Jane's Midlife Journey

The RNLI Mudeford Lifeboat Funday is, as the name suggests, a day of fun activities to raise money for the Mudeford Lifeboat. The highlights of the event are Paddlboard Races and a Duck Race. In addition, there are lifeboat displays, food & drink, items for sale, a funfair, live music and other entertainment.

How to get to RNLI Mudeford Lifeboat Funday

The event takes place on and around Mudeford Quay. By car, Mudeford is 8 miles east of Bournemouth, just past Christchurch. If you fancy walking/cycling, it is 6 miles along the coast to Hengistbury Head. You can watch the action from Mudeford Sandspit, or take a ferry across to the quay.

By bus

The open top number 70 Breezer bus stops at Chichester Way, a 5 minute walk from the quayside. You can also take the No 1C, which may be quicker but is much less fun.

Parking

There is Pay & Display parking on Mudeford Quay, but this is a popular event, so spaces may be hard to come by. If you are lucky enough to find a space, parking costs £2.50 for an hour. Further details can be found here.

Alternatively, you can park at Two Riversmeet car park and pick up a free shuttle bus to Mudeford Quay. Here, the parking costs £1.40 for 2 hours. Further details can be found here.

Times

The event takes place annually each summer on a Sunday and runs from 11 am until 5 pm.

• In 2025, the date was 11th August.
• In 2026, date TBA.

Price

Entry is free. However, as the event is to raise funds for the Lifeboat, you are encouraged to spend money, whether it be on sponsoring a duck, buying RNLI merchandise or on the many other attractions. Note: Although many stalls had card readers, reception isn’t great and the readers kept crashing. I recommend taking some cash!

Raft Race/Paddleboard race

Usually, the highlight of the day is the raft race, which entails local groups and businesses racing home made rafts along the quayside, some with considerably more success than others. In 2023, the race was cancelled due to the weather. But it was fiercely contested, cheered on by large crowds, the year before. For 2025, rafts paddleboards replaced rafts for the main event.

This year, a perfect summer’s day attracted crowds in their thousands. This meant that it was difficult to actually see the action, but there was a running commentary, as we tried to snatch glimpses of the race through the rows and rows of people lined up on the harbourside. In the end, we resorting to filming the race on our phones held above our heads and then watching the video footage.

Lifeboat Display

You can watch the lifeboat in action in the harbour, demonstrating rescue techniques, together with a helicopter.

Duck Race

The Duck Race consists of thousands of rubber ducks racing along the river. Visitors are offered the opportunity to adopt a duck for £1. The first duck across the line wins its owner a £50 prize. On our first visit, they had sold out of ducks before we reached the duck stall, so we weren’t able to participate. Last year, I had a duck entered in the race, which was rather an anti-climax as the high wind blew most of the ducks (presumably, including mine) straight across the quay and onto the sandbank opposite. We were then treated to the rather bizarre spectacle of the lifeboat crew attempting to prevent 1000 rubber ducks from being swept out to sea…

Stalls

There a stalls selling RNLI merchandise, books, bric-a-brac, cakes and all other manner of things. I loved the cute RNLI wellie biscuits.

Fun Fair

There are several fairground rides, plus sideshows to keep kids (and adults) entertained.

Entertainment

Other entertainment includes live music and water sports.

Food & Drink

There are a selection of food and drink stalls around the quayside, including a crew BBQ, pizza, candy floss and ice cream. We opted for some lovely freshly made donuts.

RNLI Mudeford Lifeboat Fun Day for Children

The Fun Day offers plenty for children to do. Apart from fairground rides and sideshows, there is face painting, glitter tattoos and a bouncy castle. There’s also a children’s playground on the quayside and a shop selling crabbing equipment.

• Update: August 2025

I hope you found this information useful. For more inspiration on things to do in and around Bournemouth, check out my 101 Things to do in Bournemouth here.

For more inspiration on things to do in and around Bournemouth with young children, check out my 101 Things to do in Bournemouth with Babies and Toddlers here.