People will have the chance to look round West Cumbria’s new lifeboat at a series of events at the area’s harbours.

The Dorothy May White, a £2.1 million Shannon class vessel, was officially launched last month.

Now it will tour the ports of West Cumbria so the people who helped bring it to the area can see it.

The Whitehaven News, the Times & Star and the RNLI, supported by Sellafield Ltd, launched the Lifeboat Appeal in June 2016 to help bring the £2.1 million vessel to the area.

Thanks to your generous donations, the appeal reached £142,000.

The new boat has been named in honour of the woman whose legacy provided £1 million towards it.

The Sir John Fisher Foundation also made a significant contribution.

The boat replaced the Sir John Fisher after 25 years of service and is based at the Workington RNLI station at the Port of workington.

John Stobbart, Workington coxswain, said: “This is an opportunity to thank everyone who contributed to the Lifeboat Appeal and show them the new boat.

“It really is the Rolls-Royce of lifeboats and will make a huge difference to us.

“We’re really proud of it and want people who helped get the Dorothy May White here see it up close.”

On Saturday, the Dorothy May White will be at Whitehaven Marina from 1.30pm to 3.30pm, then Harrington Harbour from 4pm to 5pm.

On Saturday, July 29, it will be at Workington’s upper harbour from 3pm to 4.30pm and on Sunday, August 6, it will be at Maryport Marina from 10.30am to 11.30am.

Mr Stobbart added: “This is an open invitation to everyone who would be interested to see our new Shannon class lifeboat. We’d love to see you all at one of the events.”

Over the last five years, the Workington RNLI crew has responded, on average, to 20 callouts and rescued 24 people a year.