Arranged by the Mumbles Ladies Lifeboat Guild, this carol service is an annual event, held in All Saints Church, Oystermouth, where the Canon holds the position of Mumbles Lifeboat Chaplain. In addition to the readings and carols, we also enjoyed a performance of the Lifeboatman's Prayer, from the choir and the current crew.
The Mumbles Lifeboat Station opened in 1835 with a lifeboat that was funded and managed by Swansea Harbour Trustees and was known as Swansea Lifeboat Station. The station was taken over by the RNLI in 1863 and moved to Mumbles in 1866. The station only officially became The Mumbles Lifeboat Station in 1904.
When the station first opened, it did not have a boathouse and the lifeboat was stored under the cliffs. In 1866 the first boathouse was built and it was then replaced with a larger boathouse when a replacement lifeboat needed more room.
A slipway was constructed for launching the lifeboat in 1888 and in 1897, Mumbles Railway and Pier Company constructed a new slipway for the RNLI at no cost to the institution Today there is a modern boathouse built at the end of the pier as part of the redevelopment of that area.
The choice of All Saints Church for the concert and chaplaincy is also apt. The church itself dates back to the thirteenth century and dominates Mumbles. It also contains a stained glass memorial window for those lifeboatmen who have lost their lives trying to save others and in particular the famous lifeboat disaster of 23rd April 1947, when the Mumbles lifeboat lost its entire crew of eight members while attempting to rescue the crew of the SS Samtampa.
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