Wells Lifeboat  RNLI Lifeboats Wells Norfolk UK
Wells Lifeboat

Safety Advice

Wells Beach Safety leaflet

The sands to the west of Wells harbour entrance now quickly get cut off by the incoming tide.

Make sure you are back on dry land or the main beach FOUR HOURS BEFORE high water!

People walking out on the sands by the water's edge to the west of Wells harbour entrance at low water can easily be cut off when the tide starts to come in. This particularly catches out people walking along the foreshore from Holkham beach or those walking right out across the sand down the side of the harbour channel from Wells beach.

Make sure you come back to the main beach when the siren sounds, the water starts to flow into the harbour or four hours before the time of the next high water! See our Sea Saftey Advice page for more information and tide times. Tide times are also displayed on the NCI Coastwatch Hut as you come onto Wells beach from the beach bank or car park.

3D Tour

3D virtual tour of the new Wells Lifeboat Station

Explore the new boathouse and Shannon lifeboat

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Welcome to RNLI Wells

The RNLI Lifeboat Station in Wells-next-the-Sea houses an all-weather lifeboat and an inshore lifeboat to save lives and assist with emergencies around Wells and off the North Norfolk coast. Manned by volunteer crews, the boats are ready to launch within minutes, 24 hours a day, every day of the year. This website will tell you more about the station and give you a taste of what we do and the traditions of the lifeboat service.

Shop Opening Times

Our new shop, visitor information centre and public viewing gallery are open Fridays-Mondays from 10-4 plus some additional weekdays... see below for latest info.

The shop is open!

Shop and viewing gallery open 10-4 Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday

Safety Warning!

A new sandbar means people walking by the water's edge to the west of Wells harbour entrance at low water can easily be cut off when the tide starts to come in. This particularly effects people walking along the foreshore from Holkham beach or those walking right out across the sand down the side of the harbour channel from Wells beach. Make sure you come back to the main beach when the siren sounds, the water starts to flow into the channel or four hours before the time of the next high water! See our Sea Saftey Advice page for more information and tide times.

Recent Services

28 September 2024
14:15

The inshore lifeboat was tasked by Humber Coastguard following two 999 calls from members of the public reporting people with dogs and a buggy cut off by the incoming tide on the sands to the west of Wells harbour entrance. The ILB launched with a crew of three from the boathouse at 15:26 by which time it was clear that some of the persons were wading back to the main beach. The ILB arrived on scene at 15:34 and spoke to the remaining people who indicated they would also walk off. The lifeboat checked the area and remained in the channel until all were safely back on the main beach. The boat was released at 14:37 and recovered and rehoused by 14:52.

Weather Fine Visibility Good Wind W2 Sea Slight

17 September 2024
15:08

Humber Coastguard requested the all-weather lifeboat to assist a 27' cabin cruiser Suffolk Prospect with very low fuel on passage to Wells. The single-handed boat was off Weybourne but not making much headway and the skipper was concerned he would run out of fuel before reaching Wells. It was agreed to delay launching until the first of the flood tide and the ALB subsequently launched at 16:09 from Holkham beach. By this time the cruiser had in fact made reasonable progress, assisted by the last of the ebb, and was now approaching Wells. The lifeboat went alongside at 16:17 to transfer crew on-board to assess the situation. By now, the vessel was perilously low on fuel and a decision was made to attach a tow rather than risk the boat losing power while crossing the bar. The cruiser ran out of fuel as the tow was being rigged. The lifeboat waited for sufficient tide over the bar and at 16:50 began a slow tow into Wells. The crusier was safely moored up in the outer harbour at 17.27 and the lifeboat was recovered, washed down, refuelled and rehoused by 19:45.

Weather Fine Visibility Good Wind NE3 Sea Slight

29 August 2024
14:18
 
30 August 2024
15:04

The inshore lifeboat was paged by Humber Coastguard to assist the emergency services and respond to a potentially major incident on the east side of Wells harbour. A fire was clearly visible with the south-western part of the East Hills alight and flames quickly traversing both northward and into the downwind grassy area of the hills, fanned by a strong WNW wind.

The ILB launched at 14:32 with a crew of three and proceeded to East Hills to carry out a perimeter search of the area at a safe distance to see if anyone needed assistance which was fortunately not the case. The ILB then returned to the outer harbour to assist the fire brigade in getting equipment across to the East Hills. The ILB worked alongside additional vessels provided by the harbour, a local fisherman and the police marine unit, and aditional volunteer crew were deployed to assist fire fighters on the hills with equipment and hoses. In total, ten crew provided support on scene with a further eleven helping at the boathouse. By 18:30, the fire was under control and the flames extinguished but the area still smouldering. By this time, the tide was ebbing away and it was becoming increasingly difficult to pump water to the Hills so a decision was made to leave the scene, with the fire brigade intending to return the following day to douse down the remaining hot areas. The ILB returned to station at 18:45 and was rehoused by 20:00.

Unfortunately, the fire broke out again during the night and Wells fire crew attended in the small hours with the help of a local fishing boat. Clearly, significantly more resources were needed to extinguish the fire completely. Multiple fire crews assembled on Friday 30th ahead of the tide and the lifeboat crew were paged again at 15:04, the ILB launching at 15:45 with a crew of three and an additional eight volunteer crew being taken over the channel on harbour and support craft to again assist the fire fighting effort. With the area doused down by 18:15, all personnel and equipment returned to the station. The inshore lifeboat was rehoused and made ready for service by 19:45 and the fire crews finally departing at 20:45.

