Tower lifeboat crew scale the heights to fund a new boat

A LIFEBOAT crew from the RNLI Tower station has scaled the dizzy heights of the five tallest mountains in the UK and Ireland in just under two days. The team climbed all five in 46 hours, 26 minutes and 1 second to help raise cash for a new lifeboat for

A LIFEBOAT crew from the RNLI Tower station has scaled the dizzy heights of the five tallest mountains in the UK and Ireland in just under two days.

The team climbed all five in 46 hours, 26 minutes and 1 second to help raise cash for a new lifeboat for the station which is based on the River Thames.

RNLI crew members Richard Abbot, Kelly Allen, Keith Cima, Matt Leat, and Antonia Scarr, have climbed more than 17,000 feet throughout the challenge - the equivalent of half way up Everest. The climbers were supported by a logistics team also made up of RNLI colleagues and friends, Bill Callaghan, Eamonn French and Mick Nield, who collectively clocked up around 1,000 miles of travel between them by land and ferry.

The group aim to raise �30,000 towards a new lifeboat for the Tower RNLI lifeboat station, which last year launched 380 times and rescued 148 people. Their current E-class boats have been in operation since 2002 and are due for replacement in the near future, to ensure the RNLI charity can continue its remit of saving lives at sea and on the River Thames.

They can be sponsored at www.justgiving.com/RNLI-5peaks