A mother who was transferred to hospital by the Penlee lifeboat after giving birth on board a ship has returned to the station with her son 50 years on.

Anne Noonan was just 20 years old and onboard a merchant ship off Cornwall when she gave birth to a baby boy. In need of a medical check up, she and her son were transferred from the ship to the shore by the crew of the Penlee lifeboat, Solomon Browne.

On Saturday Anne and son Timothy Hurrell marked the occasion with a donation of £50 on their visit, for every year he has lived since his early voyage on an RNLI lifeboat. Anne gave £70 to mark her age.

Anne recalled the time she gave birth to Timothy en route back to Liverpool on board the merchant ship. In need of a medical check up, she and her son were transferred from the ship to the shore by the crew of the Penlee lifeboat, Solomon Browne, which was the boat’s first callout. However Solomon Browne has since been lost.

“My son was lowered from the ship to the lifeboat in a holdall and I was stretchered from one vessel to the other. I was pretty scared at the time and they were very reassuring.

“We were both devastated when the Solomon Browne was lost with all hands as somehow we regarded the lifeboat as ours.”

Their first stop was the former Penlee lifeboat station where the Solomon Browne was stationed. Timothy took a moment to lay flowers at the memorial garden before they went inside with RNLI Coxswain, Patrick ‘Patch’ Harvey to see the incident board which features the launch to collect Anne and her then tiny newborn baby.

Anne and Tim then went onboard the Severn class all weather lifeboat Ivan Ellen for a short exercise in Mounts Bay. In a surprise for them both, they were accompanied by Ken Prowse and John Trewhella, the ambulance men called to assist 50 years ago when Anne was brought ashore.

The party then gathered at the current Penlee lifeboat station to celebrate the occasion with a cup of tea and a birthday cake, one each for Tim and Patch – who has the same birthday.