Southsea Tennis Club host bake sale to help raise money for Portsmouth Lifeboat Station

Members of the Southsea Tennis Club attended a bake-sale on August 23, hosted by one of their team, boasting homemade cakes and jams and raised £127 for the Portsmouth Lifeboat Station.

Jill Ryan, who lives at Southsea, decided to host and organise the event after seeing a promotion run by the RNLI asking supporters to hold summer garden parties to help raise funds for equipment.

Jill said: ‘I invited my tennis friends and other friends from Southsea Tennis Club to come along and have a game of tennis where I live, have some tea and cake and give donations, which they generously did, for the RNLI.’

‘Hopefully I won't ever need their help, but you never know when you're in the sea,’ she added.

Despite the weather putting a slight damper on things, the event was ‘very successful’ and Jill, whose son volunteered with the Portsmouth Lifeboat Station when he was stationed here in the navy, hopes to host again next year.

‘We used to play tennis outside all year in the wind and the rain, a little bit of drizzle didn’t put us off,’ said Jill.

‘It was all homemade cakes, which were all very much enjoyed, and some homemade blackberry and apple jam from blackberries picked locally and apples from my daughters garden, it all went. I took home a few crumbs!

‘It was a very successful morning, we all had a lovely time and hopefully I’ll do it again another year and the weather might be better,’ Jill added.

As a charity, the RNLI rely on donations from the public for the kit and training that crew members – made up solely of volunteers – need to stay safe and save lives.

While some of the club were unable to attend, Jill still received donations from many of the group which she joined recently after moving to the area and hoping to meet people.

‘I must have had at least £30 or £40 from people who couldn't attend but gave somebody else the money to bring and put in the pot for the lifeboats, which I thought was amazing.’