A COLLABORATION of three Llyn entrepreneurs has helped raise a five-figure sum for local RNLI branches.

A casual chat over a cup of coffee was the spark for an event which raised over £10,000 for Abersoch and Pwllheli RNLI recently.

When Lord Davies of Abersoch, a former UK government minister, visited Mickey’s Boatyard & Beach Café near Abersoch he spoke to owners of the establishment and a fund-raising initiative was set up. Lord Davies, known locally as ‘Mervyn’, and Andrew Donaldson, one of Mickey’s owners, got to know each other when they got chatting about coffee, good food and vineyards.

Before you knew it the two of them had hatched a plan to host a cheese and wine afternoon at Mickey’s and had also secured an extraordinary talented singer, Joe Slater, to play a few tunes the day after at Mickey’s family event weekend.

Just three weeks later, the event was a fantastic success and raised a huge £10,000 for the local RNLI stations, thanks in no small part to the donation of a new jet-ski from Ideal Boat based at Pwllheli.

Neville Williams, owner of Ideal Boat, has a “canny eye for doing the right thing for the local community” and his idea and donation to auction the jet-ski at the event weekend proved the catalyst that helped raise such an extraordinary sum over the recent bank holiday weekend.

A spokesperson for the event said: “If there was ever an example of three entrepreneurs working together for the greater good and the local community then this was it and all of this was achieved by lots of local people and holidaymakers having a fantastic time down on Machroes beach in Abersoch.”

Mickey’s Boatyard and Beach Café’s next event is on Saturday, 23 June at 6pm, when Alex Green will be performing in aid of the Welsh Air Ambulance.