A LIFEBOAT that has saved the lives of 264 people is to be officially named after the Kidderminster man who paid for it at a prestigious ceremony this month.

The vessel, to be called the Joan and Ken Bellamy, is stationed on the River Thames in London after being bought with £163,000 that Kidderminster resident, Ken Bellamy, left to the Royal National Lifeboat Institute when he died.

Ellen Crisp, a close friend and neighbour of the former electrician, who died in June, 2001, said he would have been "delighted" with his legacy after he became fascinated by lifeboats on regular caravan holidays to the south coast of England with his late wife, Joan.

Mrs Crisp added she had been asked to "say a few words" about Mr Bellamy at the ceremony, on Wednesday, June 29, and was looking forward to breaking a bottle of champagne against the E Class lifeboat.

She has also chosen two hymns to be played by the Salvation Army band and sung by a choir during the ceremony at Chiswick Lifeboat Station.

"This, to me, is the final thing we can do for Ken - to see his and Joan's name on the boat," Mrs Crisp said.

"In his will, he wanted his and his wife's name to be written on something he could afford to buy for the RNLI and he'd be absolutely delighted because he didn't know it was going to be a boat."

The RNLI's spokeswoman, Nikki Nagler, said the E class lifeboat had been launched 499 times since it was placed in service on February 21, 2002.