Falmouth Harbour Office has joined forces with Falmouth RNLI, providing the prime site of a new shop for the charity as it seeks new volunteers to join the team helping raise vital funds for its local lifesavers.
The RNLI shop and volunteers are now hosted and co-located with the Falmouth Harbour front office team at 44 Arwenack Street.
The RNLI’s former shop was located within the lifeboat station building, further towards Falmouth Docks, but closed in December 2022 as the space was required for new changing facilities for the volunteer crew. The crew of 37 is around 25% female now and the additional space is being converted into a much needed new changing area.
Thanks to the support of Falmouth Harbour, the shop is now in its busy new location on Arwenack Street and the charity threw open its doors in time for Falmouth’s International Sea Shanty Festival which drew thousands of people into the town.
RNLI volunteers with their buckets operating out of the new base raised more than £20k over the Festival weekend, putting them at the top of their 36 South West shops’ sales leaderboard.
Andy Bramwell, community manager for Cornwall, said: “Falmouth’s lifeboat has a proud history so I’m delighted for the station and its volunteers that we have our new shop in a part of town with more footfall. It means our supporters can find us much more easily and the volunteer shop crew are able to raise more funds for Falmouth’s lifeboats and their crews.
“As with all RNLI shops, we depend on volunteers to open the doors and we are looking for new volunteers to get involved in what is already a busy shop in an RNLI town.”
To find out more about how to volunteer please contact Andy Bramwell southwestvolunteers@rnli.org.uk or apply online at rnli.org/volunteer and search for Falmouth.
