West Kirby Lifeboat Station
| Inshore Lifeboat | |
|---|---|
| Launch Method | Carriage |
| Address | South Parade, West Kirby, Wirral, CH48 3HU |
| Telephone | 0151 625 1800 |
Explore two centuries of RNLI lifeboat history, heroic rescues, and the enduring tradition of saving lives at sea.
At the north-west tip of the Wirral Peninsula, where the Dee estuary meets the Irish Sea, West Kirby runs a single D-class inshore lifeboat, covering a coast of fast tides, vast sands and the islands off Hilbre Point. The RNLI established the station in 1966.
A rise in coastal leisure activity — bathers, dinghies and small boats — led the RNLI to introduce its small, fast D-class inshore lifeboats from 1963. After a tragic accident in the River Dee, it was decided to place inshore lifeboats at both Flint and West Kirby, and a D-class was placed at West Kirby in June 1966, kept at first at the sailing club until a boathouse could be built on the promenade.
The station covers a deceptively dangerous coast: the West Kirby Marine Lake and beach, the wide sands towards Hilbre Island, and the fast incoming tides of the Dee estuary that regularly cut people off.
Closely linked with the neighbouring Hoylake station, West Kirby’s volunteer crew answer windsurfers, kayakers and walkers in difficulty, launching a re-engineered, updated version of the original D-class — small enough to work in shallow water and surf, and quick to launch across the sands.
