Salcombe RNLI to celebrate 200 years of Saving Lives at Sea with stunning light display

The RNLI are celebrating 200 years of Saving Lives at Sea this year, and in Salcombe there will be a magical view to mark the momentous anniversary. 

The 200th anniversary of the RNLI will be celebrated in Salcombe with a spectacular display of lights across the water, produced by international light artist Bruce Munro. 

'The Field of Light' will see 20,000 LED lights set up across land on the East Portlemouth side of the Salcombe Harbour, designed to be viewed from Salcombe. 

The lights, which will bounce light across the water and light up the area, will be switched on on Saturday, 5 October, and the installation will last until 10 January, 2025. 

Salcombe RNLI representative David Dancox said: “Covering over 35,000 square metres of fields opposite Salcombe on the banks of the Salcombe and Kingsbridge Estuary.

“They will be low light, fibre-fibre optic stemmed spheres that will illuminate with a slow subtle change of hue.

“Visitors will be able to view the art installation from the harbour front in Salcombe or even the estuary itself.”

The switch on, which will take place during the Salcombe Live music festival, will see free food and drink available at the Whitestrand car park for spectators. 

On his website, Bruce Munro introduced himself as a "British artist...best known for immersive large-scale light-based installations inspired largely by his interest in shared human experience."

It’s hoped that each of the bulbs can be sponsored to raise funds for the RNLI.

David explained: “His childhood and teenage summers were shaped by the shimmering inlets and verdant hills of the Salcombe estuary, a landscape that always lifts his spirits.

“Salcombe is a place that he has always been keen to realise an iteration of the Field of Light.

“Bruce has strong memories of the Salcombe lifeboat crew that he met as a teenager working in the town and this is a small thank you to the RNLI and their mission ‘To Save Every One’.”

While the RNLI has been running for 200 years this year, Salcombe RNLI celebrated its own 150th anniversary in 2019. 

As across the entire UK, the network of lifeboat stations keep everyone surrounding the country safe in the water, in Salcombe the team of volunteer RNLI lifeboat crews and extensive shore crew are ready to be called 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

With its strong fishing history and tricky coastline, Salcombe has relied on its RNLI crew to be there when things go wrong for 155 years, and they're still doing the same job - albeit with much better equipment. 

You can't recall the history of Salcombe RNLI without thinking of the crew of the tragic William and Emma, which, on the morning of 27 October, 1916, in the middle of the First World War, capsized on Salcombe Bar after returning from an abortive mission. Thirteen of the fifteen-man crew were drowned.

The centenary of the loss of the lifeboat crew, commemorated in 2016, reminded Salcombe and the surrounding areas of the risks that the crews take to Save Lives at Sea, and continue to do a century and a half later. 

You can find out more about the 1916 Lifeboat Disaster on the Salcombe RNLI website: salcombelifeboat.co.uk/lifeboat-disaster-centenary/ 

The plan is for the individual lights to be sponsored to raise money for Salcombe RNLI, with more details to follow. 

Main image: Bruce Munro in front of a Field of Light installation - credit Bruce Munro