A £250,000 state-of-the art lifeboat centre was unveiled in Chepstow at the weekend.

The new building at Severn Area Rescue Association’s (SARA) Lifeboat and Rescue Station at Beachley will house three lifeboats, as well as a state-of-the-art control room, a custom drying room for crew’s stormsuits, life jackets and other equipment and a modern training and conference room.

The new build is an extension to the existing facilities of SARA, which also serves Avonmouth, Gloucester, Cardiff, and Newport areas of the Severn Estuary as well as the rivers Usk, Monnow, Wye and Avon.

It has been funded through generous donations from local organisations, schools, community groups and local businesses and individuals.

Ten mayors and lord mayors representing the towns and counties served by the station attended a ribboncutting ceremony on Saturday.

Mervyn Fleming, chairman of SARA Beachley, said: “SARA conducts training in life-saving, rescue-boat skills, radio operation, first aid, land search and recovery, off-road driving, flood, mud and swift-water skills and mountain rescue. It is almost as if we are running college courses for the crew. We train up to four times a week, and currently have ten UK qualified instructors and teachers, so the new classroom and conference facility have been long awaited.”