SALCOMBE RNLI continues to receive funds from a charitable trust set up in memory of Manda Slater who died suddenly of a brain tumour in 2020.

Manda’s family had been taking holidays in Salcombe since their grandfather visited on a fishing trip in the 1920s. The Manda Slater Memorial Fund presented an initial cheque to the RNLI for £3,000 in 2000.

This was followed by another £2,000 in 2021.

In the summer of 2022, Salcombe RNLI raffled three prizes and raised another £5,000.

They held a silent auction in co-operation with Tonic Gallery, for a framed print of a beautiful painting donated by the fund and painted by contemporary coastal artist Lucy Young. It is called Sunny Cove. It raised £1,000.

In addition, her sister Sarah Relf wrote a little book called ‘Surprising Salcombe’ to raise money for a wider group of local charities.

The book is billed as ‘an introduction to some less well-known facts about Salcombe for youngsters and oldies alike’ and features images by mostly local artists ald illustrators.

There are pirates and treasure, tragic disasters and shipwrecks, the special people who work in the town, and other radom and fascinating things.

The book is a collection of 60 years of facts collected by the author.

Sarah told us: ‘’Manda’s two big loves were Salcombe and swifts.

“As a family, we have visited Salcombe for holidays since 1928. It is our second home.

‘’The lifeboat has always been part of our lives and whenever we are there, watching the lifeboat go out and come back are always moments of excitement.

‘’As a child, Manda used to disappear the second she heard the maroons go off to call the crew to the station.

‘’She’d race down the hill to the gardens below the Yacht Club to watch the lifeboat go out, and would then be on tenterhooks, sometimes for hours, until it came back safely.’’

The fund has also raised money for local charities in Manda’s home town of Dorking in Surrey. The fund are also in discussions with Salcombe Town Council about the idea of a swift tower.

The book is for sale at the Salcombe Lifeboat Station and Salcombe Maritime Museum or directly from the author at [email protected].