Stop: if you’re experiencing an emergency at sea and have somehow stumbled onto this page, call 999 or 112 and ask for the coastguard.
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The RNLI is a cause close to the heart of anyone who lives by the seaside. The RNLI stands for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, a charity built around saving lives and is manned by 95% volunteers.
From my gallery here in Cullercoats, I am often left awestruck by the actions of the RNLI, and the work they do in the community - from launching incredible lifeboat rescues to running national campaigns aimed at preventing drowning.
The Cullercoats Lifeboat station was established back in 1848 and is still an essential part of the bay. It manages a B class inshore lifeboat and helps keep the swimmers, surfers and paddleboarders of North Tyneside safe.
My RNLI Christmas Card
As a charity, the RNLI relies on donations and supporters. For the second year running, I have created artwork for my local RNLI at Cullercoats, which will be used in their Christmas card collections.
The artwork depicts the beautiful Cullercoats bay in a serene night-time scene. Inspired by classics such as Van Gogh’s starry night but in my own style, the piece contains the Cullercoats RNLI station and the lifeboat launching into the bay.
This original artwork will now be printed on RNLI Christmas cards and sold to raise funds to directly support the charity. The cards are priced at £4 per pack and are available here on my website or in my gallery. They will also be sold throughout Cullercoats by other local retailers - so if you’re in the area or visiting, pick up a pack and support your lifesaving heroes!
The cards are sponsored this year by neighbouring local business Heaven Therapy.
Why buy RNLI Christmas cards?
The RNLI is a registered charity consisting mainly of volunteers who do extraordinary things for ordinary people like you and me. If you’ve ever taken to the sea in our country, you’ll know that the water can be chilly at best. At worst, it can lead to serious accidents and deaths - which the RNLI seeks to prevent.
The RNLI acts independently of the coastguard and provides an additional resource that helps everyone who visits the seaside. From volunteer lifeguards who spend their days on duty at popular beaches to rescue lifeboats who help surfers, sailors and others who get into trouble, the RNLI has saved over 143,000 lives since 1824.
The charity has likely saved far more than this through more indirect means such as teaching children about the dangers of open water. Their goal, the reason they seek donations, is that no one should ever experience death by drowning. In an ideal RNLI world, their safety messages would have reached everyone so that we all knew how to survive in the water until help arrived.
During summer, the RNLI patrols over 240 beaches. During the COVID-19 pandemic, where more people holidayed at home and used their local beaches, their workload was higher than ever before.
For all of the reasons above, I feel the RNLI is so very worthy of support. I’m very proud they asked me to produce the artwork for the RNLI Christmas card, and each of you who purchases a pack is making a real, tangible difference to a charity close to my heart and close to the North Tyneside community.
Of course, even if you’re not local to our area and just want to own beautiful Christmas cards which feature unique artwork, you can buy them from this site to support the charity. If you’d like to learn more about your own local RNLI institutions, visit this link to find your nearest lifeboat station.
