On 6 May 1971, a lady’s group at All Hallows church in the Lady Bay area of West Bridgford were given an illustrated talk on the work of the RNLI (Lifeboats).
The ladies decided that they wanted to raise money for the RNLI.
At that time ladies were not allowed to form branches they had to be a ladies only guild and on 18 May 1971 the Lady Bay Ladies Lifeboat Guild was formed.
They started with modest coffee mornings at each other’s homes, and local house-to-house collections.
Over the next few years more events were organised and the coffee mornings moved to larger premises in the town centre and became Spring & Autumn Fairs.
House to house collection were found to be very time consuming and not welcomed by the residents so these were replaced with street, supermarket and garden centre collections.
The guild also had an active souvenir secretary who would travel all over the East Midlands to events.
Several of the ladies’ husbands although not allowed to become members were assisting at most events.
The RNLI then changed the rules to allow ladies to form a branch and for men to join a guild which they did.
Few people outside of West Bridgford had heard of Lady Bay and most of the activities now took place outside that area so, in 2001 it was decided to change the name to the West Bridgford Branch.
50 years celebrations involving the Mayor of Rushcliffe had been planned for May 2021 but owing to the covid-19 pandemic these have had to be cancelled as were several other events, but like Phoenix rising from the ashes, the branch is coming back from covid-19 and planning a street collection in July and an Autumn Fair in November.
The coming year will be a challenging year as the branch secretary is to retire and we are having great difficulty finding a replacement, putting the branches survival in doubt.
If you can help to save the branch, we would love to hear from you. at rnliwestbridgford@gmail.com
