‘With Courage’ rose will bloom for Hunstanton RNLI

‘With Courage’ rose will bloom for Hunstanton RNLI
Ian Limmer plants one of the With Courage roses in the Esplanade Gardens at Hunstanton Credit RNLI/Chris Bishop

A nursery which created an iconic rose for the RNLI's 200th anniversary planted four young bushes in a Norfolk seaside town.

Peter Beales Roses from Attleborough, near Norwich, bred With Courage to celebrate two centuries of saving lives at sea.

The specially-cultivated variety, which took three years to perfect, wowed crowds at the Chelsea Flower Show back in May, where it featured in a dazzling Gold Medal-winning display including a D class lifeboat.

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The iconic RNLI200 rose With Courage bred by Peter Beales Roses Credit RNLI/Chris Taylor

Since then thousands of plants have been sold, with 20pc of the proceeds donated to the RNLI, while hundreds more have been planted at RNLI bases including the charity's Support Centre at Poole and the National Arboretum in Staffordshire.

On 22 October, Peter Beales' nursery manager Ian Limmer planted four of the highly-acclaimed bushes in an area of the Esplanade Gardens at Hunstanton, which is dedicated to the RNLI.

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Stormy Stan and Ian Limmer from Peter Beales Roses get to work at Hunstanton Credit RNLI/Chris Bishop

'You should be able to see them by mid-June,' he said, as he firmed in the final plant. 'You've got some nice soil here.'

Ian presented a cheque for more than £16,000 to Sara Wilcox, the RNLI's fundraising and partnership lead for the North and East, with crew members standing by.

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Sara Wilcox from the RNLI accepts a cheque for £16,123.75 from Ian Limmer from Peter Beales Roses Credit RNLI/Chris Bishop

'We're planning to continue,' he said. 'Hopefully there'll be a similar-sized cheque next year.'

Sara said: 'Partnerships like this are so important to us but what stood out about this one was the teamwork.

'We were all one crew, to get a boat to the Chelsea Flower Show was quite a challenge but we did it.'

Celebrities including Joanna Lumley, Amanda Holden and Anthea Turner all gave the rose the thumbs-up at Chelsea back in May.

The display earned a coveted Gold Award from the prestigious Royal Horticultural Society - the 29th Peter Beales has earned at the show.

Ian also presented a rose to David and Melanie Hockey, from Hinkley in Leicestershire, who own a holiday lodge at Searles Leisure Resort in Hunstanton.

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Ian Limmer (front, left) from Peter Beales Roses presents a With Courage rose to Melanie and David Hockey at Hunstanton RNLI Credit RNLI/Chris Bishop

The couple, who are celebrating their 45th wedding anniversary, won the bush in an RNLI raffle at the resort.

Ian's grandfather James Bishop served for 30 years at Sheringham Lifeboat Station, around the coast from Hunstanton, before he retired in the late 1960s.

'It said on his plaque he helped save 167 lives,' said Ian. 'He went out on all the boats they've got at the museum in Sheringham.'

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