The History of Poole Lifeboat Station.

1824	Gold Medal awarded to Captain Charles Howe Fremantle RN for his attempt to rescue the crew of a Swedish boat at Christchurch on 8 March 1824. Silver Medals awarded to George Barnes and Stephen Curtis for the rescue of two of the crew of the Hero which went aground off Christchurch Head on 23 November 1824.
1825	Silver Medal awarded to Lieut T Parsons RN for the rescue of two of the crew of the ship Lark which was driven ashore near Lymington on 23 November 1824.
1853	Silver Medal awarded to Lieut T Parsons RN for the rescue by Coastguard galley of eight people from the barque William Glenanderson wrecked during a heavy gale on 27 December 1852 at Boscombe.
1865	Poole lifeboat station established Every time the first Poole lifeboat was launched, the crew had to be taken by coach from the Antelope Hotel, High Street, to Sandbanks where the lifeboat house had been built.
1868	Silver Medals awarded to The Right Hon The Viscount Bury MP and Mr Charles Pride for their gallant conduct in going off in an open boat on 6 October 1868 and saving, at the risk of their lives, one man from the fishing boat Alarm which had capsized on Christchurch Bar.
1879	Arranged to pay £5 for the services of a tug each time it was required by the lifeboat.
1882	Lifeboat house removed to new site leased by Corporation at Poole Quay by Fisherman’s Dock.
1884	James Hughes, a member of the crew, fell in front of the main wheels of the carriage whilst getting out of the lifeboat after an exercise on 9 October, and was killed. The Committee of Management voted £50 to a local fund in aid of dependants.
1887	Flagstaff erected to answer signals from the sand hills at the entrance of the harbour.
1888	Gas service provided.
1892	Rocket sound signals discontinued and a mortar supplied to assemble crew.
1897	A slipway was constructed in line with the boathouse as the Corporation slipway used by the lifeboat was blocked by boats. The slipway cost £135.00 to build.
1914	As the station was situated across the road from the gas works the mortar provided in 1892 to summon the crew was replaced by rocket distress signals. The mortar may have been mistaken by the locals as an explosion at the gas works!
1919	Launched on service 8 January to assistance of an ex-German submarine manned by a Japanese crew. Crew of 21 rescued.
1940	The Poole lifeboat Thomas Kirkwright was one of the ‘Dunkirk Little Ships’ and was the first of 19 lifeboats that went to reach Dunkirk on 30 May 1940 and rescue the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from the beaches. She sailed from Poole to Dover to join the rescue flotilla. Manned by naval ratings and loaded with French soldiers, she came under fire from German troops. She was seriously damaged but amazingly no one was hit. She was quickly repaired and returned to Dunkirk for a second trip on 2 June 1940.
1959	The lifeboat launched to a capsized sailing dinghy Stormwind on 2 January and rescued a boy; his father and brother were drowned. The widow gave the dinghy, trailer and gear to the RNLI to dispose of. The sale realised £60.
1964	An inshore D class lifeboat was sent to the station in March and the Thomas Kirkwright leaves the lifeboat service. She was bought by Paul Neate of Poole and, with the help of his son, she was well taken care of for 10 years. She was then acquired by the National Maritime Museum and is now housed at the Old Lifeboat museum (see 1974) on the quay where she served the people of Poole.
1965	Centenary Vellum awarded to station.
1967	A Hatch class lifeboat (18-03) was sent to station but was withdrawn a year later.
1969	Dell Quay Dory (17-003) (A-502) sent to station in June.
1970	D class lifeboat withdrawn in January.
1974	Lifeboat station at Fisherman's Dock became a lifeboat museum.
1983	A Brede class lifeboat (ON-1089) Inner Wheel placed on service. The cost of this lifeboat was met by an appeal organised by the Association of Inner Wheel Clubs in Great Britain and Ireland, together with other gifts and legacies.
1985	Dell Quay Dory withdrawn and replaced in January by a Boston Whaler.
1986	The Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum was awarded to Crew Members David Coles, Steven Vince and Raymond Collin in recognition of their physical exertions, grim determination and ingenuity when struggling through waist deep mud to rescue a boy and a girl from marshland in Poole Harbour in the darkness of the night of 1 July.
1989	Lifeboats relocated to the Town Quay adjacent to Poole Bridge.
1990	A two-storey extension to the Police services building on Poole Quay was constructed. Facilities include a fuel and oil stores, general purpose store, an office, and crew facilities. Extension officially opened by the Mayor of Poole on 27 July. The cost of the building and the design costs were partially funded by Poole Council and the Borough Architects Department.
1991	The Old Lifeboat Station situated at Fisherman’s Dock on the Town Quay, which was used as an RNLI museum, was surrendered to the council.
1994	Floating boathouse constructed at the berth of the present lifeboat, for the housing of a B class, Atlantic lifeboat.
1995	Framed Letters of Thanks, signed by the Chairman, were presented to Coxswain Steve Vince and Crew Members Robert Doak and Geoffrey Langley for the service on 29 June 1994 to the yacht Bloodhound. The skipper was found and before taking the yacht in tow crew members Robert Doak and Geoffrey Langley transferred to the casualty and brought it under control. The new B class Atlantic 75 lifeboat B-710 Friendly Forester II was placed on service on Wednesday 26 April 1995. This lifeboat was provided by a generous gift from the Ancient Order of Foresters Friendly Society in memory of Nora Gladys Green.
2001	Framed Letters of Thanks, signed by the Chairman of the Institution, Mr Peter Nicholson, awarded to Helmsman Gavin McGuiness and Crew Members Anne Millman and Paul Savage for a service on 5 May 2001. It had been a busy afternoon when both lifeboats were called to the Poole Chain Ferry where four dinghies, taking part in a race had been caught by a strong ebb tide and pinned against the ferry's side. Helmsman McGuiness placed the inshore lifeboat alongside the ferry whilst the two crew members struggled to recover a man from the sea. Both the man and the lifeboat were in danger of being sucked under the ferry. The Brede class intermediate lifeboat passed a line to the inshore lifeboat, which enabled it to be towed free and the man was recovered from the sea. Second Coxswain Mark Cole received an individual Letter of Appreciation and the crew of the Brede class lifeboat received a collective Letter of Appreciation. Tyne class lifeboat ON-1131 City of Sheffield was sent to the station on 5 September. This changed the station from an intermediate to an all-weather lifeboat station.
2004	The Poole lifeboat museum and gift shop had to close its doors due to health and safety regulations.
2005	The Poole lifeboat fundraising group was formed. Its aim is to raise money locally to fund the running of Poole lifeboat station and to get the museum (the old lifeboat station at the east end of the quay) reopened. They meet monthly at the station and have close links with the crew.
2006	At the end of May the old lifeboat station museum reopened its doors to the public. The museum is unchanged since it was the operational station in 1970. It tells the history of Poole's lifeboat crews and boats and you can view the Thomas Kirkwright, the first motorised lifeboat to be on station in Poole and a Dunkirk little ship. Since the end of June a 'clicker' has been used by the volunteers who man the museum to count the visitors and by December over 29,000 people had been through the door.