Nick Long, Depot General Manager of City Link's Norwich Depot, (fourth from left) presenting a cheque for £700 to Mick Clarke, Palling Volunteer Rescue Service Appeal, with volunteers (back row from left) Rob Breeze, Duncan Moore, Eddie Bellerby, Keith Johnson and Alan David, and (front row from left) Steve Williams, Lewis Gladdins, Ian Flaxman, Sam Sheldon, Lesley Bellerby, Jon Bird and Debbie Johnson.

City Link’s Norwich depot has bought four new life jackets for the Palling Volunteer Rescue Service Appeal, at a cost of £700.

The Company made the donation following a request by City Link employee Mick Clarke, a lifeboat volunteer in Sea Palling for more than two years and Security Support Manager at City Link by day.

The lifeboat station is served round the clock by a team of eight volunteers. Between them they are on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Mick said to raise the cash donated by City Link would take about a year’s worth of street collections.

He said: “It costs us £12,000 a year to run the service even before the lifeboat is called out to a rescue or on a training exercise.”

“Thankfully we do receive a lot of support from the Sea Palling community but this donation from City Link is fantastic. Now we can put other donations to good use elsewhere in the project.”

He added: “The life jackets will serve us well during the summer when we are always at our busiest. On behalf of my fellow volunteers on the lifeboat I would like to say a massive thank you to City Link for their generosity.”

Stuart Godman, Sales and Marketing Director at City Link, said: “Mick and his fellow volunteers do an extremely difficult job, not only with all the training they have to go through and the often dangerous situations they face when they are on call-outs for real, but in raising the cash to keep the lifeboat afloat for the safety of everyone in Sea Palling.”

“To know that our donation of £700 has made such a difference to the lifeboat team is tremendous and we are delighted to have helped the cause which does such a fantastic job for the Sea Palling community and its visitors.”