RNLI: 'We're on top of the world'

Torbay's lifeboat station crew are on top of the world after raising a staggering £105,000 in an 'extraordinary' fund-raising drive.
Last March the RNLI crew embarked on a series of six intrepid and fearsome tasks, culminating in the eight oldest members climbing to the summit of Kilimanjaro in February this year.
They smashed all the fund-raising targets for the individual challenges with a special event last weekend marking the official end to the record-breaking fund-raiser.
The station expressed their appreciation to Gold Sponsors in the event Berry Head Hotel in Brixham. The 35 sponsors each donated a minimum of £1,000 which was pivotal to making the Kilimanjaro Challenge 2023 an astounding success with £105,393 raised for the RNLI Torbay to fund and equip its own new D-Class in-shore lifeboat.
Adrian Carey, RNLI Head of Region, who spoke at the event, commended the station's accomplishments across these six challenges as a source of inspiration and he emphasized the critical role an involved local community plays in maintaining the effectiveness of RNLI stations and ensuring their future success.
Ian ('Barney') Barnaby, the event’s leader, expressed his gratitude to the Gold Sponsors. As a token of the crew’s appreciation, the sponsors were presented with framed photographs commemorating the challenges.
Barney said: "We are profoundly grateful to all our Gold Sponsors as well as the wider community for supporting The Kilimanjaro Challenge 2023 and making it such an immense success. We will take special pride in the new D-Class the funds raised will deliver and upon which our crews depend as we take on future shouts in and around the Bay.”
The Torbay crew have bravely accepted a relay of challenges including skydiving, endurance swimming, cycling, rowing, driving, that culminated with the eight climbers, with an average age of 60, hiking to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, the world's highest free-standing mountain and seventh highest in the world.
The RNLI said before the challenge: "We believe these challenges comprise the most ambitious fundraising events ever attempted by any volunteer RNLI lifeboat crew. Over a sequence of tasks involving our entire Torbay crew, different teams will accomplish intrepid feats that will push them outside their comfort zone and experience."
The fund-raising target was originally set at £60,000 and then £80,000. The £105,000 figure is a record for a single RNLI station.
Not all Gold Sponsors could make the Berry Head event, but those who attended included Torquay Rotary Club, Gold Star Leisure, Caterfoods, Swim 365, Orestone Wealth, The Guardhouse Café (Berry Head), Compass House, Brixham Rugby Club, Churston Golf Club, Brixham Fish Market, Brixham Trawler Agents, Nick Sharpe, Brixham College, Di Lunn, Ben Purser, Lynne Spillet and the Berry Head Hotel itself.
A list of all Gold Sponsors and further details about all the challenges, can be found on a Just Giving page at https://justgiving.com/campaign/RNLITorbaykili23