THIS picture shows what is important to people who live by the sea. Over 1000 folk are gathered in Portpatrick's harbour for the naming of the Dumfries and Galloway town's latest lifeboat in August, 1961. Many more watched from vantage points in the hills.

The Jeanie, paid for by an anonymous donor, and operated by the charity, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, was the sixth lifeboat at Portpatrick over an 84-year period. The naming, from a temporary podium built at the harbour, was carried out by Lady Jean Fforde, daughter of the late Duke of Montrose, in the presence of RNLI commodore, Earl Howe. Titled folk back then often took major roles in the country's institutions and charities.

The Glasgow Herald reporter was inspired by his day out down the coast, and colourfully wrote: "The Jeanie rocked gently in the shelter of the inner harbour while a heavy sea rolled incessantly against the breakwater a short distance away."

On board the lifeboat at the ceremony was the eight-man volunteer crew, most of whom were not fishermen but included a mechanic, a clerk and a couple of drivers. The Jeanie was onstation at Portpatrick until 1986, and during that time she was launched 89 times and saved 46 lives.