The Rayleigh and Wickford MP, who is a member of the Rayleigh Branch of the RNLI, was supporting fellow branch members during a recent Saturday lunchtime collection in the High Street where they were helping to raise funds for a new boathouse project at Southend.
The charity recently successfully raised a considerable sum to build a new boathouse on Southend seafront and have now launched a second appeal to modify the old offshore boathouse (which carries a different and smaller class of lifeboat). The target for this appeal is £50,000, and so far the RNLI have raised some £13,000 (including several hundred pounds from the collection in Rayleigh).
Commenting on his work alongside the charity, Mark Francois said:
"I have been a member of the RNLI for many years and so I was pleased when the organisation reformed its Rayleigh Branch a little while ago and asked me to help support their activities. Our lifeboat crews work hard all year round to help protect people at sea and I am pleased to show my support for them."