On one of the busiest weekends of the year, we are delighted to have been invited to the Coop, Winchelsea Beach store. 

The August Bank Holiday is a busy weekend all around, but especially for a retailer whose store is right next door to a much-loved caravan holiday site. So we feel very fortunate indeed to have been able to go along to the store on Saturday 24th August, for a few hours of raising awareness about our work, about beach safety,  and also to promote some of our merchandise and do a little fundraising in our local community. 

This is all part of the continued support we’ve had from the Winchelsea Beach community and from the local Coop. Coop’s Winchelsea Beach store has the Pett Level Independent Rescue Boat as one of its chosen community causes, raising extra funds for us by converting customers’ loyalty points to cash: this has raised a massive £1165 for us over the years.

If you’d like to know more about this, please check out this page.

Being along there with our smaller Tornado boat on this very busy Saturday at the height of the beach season meant we enjoyed plenty of interest from shoppers and donations.

As well as our own stall and collection point at the store entrance, staff also placed a donation bucket by the tills in-store, so that customers could donate their change after shopping, if they wanted to.

And as well as looking after us inside the store, the store manager took care of us  in the heat of the day outside, with lovely bottles of cold water from the fridge to keep us safely hydrated and comfortable – thanks so much, Mark!

And how did we do? Between the donations received and sales of our merchandise, we raised almost £440 which will be safely banked towards our ongoing running costs.

In all, we had a brilliant time and were so well looked after. Thank you so much once again to Coop, the manager and staff at Coop, Winchelsea Beach and to all the shop’s customers who came to chat to us and support us through donations or by buying our merchandise. All support is much appreciated and without such generosity, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do. 

** Of course, although some of our volunteers were along at the Coop store with the smaller inshore rescue boat, we were also very mindful of the busy beaches and potential for a ‘shout.’ Rest assured, our larger Pulfer boat was along at the boathouse, with additional teams available in the event of us being needed. **