Step aboard Penlee’s lifeboats at Newlyn’s Open Day this August

Newlyn Harbour fills with orange hulls, bunting and the smell of fresh coffee this August, as Penlee’s lifeboat crew throw open their doors for one of their biggest weekends of the year.

Boats to see, and one you can climb aboard

RNLI Penlee will hold its annual Open Day on Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 August, running from 12pm on both days and sharing the car park at Newlyn Harbour with the Newlyn Sardine Festival. Two events on one patch of tarmac add up to a full day out.

There will be stalls to browse, tea and coffee on the go, and Stormy Sam on hand to meet younger visitors. The real draw for many will be the boats themselves. Visitors can get up close to the B class Atlantic 85 inshore lifeboat Mollie and Ivor Dent, and climb aboard the all-weather Severn class lifeboat Ivan Ellen for a proper look around. Crew describe her simply. She’s a tiger.

Getting to Newlyn, and where to leave the car

Car parking at the harbour will be limited with two events sharing the same ground, so the advice is to get there early. One option is to park at Wherrytown and walk across the beach into Newlyn, which sidesteps the scramble for a space right at the harbourside.

The old lifeboat station opens too, on the Bank Holiday

A second, quieter open day follows on Bank Holiday Monday, 31 August, when the old Penlee Lifeboat Station at Penlee Point near Mousehole opens from 11am until 3pm. The RNLI‘s volunteer Visits Team will be on hand at the old boathouse, ready to show visitors around and answer questions about its history.

In 2023 the old boathouse, its slipway, the memorial garden, and the retaining and boundary walls were designated together as a Grade II listed building. The listing cited architectural interest, and the building’s association with the Solomon Browne.

The building still carries the weight of what happened there. Visitors often leave with a mix of admiration, respect and pride, standing where the Solomon Browne and her crew were launched for the last time.