Guests included representatives from The Yacht Market (who sponsored the reception), The Baltic Exchange, Lloyds Register, Seafarers UK, British Marine, UK Border Force, Seawork International, Sunsail, Icom and many others, as well as representatives from Trinity House, HM Coastguard and the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights.

NCI Chairman Lesley Suddes welcomed Her Royal Highness and thanked her on behalf of the NCI for her ongoing support for the charity, before introducing The Princess Royal. Her Royal Highness addressed the guests and thanked them for their support which has helped to underpin how far the NCI has come in the charity’s first quarter century. She demonstrated her excellent knowledge of NCI’s volunteers and their activities, outlining the need for an evidence-based expansion of NCI stations into vulnerable areas.  Her Royal Highness concluded by adding “NCI this is it – you’ll have to stop celebrating twenty-five years now and look forward to the next twenty-five”.

NCI watchkeepers provide eyes and ears along the coast, monitoring radio channels and providing a listening watch in poor visibility. Currently 56 NCI stations are operational and manned by over 2600 volunteers keeping watch around the British Isles from Fleetwood in the North West, through Wales, to the South and East of England to Hornsea in the East Riding of Yorkshire.