IT is said that out of something bad, good will come and there was no better demonstration of that than on Saturday when a state-of-the-art lifeboat was launched at Beachley.

The Libor interest rate fixing scandal was one of the most squalid episodes of recent British history but some £5 million raised by the fines from it is going to search and rescue charities.

The biggest grant – some £221,000 – has gone to the Severn Area Rescue Association (SARA) to commission its latest life-saving vessel and on Saturday it was named and dedicated.

The Vicar of Tidenham, Rev David Treharne said: “To the honour and glory of Almighty God and for the noble purpose of rescuing those in peril upon the waters we dedicate this lifeboat.”

For the next 20 years SARA1, Jim Hewitt, will respond to emergencies in the Severn from Gloucester to Newport and the rivers that feed into it.

Head of SARA’s Beachley station, Mervyn Fleming, said: “There is no way that SARA with its local community collection capabilities could ever have afforded a vessel like this without the sponsorship of Her Majesty’s Government.”

The naming, by Forest MP Mark Harper, was watched by around 100 people including SARA members, represen­tatives of the Chepstow Coastguard, Gloucestershire Fire Service, Gwent Police, Forest district councillor Helen Molyneux, Glou­cestershire county councillor Patrick Molyneux and Mayor of Chepstow Cllr Dale Rooke.

SARA chairman, Chris Crowley said: “I’d like to thank the government for finally recognising voluntary search and rescue teams, not only here but across the country, with the Libor fines of those naughty bankers being used for really, really good causes.

“I’m so pleased to see Jim’s name on it because Jim and other colleagues were visionary in starting this organisation and here we are, 40 years later, providing ever-increasing cover up and down the Severn Estuary and across the country when wide area flooding events such as 2014 take place.

“Thank you to the crews who work so hard training, maintaining, polishing, sweeping fund-raising and providing safety cover as well as turning out to those needing help often in very distressing situations.”