Three choirs in Penarth are holding a special concert to commemorate RNLI's 200th year of life-saving operations.

Aptly named ‘Sing to Save Lives’, the concert aims to rally more support and encourage people to volunteer for the vital organisation.

The RNLI acknowledges its significant milestone, as they have said: "everything we have achieved in that time has only been possible thanks to ordinary people doing extraordinary things."

Among the valiant volunteers is local lady Shelagh Greenland who has been woth them for nearly four decades in Penarth RNLI. 

She has also sung alto in all three choirs which are coming together for this cause: Cavatina Singers, Penarth Community Choir and Spectrum Singers.

Ms Greenland said: "I started volunteering in a small way, just the odd coffee morning and annual house-to-house collections, until I was asked to join the committee and the rest is history!

"My father’s family came from the Isle of Man, where the RNLI was born, so it must be in my blood."

The 'Sing to Save Lives' show will feature music spanning all of the centuries. 

Penarth Community Choir, for example, shall perform a medley from the 1878 comic opera HMS Pinafore.

Meanwhile, modern songs like Eric Whitacre's ‘The Seal Lullaby’ will be performed, reflecting the transition of the RNLI from using wooden lifeboats to present-day motor-powered vessels equipped with advanced communication systems.

The secretary of RNLI Penarth fundraising committee, Sara Siddall, shared some local RNLI history.

She said: "In Penarth, the RNLI opened a ‘new’ lifeboat station on 17th June 1980, some 75 years after the original lifeboat station which operated from 1861–1905 was closed." 


The charity concert will take place on April 27 at Penarth Methodist Church.

Town Mayor, Cllr Melissa Rabaiotti, will open the event at 7pm.

Jason Dunlop, the lifeboat operations manager for Penarth station will be present to represent the charity.

Tickets are available for everyone from TicketSource and the proceedings will be donated to the RNLI.

Those interested in supporting the life-saving institution can also donate directly to the Penarth RNLI's JustGiving page.