Woman’s €3m legacy funds lifeboat

A €3 MILLION legacy from a woman who lost two relatives in a sea-faring disaster almost 100 years ago is set to save lives at sea in the coming years.

The fishing village of Kilmore Quay in Co Wexford paid a warm welcome yesterday evening to a new all-weather lifeboat — the first of the RNLI’s Tamar class to be based at an Irish lifeboat station.

Described as “the most modern and technically advanced lifeboat in the RNLI fleet,” the craft has been entirely funded by a €3m legacy from Mary Weeks from Surrey in England, who passed away in 2006.

Ms Weeks, whose maiden name was Distin, was related to Albert Distin and coxswain Samuel Distin, who both lost their lives in the Salcombe lifeboat disaster off the English coast in 1916. Another relative, Eddie Distin, survived the calamity near south Devon in which 13 men were lost from the Salcombe lifeboat, the Emma and Jane.

Ms Weeks did not specify where in Ireland or Britain the lifeboat should be stationed, but the Co Wexford port has become the lucky recipient.

The Killarney is named after the boat on which Ms Weeks honeymooned with her husband on Scotland’s west coast.