The Douglas all-weather lifeboat Sir William Hillary commenced its Island service on this day (25 November) in 1988 and its 25 years of service was celebrated at a silver themed dinner dance held at the Mount Murray Hotel on Saturday, 16 November.
 
The dinner dance, organised by the Douglas Lifeboat Guild, was attended by over a hundred supporters and friends, raising in excess of ?7,000 which would be enough to provide a year’s training for the whole of the Sir William Hillary’s six man crew.
 
During its 25 years on station at Douglas the Sir William Hillary has been called out on service 264 times, rescuing 335 people and saving 87 lives, and will continue to serve until 2016 when the present Tyne class lifeboat is due to be replaced by one of the RNLI’s latest design Shannon class lifeboats.

Photo - Douglas RNLB Sir William Hillary returns to station after exercise yesterday morning (24 November).