Brief History of Station

The first St Agnes lifeboat came into service in 1968, after the RNLI decided that a fast Inshore Rescue Boat (IRB) was needed to deal with the incidents close to rocks or in shallow water between the St Ives and Newquay Lifeboat Stations. The boat was 16ft long, fully inflatable and powered by a 35hp outboard engine.

Photo: ©Carey Morgan

The IRB was one of four provided by the BBC children's programme, Blue Peter, from money raised by an appeal for paper-back books, hence the name Blue Peter IV. It was housed in a temporary boathouse in the car park above the beach until 1970, when the present boathouse was built.

In 1972 IRBs were renamed Inshore Lifeboats (ILB) and four years later the Blue Peter programme provided the second boat to bear the name, this time powered by a 40hp engine.

An appeal for old postcards and buttons by the Blue Peter Programme in 1985 gave St Agnes its third lifeboat, and the Pieces of Eight appeal in 1994 provided the fourth.

In 1996, because of the increase in incidents around this coast, Blue Peter IV, which had until then only been operational in daylight in the summer months, was put on year-round service. The boat has now been adapted for night operations and is on call around the clock every day of the year.