Claire Rawlinson, Volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer and Burnham on Crouch Lifeboat Station Website Administrator took part in the Moonlight Southend Colourthon – a 13.1 mile evening charity walk around Southend starting at 8pm on Saturday 4th July 2009 to raise funds towards a new Lifeboat Boathouse for Burnham on Crouch RNLI.

In 2011 a brand new Atlantic 85 Lifeboat will replace the 10-year-old existing Atlantic 75 at Burnham. The Lifeboat has already been paid for by an extremely generous donor, however a new floating boathouse will be required in which to house the boat as it is larger than the current one.

A considerable amount of the funding for the new boathouse has been allocated from funds within the RNLI, however £50,000 is still needed and Claire is hoping to help contribute towards it.

Claire completed the walk in 3 hrs 50 minutes – well within her target time of 4hrs and so far has raised over £600 with more donations pledged!

She said ‘there was a real carnival atmosphere in Southend with people coming to their doors and standing on street corners cheering us all on. It was a great event and getting to meet Mark Foster was an added bonus for all the hard work and preparation! I’m really pleased I did it and am already planning for next year!’

Pictured are Claire Rawlinson with Mark Foster, Olympic Swimmer and Strictly Come Dancing contestant, with Ian Wyatt from BBC Essex.