A blessing of The Pride of Leicester lifeboat was carried out by the Rev Alan Coates involving hymns and prayers.

The celebratory open day and social evening was held at the boathouse and was attended by more than 100 people.

Lee Jackson, press officer with Staithes lifeboat, said: “The weekend of celebrations went off very well despite an unexpected call-out an hour before the blessing service was scheduled on Saturday.

“We just had half an hour or so which was enough time to give the boat a quick wash and carry on with proceedings.”

The alarm was raised when a party of 24 schoolchildren accompanied by three adults did not arrive back from a walk from Staithes to Port Mulgrave.

A search was carried out by the mobile coastguard teams who found them safe and well on one of the clifftop paths.

It turned out the party had deviated from their planned route to help an injured walker who was later taken by air ambulance to hospital.

An open day was held and a social evening involving music from a live band and refreshments.