A flag that was stolen from an RNLI station by a pair of 17-year-olds has been returned 56 years later. 

The charity said it had received the flag, along with a handwritten letter of apology and a £20 donation from one of the two who took it from the Trearddur Bay station on Holy Island, Anglesey, north Wales. 

The letter said: “In 1969 me and two friends were camping up the road from you, one night on the way back to the tent we passed your station and flag pole, one of us climbed up the pole and took the flag!! 

“Wrong of us. We were only 17 at the time, but that’s no excuse!! Just found the flag again, forgot all about it, I was having a sort out and there it was. 

“After all these years hope it gets back to you. Very sorry.”

Paul Moffett, lifeboat operations manager at the RNLI, said: “It is great to have a piece of station history returned after so many years. 

“Thank you to the culprits for the kind donation and for putting a smile on the crew’s faces. “All is forgiven!”