LIFEBOAT displays, a family fun day and the chance to look round Weymouth lifeboat are all highlights of Lifeboat Week.

Weymouth Lifeboat Week kicks off tomorrow and is one of the charity’s biggest fundraising events of the year.

Throughout the week volunteers will be doing door to door collections and street collections to raise vital funds for the lifesavers.

The following six days will be jam-packed with events and fun activities for the whole family.

On Wednesday, July 27 will be the annual Lifeboat Service at The Cove, on Weymouth Harbourside at 7.30pm. The service will be one of thanksgiving and will feature music from the Salvation Army Band.

Then on Thursday, July 28 it will be one of the biggest events, the joint display by the all weather and inshore lifeboats and the coastguard helicopter and rescue teams at Bowleaze Cove at 7pm.

Over in Weymouth on the same evening, Weymouth Sailing Club will be throwing its doors open to the public for a barbecue with a full bar.

Local band North and South will provide the evening’s entertainment.

On Friday the second display by Coastguards, the search and rescue helicopter and the RNLI lifeboats will take place. The evening will feature a big barbecue in the Nothe Gardens at 7pm and visitors will be able to watch the display where ‘casualties’ will be rescued from boats and winched into the helicopter or transferred to the waiting lifeboats.

There will also be a rope display by the Coastguard rescue officers.

There will be other attractions including Tug-o-War competition, a children’s entertainer, live music, a bouncy castle and a bar.

On the final day, Saturday, the lifeboat station on Weymouth Harbourside will open its doors to the public from 10.30am. Visitors will be able to look around the lifeboat and see where the crews work.

Then on Saturday afternoon the Lifeboat Week grand prize draw will take place outside the Lifeboat Station. People will be able to buy raffle tickets all week and prizes include a £100 voucher from David the Jeweller, half a day in a kayak, a Jurassic Coast Cruise from White Motor Boats and many others.

Organiser Lizzie Slade said that it was going to be a fantastic week packed with fun for all the family.

She said: “It’s a very family orientated week. The displays will be really good fun and the children love it because the helicopters swoop low overhead and it’s great fun.

“People should support the RNLI because if you have anything to do with the water its your safety net. You know they are there. There are the lifeboats and the beach lifeguards. “It’s not just for people with big yachts, it’s for anyone that goes near the sea.”