IS this the Island's most unusual baptism?

A rare event occurred at Cowes lifeboat station yesterday (Saturday) when there was a baptism aboard its Atlantic 85 lifeboat.

Freya, the two-year-old daughter of Alisdair and Heather Boden, was baptised by the station's chaplain, Rev Andrew Poppe.

The Bodens, who have been members of the lifeboat for the past eight years, wanted to share the moment with their RNLI family.

Members of the lifeboat and Alisdair and Heather’s family and friends gathered on the balconies of the station and the Island Sailing Club to watch the proceedings.

Freya’s parents were joined on the lifeboat deck by their five-year-old niece, Faith Duncan, and the station’s operations manager, Mark Southwell.

Closely watching from the slipway were the two godparents, Natalie Foster and Harry Leslie, a deputy launch authority at the station.

During the baptism, the Rev Poppe took Freya in his arms and used water that had been poured into a lifeboat helmet.

After resounding applause, a buffet lunch was held at the the Island Sailing Club for a buffet lunch.

Alisdair, who has a new digital marketing job in Keswick, said: “We have loved our time in Cowes and the RNLI has been a massive part of it.

“As there is much talk of the ‘RNLI family’ we thought it would be nice farewell to our involvement with the lifeboat by having Freya baptised on it.”

Although there is no RNLI station in the Keswick area, Alisdair said he was tempted to become a volunteer with the local mountain rescue.

The Rev Poppe said he could find no record of a baptism taking place on an RNLI inshore lifeboat before, although there had been at least one on an all-weather lifeboat