Three of Penarth's choirs are getting together later this month to mark the RNLI's 200th year of lifesaving with a special anniversary concert 'Sing to Save Lives'.

Sea shanties like the viral TikTok hit 'Wellerman' once kept mariners working in time together. Similarly, 'Sing to Save Lives' aims to harness vocal power to inspire the next generation of RNLI supporters and volunteers.

Speaking of its amazing 200-year milestone, the RNLI is quick to recognise: 'everything we have achieved in that time has only been possible thanks to ordinary people doing extraordinary things.'

One of those ordinary local heroes is Shelagh Greenland who has faithfully volunteered at Penarth RNLI for nearly 40 years.

During this time, she has also sung alto in all three of the choirs that are combining forces to put on the fundraiser for the RNLI: chamber choir Cavatina Singers, Penarth Community Choir and a cappella vocal ensemble Spectrum Singers.

She said: 'I started volunteering in a small way, just the odd coffee morning and annual house-to-house collections, until I was asked to join the committee and the rest is history! My father's family came from the Isle of Man, where the RNLI was born, so it must be in my blood.'

Reflecting the RNLI's 200-year history, the 'Sing to Save Lives' concert programme features music spanning the centuries.

Penarth Community Choir will perform a medley from Gilbert & Sullivan's comic opera HMS Pinafore (1878), which would have been laboriously handwritten at a time when RNLI volunteers were launching wooden lifeboats with oars and sails.

In contrast, just as the RNLI is now saving lives on motor-powered lifeboats with state-of-the-art communications so contemporary choral composer Eric Whitacre, whose lilting piece 'The Seal Lullaby' also features on the programme, creates global virtual choirs using the latest digital technology.

Secretary of RNLI Penarth Fundraising Committee, Sara Siddall said: 'In Penarth, the RNLI opened a 'new' lifeboat station on 17 June 1980, some 75 years after the original lifeboat station which operated from 1861–1905 was closed.

'The new Penarth lifeboat station was initially based in a local private garage, before relocating to premises now occupied by Coffi Co. In 1995, the station moved to its current purpose-built station, which has become a much-loved landmark on Penarth's Esplanade.'

'Sing to Save Lives' anniversary charity concert takes place on Saturday, 27 April at Penarth Methodist Church, Woodland Place CF64 2EX. Town Mayor, Cllr Melissa Rabaiotti, who is raising money for Penarth Lifeboats as one of the charitable causes chosen for her Mayoral term, will launch the concert at 7pm. Jason Dunlop, the lifeboat operations manager for Penarth station will speak on behalf of the charity.

Tickets for 'Sing to Save Lives' are £12 (£6 under 18s) available from TicketSource. All proceeds will be donated to the RNLI. https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/.../2024.../19:00/t-rpgdako

You can also donate directly to Penarth RNLI's JustGiving page: Sara Siddall is fundraising for RNLI - Royal National Lifeboat Institution (justgiving.com)