TWO of Minehead lifeboat station’s staunchest supporters have raised a further £508 towards the £1 million cost of the building’s upgrade and visited the station last Sunday to hand over the money.

Star fund-raising sisters Beth and Sophie Williams, from Bruton, raised the money through an exhibition of photography student Sophie’s work, and a coffee morning.

Beth, aged 12, and Sophie, 15, have been fund-raising for the RNLI in Minehead for more than four years.

In 2020 they completed the equivalent of a cross-channel swim, each covering a distance of 17 kilometres while tethered to the side of a three-metre pool in their back garden, with their parents Dave and Sarah counting each girl’s strokes.

Minehead RNLI’s operations manager Dr John Higgie said the sisters’ devotion to supporting the station was fantastic.

“It really is inspiring for our crew to have two such young fund-raisers who live so far from the sea regularly fund-raising for us,” he said.

“We were challenged to raise a quarter of the upgrade costs locally but unfortunately the pandemic has ruled out the staging of any major events until now.

“But with support like Beth and Sophie’s we can still forge ahead and try to meet that target.”

Building work is currently underway at the 120-year old listed station, which will be enlarged and generally upgraded. Improvements will help shave minutes off response times and for the first time the crew will have proper changing facilities and showers.

The project is scheduled for completion in the autumn.