A POPULAR event in Worcester's calendar for many years was Lifeboat Saturday - a carnival-type event that drew big crowds on to the city's streets and raised considerable sums for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

Lifeboat Saturday was held most years from the 1860s until 1928, and helped raise funds to buy at least eight lifeboats, including that at Bembridge on the Isle of Wight, launched around 1867 and christened the City of Worcester.

Each Lifeboat Saturday would be graced by an actual lifeboat transported in from some seaside resort and pulled through the streets aboard a large wagon drawn by a team of horses. The lifeboat with its crew would usually be ceremoniously launched from Pitchcroft on to the Severn to take a short trip downstream and back.

The Journal of exactly a century ago this week carried a lengthy account of Worcester's Lifeboat Saturday of 1901.

"The demonstration on Saturday was well organised by the large committee, and there were plenty of helpers. Excellent tableaux were contributed by a number of schools and others, and cyclists showed a spirit of zeal and humour. Military forces were well represented. Bands trod almost on each other's heels.

"Much generosity was shown by business firms in lending horses and drays. Friendly Society members and others carried collection boxes and capacious bags on bamboo poles to get at people watching from upper windows. The prettiest features of the procession were the numerous tableaux, many of them very elaborate in decoration and costumes - living pictures upon drays which were much applauded as they passed.

"There was a great crowd at Pitchcroft and on the Henwick bank to witness the launch of the lifeboat from Weston-super-Mare. The river itself was also crowded with steamers and small boats as on regatta day. The launch was followed by demonstrations by the firemen of rescue work and fire extinguishing at the Grand Stand."