Children flood into RNLI’s lifeboat fun day at historic St Katharine’s-by-The-Tower

Little Harry Maskell always wanted to drive e real Thames lifeboat.

The seven-year-old got his chance at the RNLI’s Sunday fun day at St Katherine Docks by the Tower of London.

Crewman Giles Harrison showed the keen youngster and other children how a real lifeboat works.

Hundreds of families turned up for the lifeboat charity’s fundraiser at the marina to celebrate the work of the volunteers of Tower lifeboat station, the busiest in the British Isles.

The children also enjoyed face-painting, like Lola Fazzina who had a one-eye pirate patch make-over, and ‘hook a duck’ where youngsters like six-year-old Katerina Carossi got to grips with a scoop to land their own model lifeboats.

Joshua McCorkell, aged 7, and his brother Riley, 9, put their best foot forward for a welly workshop, adding a touch of colour to their rubber boots.

The historic docks laid on a martitime theme with fish’n’chips, sea shanties, and a mini beach area, with some some visitors taking part in the RNLI’s London Bridges treasure trail from Tower Bridge along the Thames to the lifeboat station.

Historic St Katharine Docks first opened in 1828 for sugar, rum, spices, perfumes, wines and tea imports. It was one of Britain’s busiest ports, sitting next to the Tower of London, and was heavily bombed during the Blitz. The docks complex finally closed to commercial traffic in the 1960s, but has since emerged as London’s main yachting marina attracting millions of tourists every year.