Weather Fine Visibility Good Wind WNW 4 Sea Slight

28 August 2024
14:08

Humber Coastguard paged for an immediate launch of Wells Inshore Lifeboat to assist two children on a paddleboard blown offshore from Holkham beach by southerly winds. The ILB launched at 14:18 and arrived on-scene at 14:22 to find two members of the public had swum out to the paddleboard and helped the occupants back to the safety of the beach. Having checked with the family that all was well, the ILB was stood down and returned to station and was rehoused and made ready again for service by 15:05.

Weather Fine Visibility Good Wind SSE3 Sea Slight

17 August 2024
13:53

Wells Inshore Lifeboat was paged for an immediate launch to assist in a search for a swimmer missing in Brancaster harbour. The ILB with a crew of three launched outside the boathouse on the first of the tide at 14:05 and proceeded out to sea in the direction of Brancaster. Hunstanton Lifeboat, Hunstanton Hovercraft and the SAR Helicopter from Humberside airport had also been tasked. The ILB arrived on scene at 14:27 and along with the other SAR vessels commenced a detailed search of the area. At 15:10 the helicopter identified the missing person in the water in the vicinity of Norton Creek. The Helicopter crew winched the person onboard and departed for Norfolk and Norwich Hospital. Both lifeboats and the hovercraft were stood down at 15:17. Wells ILB returned to Wells at 15:50 and was rehoused and made ready again for service by 16:15.

Weather Part cloudy Visibility Good Wind NW3 Sea Slight

14 August 2024
01:12


Humber Coastguard initially paged the all-weather lifeboat when a Dutch 15m fishing vessel Mairi Grace with two persons on-board reported it had run aground making its way into Wells near high water on a neap tide after passage across the North Sea. The lifeboat crew assembled but it was quickly clear that the stranded vessel was aground near the Pool buoy just east of the boathouse and tthe all-weather lifeboat was unlikely to be of help. Instead, the inshore lifeboat with a crew of three was launched to investigate at 01:25 and was alongside at 01:30. With the large vessel hard aground but the two crew safe and well, it was decided that they would remain on-board overnight, lay anchors out come daylight and then attempt to refloat the vessel themselves on the following afternoon tide. The ILB was stood down and was washed down and rehoused by 02:00.

Weather Cloudy Visibility Good Wind NW1 Sea Slight

Latest News

One moment, one crew...

Thr 1 Aug 2024

RNLI Wells volunteers - crew, launchers, management, guild, shop and visits team - all together at 18:24 on 1/8/24

RNLI Wells volunteers - crew, launchers, management, guild, shop and visits team - all together at 18:24 on 1/8/24
MF


As the RNLI celebrates 200 years of life-saving this year from 1824-2024, volunteers at RNLI lifeboat stations around the UK gathered to mark the anniversary with a photograph taken at 18:24 on 1/8/24. These images are a snapshot of the people currently continuing the instituition's proud history around the coast. Our thanks to Mark Frary for the drone photography at Wells.

See all news...

Shop Opening Times

Our shop and viewing gallery are normally open weekends from Friday to Monday 10-4 along with extra days in the holidays and whenever we can. In good weather, the main boathouse doors may also be open to view the all-weather lifeboat from the front. See below for latest times or our visits page for more information.

The shop is open!

Shop and viewing gallery open 10-4 Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday

Wells RNLI 200th Anniversary events

Celebrating 200 years

The RNLI is 200 years old this year and the anniversary is being marked nationally and by lifeboat crews and stations around the UK. In Wells, we held a series of events and an exhibition in Wells Maltings in March and we'll be flying the RNLI 200 flag throughout the year.
Wells RNLI 200th Lifeboat Horse scuplture
Lifeboat Horse marking 200 years in the quay

Shannon lifeboat
and boathouse build

New boathouse build

Wells RNLI is now operating from the new building. See the boathouse build pages for the story of how the new station was built.

Our new Shannon lifeboat was funded in part with a station appeal for £250,000 in 2014-15 and also by the Civil Service charity The Lifeboat Fund with its 150th Anniversary Appeal. We are hugely grateful to everyone who has donated, fund-raised, helped and supported us both locally and across the UK and further afield.

Exercise Launches

You are welcome to watch the lifeboats launch on exercise from a safe distance on the beach bank or beach; please keep clear of the boats and launching vehicles and keep children and dogs under supervision. Exercises are roughly every two weeks and we try to post dates and times in advance when we can. All dates are subject to change or cancellation at short notice for operational reasons.

Thursday 7 Nov 2024 18:30
Regular exercise

Sunday 24 Nov 2024 09:00
Low water launch Holkham beach

Sunday 8 Dec 2024 09:00
Regular exercise

Sunday 29 Dec 2024 09:30
Launch & Recovery practice, Holkham beach

Launch A Memory Wells
 

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The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is a charity, registered in England and Wales (209603) and Scotland (SC037736). This website is managed and maintained by local volunteers at Wells-next-the-Sea Lifeboat Station and is not the main RNLI site. All text and images copyright (C)2005-2021 RNLI Wells Lifeboat Station, or as indicated, and may not be downloaded, copied or reproduced elsewhere without prior permission of the station or the relevant copyright holder. Site Manager