Courtmacsherry RNLI welcomes new Shannon Class lifeboat home

Courtmacsherry RNLI welcomes new All-Weather Shannon class lifeboat home

The community of Courtmacsherry have welcomed the latest RNLI lifeboat to be based in Ireland, to their Village onSunday 22nd January 2023.

Courtmacsherry's new Shannon lifeboat 'Val Adnams' comes home. Photo: RNLI/Martin Walsh

The new Shannon class lifeboat named Val Adnams arrived into Courtmacsherry, led by a flotilla of local boats, at exactly 13.45, which is also the operational number of the lifeboat. Despite the overcast conditions, crowds turned to welcome the crew and see the village’s new lifeboat.

Its arrival marks the start of a new chapter in the story of search and rescue in the south coast. The Shannon lifeboat is the latest in a long line of search and rescue boats provided by the RNLI to Courtmacsherry over the past 198 years. Courtmacsherry along with Arklow are the oldest Lifeboat Stations in Ireland having been founded in 1825. It’s 27 years since the last new Trent class Lifeboat arrived in 1995 and its only the 11th Lifeboat to be stationed in Courtmacsherry since the arrival of the first RNLI boat “The Plenty” in 1825.

Courtmacsherry RNLI new Shannon class lifeboat 'Val Adnams' arrives home. Photo: Martin Walsh

A significant proportion of the funding for the new Courtmacsherry Lifeboat has been provided through the very generous donation from Val Adnams who grew up in Preston and Weymouth in the UK and now resides in Idaho in the USA. From a young age Val Adnams was an avid sailor and sportsperson who possessed an early interest in the Lifeboat Service, as she witnessed the callouts of the local Weymouth Lifeboat going to the help of others in distress at sea. At the age of 23, she moved to Washington DC where she worked on Capitol Hill for some years before meeting her lifelong partner in Bandera, Texas and she now resides in Idaho. Val Adnams and some of her family intend travelling to Courtmacsherry in September for the Naming Ceremony of the Lifeboat. She is a very proud lifelong supporter of the RNLI.

Extensive training has been underway all last week in Courtmacsherry by Lifeboat crewmembers and Coxswain Sean O’Farrell had the honour of bringing the lifeboat into the Harbour.

Coxswain Sean O'Farrell onboard the new Shannon class lifeboat 'Val Adnams'. Photo: RNLI/Martin Walsh

Courtmacsherry voluntary Lifeboat Operations Manager Brian O Dwyer said, “The station has been looking forward to this day for a long time. The past few weeks and months have been spent in preparation and training by all the crew, in order to receive this incredible piece of kit from the RNLI. It is the most technologically advanced lifeboat in the fleet, and it will proudly serve the south west coast for many years to come.”

'We are incredibly honoured to receive it and we are grateful to our donor “Val Adnams” and to all those involved at our Station down through the years, who have made this day possible. We hope to bring many loved ones safely home in this new lifeboat.'

Courtmacsherry RNLI welcome their new Shanon class lifeboat home. Photo: RNLI/Martin Walsh