Hundreds of people turned out at the RNLI lifeboat station in Exmouth to see the RNLI’s new lifeboat officially named after the generous Sidmouth couple whose bequest helped pay for it.

The new vessel was named the R and J Welburn at the ceremony which took place on Saturday, May 9.

Mrs Joan Welburn’s legacy has funded the new lifeboat, which is named after her and her late husband Raymond.

The boat was also part-funded by an Exmouth lifeboat fundraising appeal which netted around £150,000.

Lifeboat operations manager Kevin Riley MBE said: “We were delighted to see so many supporters here, especially our donors as we couldn’t go out to save lives without them.

“Since our new boathouse went operational in November 2009, we have saved and rescued 391 people and some travelled especially to join us for the event, to express their gratitude to our volunteer service.”

The service was also attended by the niece of Joan Welburn, Annette Richardson, who was invited by RNLI to hand over the boat to chairman Charles Hunter-Pease OBE.

She said: “I think it’s absolutely fantastic and I know Joan and Raymond would have been so very pleased that their legacy was able to do so much good.”