DROWNING seafarers in the English Channel will have the generosity of a Woodford Green pensioner to thank as they are plucked to safety, after a lifeboat was bought from money left in her will.

Peggy Staveley, of Galeborough Avenue, left £165,000 to the Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI) - enough to pay for the construction of a new lifeboat - in her will when she died in 2002, aged 79.

She specified that the boat be named Hello Herbie after her husband Herbert who had died six years before her, and it has just been launched for the first time.

In its first weeks it has already been used to bring medical care to people stranded on rocks, tow a stranded powerboat and search for a missing child from its base in Rye Harbour, East Sussex.

Mrs Staveley’s close friend and the executor of her will, David Lidbury, aged 78, of Highams Park, Walthamstow, was surprised that she had chosen to support the lifeboat charity.

He said: “There are no other charities named in her will and the only time I think she would have heard of the RNLI are the times when I used to talk about the charity,” he said.

He added that he used to tell her about memories of his grandfather making lifeboat models and his own support for the charity, but that Mrs Staveley, who had no children, was always generous and he was not surprised that she chose to leave money to charity.

“If I actually am the main reason for her legacy, then I feel extremely honoured and proud of Peggy and I’m delighted that she felt able to make such a gesture to help the RNLI’s volunteers,” he said.

Richard Tollett, Lifeboat Operations Manager at Rye Harbour RNLI lifeboat station, said: "In just a few weeks, Hello Herbie has already been launched on three separate rescue callouts.

"We never knew Peggy, but we feel deeply grateful to her for her generosity – her kindness will play a major role in helping our volunteers save lives at sea for many years to come."