IN PICTURES: RNLI mark 200th anniversary with River Mersey flotilla

Wirral lifeboat crews, including lifeboats from Hoylake, West Kirby, New Brighton, were among a flotilla from across the North West sailing along the Mersey in tribute to volunteers past and present today.

The boats set off from Fort Perch Rock, New Brighton rock at 11am for a practice run before lining up South of the Pier Head at midday. The procession then sailed past Seacombe at 12.20pm.

Marking the dedication of crews over two centuries, the Shannon class lifeboats from Lytham and Hoylake rendezvous with the Hoylake's hovercraft and the D-class lifeboat from West Kirby and the Atlantic 85 lifeboat from New Brighton.

The crews then recreated an image taken 25 years ago to the day of the region's lifesavers against the iconic city skyline.

In total across the UK and Ireland, 146,452 lives have been saved by the RNLI – this equates to an average of two lives saved every day for 200 years.

Here is how the day went in pictures.

RNLI volunteers on River Mersey (Image: Ian Fairbrother)RNLI flotilla (Image: Ian Fairbrother)RNLI 13-06 (Image: Ian Fairbrother)RNLI volunteers outside New Brighton lifeboat station (Image: Ian Fairbrother)RNLI volunteers (Image: Ian Fairbrother)RNLI volunteers celebrate 200th birthday (Image: Ian Fairbrother)The recreated image (Image: Ian Fairbrother)