Lytham TV presenter Tom Pemberton gets 2022 Leg It For the Lifeboats fund-raiser off and running

Tom Pemberton, who has recently hit TV screens as the host of the BBC game show The Fast and the Farmer-ish, was the first participant in the month-long incentive which it is hoped will raise thousands of pounds for the lifeboats.

The Leg It for the Lifeboats 5.6K Fun Run covers the distance between the Inshore Lifeboat House on Central Beach in Lytham to the All-weather Lifeboat House on South Promenade in St Annes and can gain be tackled at any time through this month after switching to that format from a single-morning event during the pandemic.

The switch proved a big success, with £9,000 raised last year, and it is hoped hundreds of people will again take part this time. To do so, there’s no need to register. All that is required is that participants take some photographs at the start and finish and share them at @LythamStAnnesRnliPage on Facebook.

Tom, who has just had his first book, Make Hay While The Sun Shines. published, was followed on the opening morning by many of the lifeboat crew members, families, and supporters, running or walking. Tom and his running mates were first to arrive at the St Annes boathouse and he said afterwards: “It was great to have a bit of a run out for a great cause.”

Over this month, Leg It For The Lifeboats will feature themed weekends, and May 7 and 8 is Wheelie weekend/ Roll with it, with bikes, pushchairs, strollers, skates, wheelchairs all encouraged;