A VILLAGE postman from Dorset is today launching Royal Mail's new stamps which honour the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

Will Blight, who clinched a Royal Mail award last year after cycling 5,000 miles to raise money for the RNLI, is unveiling six new designs that include one of the lifesavers in action at Portland.

The 38-year-old postman from East Street, Corfe Castle, said he was delighted the charity so close to his heart featured on the stamps.

He said: "It's great for the lifeboats because it's more publicity for them in a way that shows everybody, from all walks of life, the important work that they do.

"I've been boating myself and when you see the difficulty that people get into it graphically shows you the importance of their work and I hope the stamps will do the same."

The Mayday - Rescue at Sea stamps include pictures of rescues at St Ives in Cornwall, Lee-on Solent and an operation off Portland where a casualty is being lifted to safety.

Weymouth's Lifeboat Operations manager John Harvey thinks the stamps are a brilliant way of bringing the RNLI to the public's attention.

He said: "It's great to recognise the work the RNLI does throughout the nation and it's also very good that Will has got the chance to unveil the stamps because he's put in so much effort."

During a six-month ride, Will visited all 198 lifeboat stations on the UK coast including those in Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

After raising £11,000 he was rewarded at the Royal Mail First Class People awards when Lorraine Kelly presented him with the fundraiser award.

An RNLI crew at the charity's Poole HQ will assist him unveiling the stamps.

This year is also the centenary of the adoption of the SOS distress signal, so the Royal Mail re-created the sequence of dots and dashes along the edges of the new stamps.