Plans to modernise a lifeboat station were thrown a lifeline today after a well-wisher left it a £1 million legacy in his will.

Anthony Jones has kept afloat dreams of a new home for Bridlington Lifeboat by donating £1 million to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution in the seaside resort.

Mr Jones, of Aidan Road, Bridlington, who recently received £3.4 million compensation after a hospital operation went wrong, left the same amount to the RSPCA and a smaller sum to Riding for the Disabled.

Mr Jones, who was left severely disabled and unable to look after himself after the operation five years ago, died shortly after his 40th birthday last July.

David Stamford, the honorary secretary of Bridlington Lifeboat, said although he had not known Mr Jones personally, he had known his family were supporters of the lifeboat and was delighted with the surprise legacy.

He said the current boathouse was far too small to house their Mersey class boat and that crews have to lower the masts in order for it to fit.

"We are hoping in the future to have a new fast-carriage boat to replace the old Mersey class one.

"If we do get a fast carriage boat we would need a new boathouse and this legacy would help us with that," Mr Stamford said.

He added that if plans for a new marina in the resort got the go-ahead the lifeboat would have to find a new home, anyway, at a more convenient launch spot.

"The £1 million will go a long way in helping us fund a new boat station. You do not get £1 million every day."

A spokeswoman for the RSPCA in Yorkshire said it was "absolutely fantastic" to have received such a huge amount of money and would enable the charity to do an enormous amount of work.

"It will have a massive impact on the work the RSPCA in the coming months," she said.

Updated: 10:30 Friday, February 28, 2003