A flag stolen from a lifeboat station has been returned after more than 50 years.
The banner was returned to Trearddur Bay RNLI in Anglesey, along with a £20 donation and a note from a man apologising for stealing it in 1969.
The apology note from the man, who has not been identified by the RNLI, says he was “camping up the road” from the station with two friends at the time.
One night, on their way back to the tent where they were sleeping, one of the teenagers “climbed up the pole and took the flag”.
“We were only 17 at the time, but that’s no excuse,” the note added.
The man said he was “having a sort out” when he found it and hoped it would get back to the RNLI “after all these years”.
The flag now flies again at the station, having been reinstalled during a morning of training.
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Trearddur Bay RNLI’s volunteer press officer Megan Dixon told Sky News the station was “really grateful” to have had the flag returned to its rightful home.
“Usually, [the post includes] things like supplies for the station. So to have something hand-written and with a piece of history of the station, it was really nice to get it back,” she said.
“First thing we did, we got it out of the box and we put it up the flagpole. It’s really nice, it’s hand-stitched and it’s probably one of the few left of its kind I would imagine from that time. So it’s back flying in the sun, where it belongs.”
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Lifeboat operations manager Paul Moffett said it was “great to have a piece of station history returned after so many years”.
“Thank you to the culprits for the kind donation and for putting a smile on the crew’s faces. All is forgiven,” he added.
