Dance students back £750,000 appeal to kit out volunteers

From jazz shoes to reinforced toecap wellies, dance students switched footwear to show their support for a new fundraising campaign launched by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) in Leeds.
By The Newsroom
Published 24th Apr 2017, 16:53 GMT
Updated 9th May 2017, 18:31 GMT
Students at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds show their backing for a fundraising campaign to help provide RNLI volunteers with the essential kit they need to keep saving lives. Pictures by James Hardisty.Students at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds show their backing for a fundraising campaign to help provide RNLI volunteers with the essential kit they need to keep saving lives. Pictures by James Hardisty.
Students at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds show their backing for a fundraising campaign to help provide RNLI volunteers with the essential kit they need to keep saving lives. Pictures by James Hardisty.

Students from the Northern School of Contemporary Dance still managed delicate steps, despite their somewhat more cumbersome attire, to back the RNLI’s ‘Do your bit, fund our kit’ initiative. It aims to raise £750,000 during May to pay for uniforms that volunteers wear as they brave the seas to save lives.

Nationally, the RNLI can call on 4,700 volunteer crew members stationed at 238 lifeboat bases across the UK and Ireland to answer mayday calls 24 hours a day, all year round.

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Last year, RNLI lifeboat crews launched 8,851 times, rescuing 8,643 people and saving 431 lives.

A pair of the yellow wellies cost £54 a pair.A pair of the yellow wellies cost £54 a pair.
A pair of the yellow wellies cost £54 a pair.

Hannah Jackson, the charity’s community fundraising manager for Leeds, said: “Our crews rely on lifesaving kit, like their yellow wellies, lifejackets and helmets, when they go out in all weathers to save lives at sea. From sponsored bike rides and welly walks, to running a bake sale, there are all sorts of ways to raise money.”

For more details, visit www.rnli.org/mayday

Related topics:Dance studentsStudentsLeedsIreland