving the resort for the final time. ANL-170703-091226001

We joined the crowd on the beach to wave her off. You can read how it was an especially emotional day for Mr Chapman in today’s Skegness Standard newspaper.

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Skegness' old lifeboat lthe Lincolnshire Poacher leaving the resort for the final time. ANL-170703-091226001placeholder image
Skegness' old lifeboat lthe Lincolnshire Poacher leaving the resort for the final time. ANL-170703-091226001
Crew get on board  for the final trip of  Skegness' old lifeboat the Lincolnshire Poacher. MSKP-060317-11 ANL-170703-143827001placeholder image
Crew get on board for the final trip of Skegness' old lifeboat the Lincolnshire Poacher. MSKP-060317-11 ANL-170703-143827001
Skegness' old lifeboat leaving Skegness. Left to right are Tony Kelly, Russell Matthews, Matt Jackson, Mick Abbott, Gavin Abbott, Ray Chapman, Dean Sumner. MSKP-060317-15 ANL-170703-143930001placeholder image
Skegness' old lifeboat leaving Skegness. Left to right are Tony Kelly, Russell Matthews, Matt Jackson, Mick Abbott, Gavin Abbott, Ray Chapman, Dean Sumner. MSKP-060317-15 ANL-170703-143930001
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