The 'Ormes Head' lifeboat was designed to look after the busy shipping area close to the Great Orme, used by the many ships to ferry goods to the enormous Mersyside docks and other North Western destinations. The Great Orme with its shallow waters, strong tides, rocky coastline and often strong winds, claimed many ships and lives. Because of the weather and tidal conditions, plus the depths of water, vicious waves can quickly build up around the Orme and Liverpool Bay. At a meeting of the RNLI committee of management on Thursday 1 December 1859, letters were read from Rev. M. Morgan, of
Conway, and Mr. John Jones of Llandudno, which highlighted the necessity of a lifeboat at Llandudno. At a further meeting of the committee on 2 August 1860, and following a visit to the area and report by the Inspector of Lifeboats, it was decided to establish a lifeboat station at Llandudno. A third meeting of the committee on 4 October 1860, noted letters from the Misses Browne, of
Toxteth Park,
Liverpool, and their donation of £200, which they wished to be used for the purchase of a life-boat to be stationed at Llandudno, and to be called ''The Sisters' Memorial'', in memory of a deceased sister. The new 32-foot self-righting 'Pulling and Sailing (P&S) lifeboat, one with sails and (10) oars, and costing £190, arrived in Llandudno on 14 January 1861, transported with its carriage and equipment free of charge, by the
London and North Western Railway. The following day, the lifeboat was duly named
Sisters Memorial, and launched on demonstration. The name of the station was formally changed to
Llandudno Lifeboat Station in 1893 In 1903, a new boathouse was constructed on Lloyd Street, at a cost of £1300. Llandudno sits on the
isthmus between the mainland and the
Great Orme, with a shore on either side of the town. The site of the Llandudno Lifeboat Station on Lloyd Street was almost equi-distant from both of Llandudno's shores, from where the lifeboat could be towed equally quickly in either direction. Whilst allowing a launch in either direction, the downside was that the station was approximately from either launching point, with its consequential launch travelling the streets of Llandudno taking on average 12–15 minutes, depending on traffic conditions. More recently, Llandudno lifeboat has undertaken some famous and unusual rescues. One mammoth 18-hour rescue in gale force winds in 2008 saw the lifeboat, under the command of Coxswain Graham Heritage, going 34 miles offshore to rescue a couple in distress whose boat had become anchored to the sea bed by fishing nets. Crew member Tim James was put aboard and spent an hour and a half, frequently submerged by waves, freeing the boat from the nets. As a result of their service that year The Crew were awarded the North Wales 'Your Champions' 2008 team award and Tim James received the top award 'Champion of Champions'. A couple of years earlier, the inshore boat was launched to the aid of a humpback whale that had become tangled in ropes and a buoy off Rhos-on-Sea. The whale was successfully cut free probably saving its life. The Llandudno inshore lifeboat serves the immediate coastline of the Great Orme, Little Orme, Rhos-on-Sea, Colwyn Bay and Llandudno West Shore. On the West Shore there are dangerous sands, widely used by families visiting the seaside, that can quickly become flooded trapping people on the sand bars as the tide floods. Sadly these sands have caused tragedy in recent years and it is for this reason that the Llandudno Inshore Lifeboat, along with Conwy Inshore Lifeboat, are on 24-hour call for an immediate launch. In 2011, Dan Jones, a former Llandudno Lifeboat RNLI coxswain was awarded an
MBE for his dedication to the service. ==New lifeboat station==