AN evening with an Olympic gold medalist and a fundraising supper have helped push the RNLI's appeal for a new boat up to £48,000.

On Friday, January 20, Olympic silver and gold medalist Hannah Mills presented a charity evening at Howells school in Cardiff.

Presented by Volvo, the evening included drinks on arrival, live entertainment from Lee Gilbert, canapés, a charity auction and a talk from Olympic Champion and World Sailor Of The Year.

The event sold out in advance and a packed audience heard personal stories from Miss Mills on her road to Olympic success with sailing partner Saskia Clarke.

She spoke about her plans going forwards to the next games in Tokyo, 2020.

Miss Mills' London 2012 Silver and Rio 2016 Gold medals were on display and there were opportunities for guests to ask Hannah questions and take photographs.

She launched Penarth RNLI’s new lifeboat appeal in July 2016 and has been a staunch supporter of the charity and the lifesaving work its volunteers do by saving lives at sea.

The Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation was also supported by the event.

Jason Dunlop, lifeboat operations manager at Penarth RNLI station, thanked Hannah for her continued support for the RNLI and her inspiring talk.

The second event, held on Sunday, January 22, was the annual Burn’s supper at Penarth Yacht Club.

This was a very well attended night, and included homemade haggis and Scotch Whisky.

In traditional style the haggis was brought in to the guests accompanied by bagpipes, the ode to the haggis was read and the there was a selection of Scottish music, including Burn’s Auld Lang Syne and the evening was rounded off with a disco.

In addition a charity raffle was held, which raised £275 and additional monies from ticket sales will be donated to the lifeboat appeal.

A spokesman for Penarth RNLI said: "Thank you to Penarth Yacht Club for making the event run so smoothly."

Also this week, Dave Woodhams an employee at Tesco in Penarth Marina, dressed up as a woman for his entire shift on Saturday, January 28,.

He was serving customers from 8.30am until 7pm.

He raised at least £60 which has been pledged from members of staff of which will be added to the total from bucket collections with customers.

Please help us raise the money by getting involved.

No matter how big or small your fundraising event or idea, let us know and we will help publicise it.

We will also try to cover as many events as possible.

Anyone who helps raise money will get special recognition with a Penarth Times certificate and be mentioned in a roll call which will be published regularly.

Send any fundraising ideas to reporter Anthony Lewis at penarthtimes@penarthtimes.co.uk or contact the appeal team at penarth@rnli.org.uk.

To donate directly send a cheque made payable to Penarth Lifeboat Appeal to Penarth Lifeboat Station, The Esplanade, Penarth, CF64 3AU.

You can also donate online by visiting www.justgiving.com/fundraising/penarthlifeboatappeal1