THE family of a former West Somerset student has launched a £160,000 appeal to buy a lifeboat in his memory.

Oxford undergraduate Toby Rundle, whose home was in Williton, died last October at the age of 21.

He was just starting his final year studying classics and English at Lady Margaret Hall.

His father Chris Rundle, farming editor at the Western Daily Press, mother Deborah, press and public relations officer at Taunton Deane Borough Council, and 28-year-old sister Philippa, a nurse, say they have been overwhelmed by the comfort, sympathy and support they have received from family and Toby's friends, both in the UK and around the world.

Now they want to harness that support to buy an Atlantic class lifeboat for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

Mr Rundle, who started his career as a journalist with the Free Press, spent 20 years as a member of the Minehead lifeboat crew.

"Toby always thought very highly of the lifeboat service," he said.

"He would often talk about it with his friends and he did what he could to encourage people to donate to it.

"And he also said that, given the chance, he would love to join a lifeboat crew himself when he was older.

"Sadly, that day will now never come, but we believe raising money for a boat which can perhaps be named after him will be a very appropriate way to celebrate his life."

The family is opening a special fund with the aim of raising money through donations, sponsored walks and swims and other events.

And the first donations to the fund have already been promised.

Mrs Rundle, a former deputy editor of the Free Press, said: "It's quite a sum to try to raise but we're sure there will be plenty of support for the campaign.

"Toby had a huge number of friends and so many of them have already said they will do whatever they can to help.

"Our close families are equally committed to ensuring that an amazing person is remembered in an amazing way.

"It is probably going to take a couple of years to reach the target but it is also going to take around the same length of time for a boat to be built and allocated to a station.

"We are hoping it will be somewhere in the West Country."