PICTURES:New £550k lifeboat station opened at Dornoch by benefactor Lord Cadogan
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East Sutherland Rescue Association’s (ESRA) £550,000 new lifeboat centre was officially opened at a ceremony yesterday.
More than 70 invited guests attended the afternoon service of dedication which took place at the new building, located next to the old lifeboat shed at Dornoch beach’s top car park.
Main benefactor Charles Cadogan, 8th Earl Cadogan, who contributed more than £400,000 towards the spacious new-build, which is now operational, performed the honours.
The building has been named as The Cadogan Lifeboat Station in his honour. Lord Cadogan has a long connection with ESRA and funded its current inshore lifeboat, which was on display.
In his address he spoke of his “huge love” for East Sutherland since his purchase 41 years ago of a home in Brora and the north bank of the Lower Brora.
“I am delighted to be here today. It has been a great pleasure to be associated with ESRA,” he said. “I am very much a man who likes to support local charities.”
He revealed that he keeps up to date with events in the area by reading “every copy of the Northern Times”.
ESRA chairman and co-founder Neil Dalton, the author of a book marking the charity’s 40th year in 2022, told the assembled guests that the new station, which has training facilities on the first floor along with rooms for kit and equipment, was a “dream come true”.
“It is a huge matter of pride for us and especially for myself. I do not think we ever believed anything like this would happen,” he said. “Even now when I walk in here I have to do a quick reality check - I am still not full convinced it is here.
“The building of this facility has been a dream for a long time. In the early years we thought the conversion of the old beach shed was wonderful, and when we extended it in 2002, we thought it was even better.”
Mr Dalton said Covid had resulted in construction costs spiralling to the extent that ESRA had taken over the project management.
“The opening of this new station would never have been possible without the generosity of Lord Cadogan who was also responsible for the purchase of the boat behind me which has been on service since 2014,” he said.
It is estimated that the running costs of the new station will be around £30,000 a year and ESRA, a volunteer organisation, receives no core funding.
A new fundraising group the Friends of East Sutherland Rescue Association has been set up under the chairmanship of Rev John Chambers, who conducted the service of dedication.
ESRA is one of the first independent lifeboat services to join a new national independent lifeboat association.
Mr Dalton said: “It has been formed to promote the work of independent lifeboats and a white paper will be going through parliament shortly to ratify the new organisation, which has already got tacit approval from RNLI.”
ESRA is looking forward to another big milestone shortly - the delivery and launch of a new £145,000 boat “Wildland”, purchased with funding from Sutherland landowner Anders Holch Polvsen’s company of the same name.
