'That Which Was Their Duty'

A Brief History of the RNLI and an account of

The Rye Harbour Lifeboat Disaster of 1928

A talk by Hugh Willing

 for the Tennant Lecture Series

Wednesday 15 January 2025

in the E M Forster

Drinks in the Theatre Foyer from 7.15pm

The story of the RNLI is one of courage and dedication. Since the charity launched its first lifeboat in 1824, the RNLI has saved more than 146,000 lives at sea. The worst ever Lifeboat disaster occurred on 15 November 1928 when all 17 crew members of the Rye Harbour Lifeboat were drowned. Brigadier Hugh Willing, who gave a superb lecture about the building of the Panama Canal in 2023, will tell us about the RNLI and what lessons were learnt with the loss of the Rye Harbour lifeboat, nearly a century ago.

This event is fully accessible.