Radio hams from the charity have set up a special event radio station at the lifeboat house and say amateur radio enthusiasts from overseas have been queuing up to contact Scarborough marine lifesavers.

The station is Scarborough’s contribution to SOS Radio Week, a week-long fundraising event for UK and Irish amateur radio operators to raise money for the RNLI.

The Government’s Office of Communications has assigned the special international callsign GB4RNLI to the Scarborough group for the occasion.

Group chairman Roy Clayton said: “Greetings were received from almost 1000 amateurs world-wide, mainly throughout the UK and Europe, but some from as far away as the USA, Canada, Japan and Brunei. Everyone who made contact will receive a souvenir acknowledgement postcard of Scarborough lifeboat containing details of the exchange of signals.”

One eight-year-old visitor to the station, Emily Porter, from the 2nd Haxby Cub Scout Group, was allowed to send greetings over the air and enter details in the station log book as part of the requirements for her Cub Scout Communicator Badge.