It perhaps seems odd that a legacy from landlocked West Yorkshire will be helping to save lives on the storm-tossed coast, but that is exactly what is happening in Northumberland.

A new lifeboat station was officially opened this week at Blyth, mostly funded by money from the will of Daphne Sharpe of Burley-in-Wharfedale.

Mrs Sharpe left £4 million when she died ten years ago and as a lifelong supporter of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution she specified that a portion of her bequest should be used to support the service operating on the north east coast.

Services such as the RNLI are charitable organisations which depend on donations to continue doing their job.

Obviously, huge donations such as that from Mrs Sharpe are going to be few and far between for the service, though every pound they raise helps to go towards saving lives.

The generosity of Mrs Sharpe and her husband, who died in 1994, has also been felt closer to home with donations to the Burley community both during their lives and after their deaths.

It is heartening to know that there are people determined to use their own good fortune to help others.