ON September 12, 1977 hundreds of local people, including two T&A coaches with Young World competition winners on board, attended a ceremony in Hull to officially name Bradford's lifeboat.

Coxswain Brian Bevan, 30, said: "It's the finest boat money can buy. The new boat is more than twice as fast."

The T&A reported: "The £200,000 boat has proved its worth in its latest rescue which brought the number of people saved in six months service to 12. It has been called out 23 times. In the most recent drama, the water was too shallow to bring the lifeboat close to a grounded fishing vessel and a small inflatable dinghy had to be launched."

President of the Bradford branch of the RNLI, Coun Tom Hall, named the boat and, together with his six-year-old granddaughter, Phillipa, broke a bottle of Champagne on its foredeck.