Angle has said farewell to its much-loved RNLI slipway-launched Tyne class lifeboat, The Lady Rank, after 21 years of service.

The Lady Rank is to be replaced by a new Tamar class lifeboat later this year, and in the meantime, Angle has been allocated a relief lifeboat - the former Tenby Tyne, RFA Sir Galahad - which will be moored off the station while the 16-year-old boathouse is adapted to house the Tamar.

The Lady Rank has also now joined the RNLI's relief fleet and is already in service at Porthdinllaen, on the north wales coast.

She first went into service at Angle in 1987, replacing the Watson class boat, Richard Vernon and Mary Garforth of Leeds, now in private hands at Milford Marina and renamed the Spirit of Angle.

The Lady Rank was donated to the RNLI by the Rank Foundation and her first coxswain was the late Gerald Farmer' Edwards.

He was succeeded by Jerry Rees, and it was Jerry who was at the helm for her final launch, when she was taken to Neyland Marina for collection by the Porthdinllaen crew, while the Angle lifeboat volunteers took delivery of the RFA Sir Galahad.

Ted Goddard said: "Among The Lady Rank's many notable services during her 21 years at Angle was that to the motor vessel Dale Princess on May 5th, 1997. The vessel had dragged her anchors in Skomer Island's North Haven and was lying in surf less than 30 feet from sheer cliffs.

"Despite the treacherous backwash from the cliffs and numerous mooring and fishing buoys, the lifeboat was taken in near enough to connect a tow. The casualty, together with her four occupants, was saved and towed into Milford Haven."

For this rescue, Coxswain Jerry Rees was awarded the RNLI's bronze medal in recognition of his high standard of seamanship, courage and leadership. A framed letter of appreciation, signed by the chairman of the RNLI, was presented to the other members of the crew.

The RFA Sir Galahad is not the first former Tenby lifeboat to undertake relief duties at Angle. In 1961, the John R. Webb went into temporary service at the station.