On 30 May, Exmouth RNLI volunteers ran a successful coffee morning at the Public Hall in Budleigh Salterton. £623.44 was raised in two and a half hours with the RNLI merchandise stall taking an extra £140.05.

On the launch day of Respect the Water – the lifesaving charity’s annual safety campaign, the Exmouth RNLI Community Safety team greeted visitors at the entrance. The hall was filled with stalls selling local crafts, plants, books, bric-a-brac, RNLI merchandise and a huge selection of cakes donated by volunteers and their families. Budleigh Lions had invited charities to hold events in the hall, within Budleigh Salterton Gala week.

 

The Co-operative in Brixington kindly donated tea, coffee, milk, sugar and biscuits for the event. The plant stall raised over £140 in sales of donations from Kings Garden Centre, Greenfingers Garden Centre, St. Bridget Nurseries. Some members of the community raised stock especially for the event.

 

 

The raffle, itself raised £161.50 with generous donations from local businesses: Pynes Farm Shop, Georgie Porgie’s Puddings Ltd, Flawless Beauty, Otterton Mill, Stuart Line Cruises, The Proper Fish and Chips Co. and Woodbury Wood Turners.

 

Joint event organiser, Pat Atkinson praised the volunteers:

‘Everyone worked so hard on the day and many with the organising, weeks before. The number of volunteers who set up the event, helped in the kitchen, sold raffle tickets and helping generally to make the event such a big success, really made a difference. The cakes and drinks raised an amazing £221. A huge thank you to everyone who made cakes – we received so many compliments about how delicious they were and on the choice available, including gluten-free. We did have a few left and they were delivered to the crew and shop volunteers to enjoy later!’