PVRS HISTORY

In 1852, the 'Norfolk Association for the Saving of Lives of Shipwrecked Mariners' provided Sea Palling with its first lifeboat. This boat was replaced in 1858, when the R.N.L.I. took over the running of the station and in 1864, a new Palling lifeboat named 'Parsee' was acquired and housed in a boathouse on the dunes. The 'Parsee' was kept on a carriage and needed up to twelve horses to pull it to the sea.

In 1870, the R.N.L.I. commissioned a second boat at Sea Palling, named 'British Workman' after the periodical whose readers donated the vessel. Over the next 23 years, more than three hundred lives were saved by the beachmen who manned this boat.

Over time, the 'Parsee' was replaced by 'Good Hope' and in turn, by '54th West Norfolk Regiment'. In 1893, 'British Workman' was succeeded by the first 'Hearts of Oak'.

The post First World War era saw a dramatic decline in the number of sailing ships.With fewer wrecks off our coastline and with a new motor-powered lifeboat stationed at Gorleston, the R.N.L.I. withdrew the second 'Hearts of Oak' from service in 1929. The 'Jacob and Rachel Valentine' was decommissioned in 1930.

When the lifeboat station was officially closed a year later, Captain Fanshawe of the R.N.L.I. spoke of its remarkable history. In seven decades, 781 lives had been saved, a record that could only be matched by three other British stations.

Over the years, the residents of Sea Palling still felt a need for a lifeboat of their own and in 1974, raised the money to buy a new station and a motor-powered, inshore rescue boat named 'Hearts of Oak' .

A private company, Palling Volunteer Rescue Service Ltd, administered entirely by local volunteers, was formed as a registered charity to operate and finance the new independent lifeboat service.

In 1981, the Rescue Service purchased a new rigid inflatable vessel named 'Leo', a boat that remained in service until Sunday 10th Feb 2008 when the new boat Lions Roar entered into service.