The owner of a lifeboat which was paid for by Boltonians and is now resting at a family lake in Norfolk has spoken about its remarkable history.

"The Bolton" was believed to have been commissioned in 1893 after the first lifeboat, also paid for by borough residents in 1870, was said to have overturned at sea.

Sally Bransom, who lives in Norfolk, bought the boat and posted a picture of it in a Bolton history Facebook page.

She said: “The first one was apparently launched in strong seas to distress calls and it overturned. 

"I heard some crew members were killed, but I don’t know if this is actually true.

“People in Bolton went ahead in 1893 and raised money again for the second lifeboat, but why they did it for the East Anglia coast, I do not know.

The Bolton News: Boat

“This one definitely saved people in the North Sea and a crew of 10 who had a collision with a steam vessel."

The boat was launched in Kessingland in South World in Suffolk.

It was then decommissioned in 1925 and it became a houseboat.

Sally said: “I caught up with it 40 years ago because I went to have a look at one nearby where I live, and it had been sold so they showed me this one and the lady lived on it and sadly had died.

“It was absolutely chock-a-block as she was a hoarder, but I bought her and as a family we used her until she sunk because a beetle had gotten through.

“She sunk again this time they suggested I burn her, but I paid for the company to move her from Brundle and she is by a lake on our lands.

“Then she got vandalised and ended up a terrible wreck.”

But Sally refurbished the boat and it now sits offshore on the family estate.

She said: “I have recycled as much as the wood as I can. Got bunk beds in there and everything now and it is rather lovely.

“It fascinates me because Bolton is not anywhere near the sea.

“It’s not near a coastline so not sure why back in those days they raised money for a lifeboat and then they were prepared to do it for a boat that was going to be in the South coast.

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“And to do it again too. I think it’s amazing actually.”

After the first boat was built in 1870, a model was made to be sent to Bolton so people could see the boat, but this model has since been lost.

In gratitude to Bolton, Sally has books such as one of Fred Dibnah in the boat as well as the Bolton emblem with an elephant.