A TWO-YEAR appeal to raise funds to help rebuild Swanage Lifeboat Station has more than doubled its target.

The RNLI station launched an appeal in 2013 to raise £200,000 towards a new building at the site of the original boathouse in Peveril Point Road. Following “fantastic support” from the community and beyond, the station is hoping to have raised around £450,000.

A spokesperson for Swanage RNLI said: “The last two years have been amazing. We officially closed the appeal during Swanage Lifeboat Week and we’re delighted with the amount raised.

“In the current climate, we didn’t expect to raise so much. Times have been difficult for people in recent years and we’re overwhelmed by their generosity.

“It’s highlighted that most people have some association with the lifeboat station, whether they live near the coast or not.”

The money raised means the station won’t have to use central funding from the charity. ‘Significant’ donations from other benefactors have also contributed to the £3.5m build.

Next year the station is due to receive a Shannon class lifeboat costing £1.5m to replace its current Mersey class. The new lifeboat will be named after George Thomas Lacy, who left a generous legacy for use by the RNLI on the Dorset coast.

Due to the size of the Shannon class, it was necessary to rebuild the boathouse and slipway for the lifeboat to launch from. The new station will also provide improved facilities for the volunteer crew including a changing and shower room, a fully-equipped crew training room, mechanics workshop, and office space.

The spokesperson added: “Work on the new boathouse is well underway and we’ll soon be putting in the structure of the building and slipway, which will be raising out of the ground.”