A Life-boat Tour Through Sixteen Counties.

IN the Midlands and Wales the Cen- tenary was celebrated by a road tour of one of the Institution's reserve Life- boats, the Robert & Catherine, which for a number of years was stationed at Appledore. The tour lasted five and a half months, and in that time the Boat travelled 2,400 miles, and visited 160 cities and towns and hundreds of vil- lages in sixteen counties—the shires of Leicester, Lincoln. Nottingham, Derby, Northampton, Rutland, Warwick, Staf- ford, Worcester, Salop, Hereford, Mont- gomery, Radnor, Gloucester, Monmouth, and Glamorgan.

The Institution was fortunate in being able to carry out this tour at small cost to itself, as the firm of Messrs.

Foden, Ltd., of Sandbach, Cheshire, generously undertook the whole cost of transport, providing a tractor to draw the Boat, paying the wages and ex- penses of the driver, and supplying the fuel for the whole tour. This they did as their Centenary Gift. The tour was carried out with the approval and help of the local authorities, and in a very large number of the places visited the Boat was given an official wel- come. Among those who welcomed the Boat in this way, and made speeches on behalf of the Life-boat cause, were the Lord Mayors of Birmingham and Bristol.

The tour began on 12th April at Leicester, Sir Godfrey Baring, Bt.

(Chairman of the Committee of Manage-ment), being present to inaugurate it.: The Annual Life-boat Day was held on; the same day, and a record sum was' raised. The tour concluded at Cardiff' on 24th September.

In five places the Boat was not only taken in procession through the streets, but was launched—at Northampton, on the River Nen; at Stratford, on the Avon ; at Worcester, on the Severn ; at Cheltenham, on the Pittville Lake ; and at Birmingham, on the Edgbaston Reservoir. The Boat herself, during the tour, was in charge of one of the riggers from the Institution's Store- yard, and at the first four places he had amateur crews to man the Boat. But at Birmingham, where a water carnival was held, and a Life-boat display was given with a rescue from a burning wreck, and the public taken for trips in the Boat, she was manned by the Cox- swain and the Crew of Rhyl. The carnival was opened by the Rt. Hon.

F. 0. Roberts, M.P., the Minister of Pen- sions, and presided over by the Lord Mayor. The visit of the Life-boat and the Carnival inaugurated the special effort which is being made to raise £10,000 for a City of Birmingham Motor Life-boat.

At other towns, where a launch was impossible, street processions were or- ganized, and Life-boat Days and Life-boat Thanksgiving Services were held in connexion with the Boat's visit. In these services the clergy of all denomina- tions took part, among them the Bishops of Lichfield and Peterborough.

In thus touring the Midlands the Robert & Catherine visited those parts of England most remote from the sea.

Probably the majority of the tens of thousands of people who saw the Life- boat had never before seen one, and of the thousands who went over her, few, if any, can ever have been in a Life- boat.At Cheltenham one young man, who had'come in from a village four miles away, asked what the fare was, and when told that no passengers were car- ried said that he thought the Boat was a new kind of charabanc ! So much for the ignorance in the inland villages of the Life-boat Service and of the sea, which this tour may have helped to dispel.

The following places, visited by the Life-boat, held Centenary MeetingsCentury Life-boat Days and Thanks- giving Services :— Leicester, Sleaford, Spalding, Melton Mowbray, Lincoln, Retford, Worksop, Chesterfield, Sutton-in-Ashfield, Ilkes- ton, Derby, ;Loughborough, Burton-on- Trent, Stafford, Coventry, Northampton, Hinckley (where there was also an illus- trated Lecture), Kettering, Birmingham, Warwick, Leamington, Wolverhampton, Bilston, West Bromwich. Walsall, Leo- minster, Droitwich, Worcester, Broms- grove,! Evesham, Cheltenham, Bristol and Newport (Mon.). A number of these places also had Life-boat films shown at the Picture Houses.A number of towns had illustrated lectures in place of the Centenary Meeting, and also held Thanksgiving Services and Century Life-boat Days :— Oakham, Brigg, Long Eaton, Welling- ton (Salop), and Tewkesbury, while | Sutton Coldfield had a Drawing-room Meeting in place of it, and Lichfield a ' Whist Drive.

Centenary Meetings and Century Life- i boat Days were held at:— Peterborough, Nottingham, Rugby, Rushden, Hereford, Kidderminster (which also "held a Ball), Stourbridge, Gloucester (which also held a Ball and Whist Drive), Cardiff, Aberdare, Moun- tain Ash.

Centenary Meetings and Thanksgiving Services were held at:— Tamworth and Oldbury (which also held two Whist Drives).

Thanksgiving Services and Century Life-boat Days were held at:— Woodhall Spa, Alfreton (where a Sale of Work and Dance were also held), Belper, Etwall (where a Garden Party was also held), Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Uttoxeter, Stone, Wellingborough, Soli- hull, Knowle, Oswestry, Shrewsbury, Ludlow (where there was also a Dance), Bewdley, Stratford-on-Avon, Cirencester, Stroud, Earl Shilton.

Centenary Meetings were held at:— Market Harborough, Mansfield, Smethwick, Newark.

A Thanksgiving Service and Lecture was held at Church Stretton.

Shifnal had an illustrated Lecture.

Century Life-boat Days were held at :— Horncastle, Louth, Grantham, Boston, Radclifieon-Trent, Stamford, Bed- worth, Weedon, Raunds, Goleshill, Welshpool, Newtown, Montgomery, Llandrindod Wells, New Radnor, King- ton, Redditch, Alcester, Pontypool, Maesteg, Dowlais, Atherstone, Burton Latimer, Rothwell, Desborough, New- port (Salop) Bishop's Cleeve.

Other Celebrations.

Centenary Celebrations in the Mid- lands and South Wales were also held at a number of places not visited by the Life-boat.

Derbyshire.

Century Life-boat Days were held at Buxton, South Nomianton and Ripley.

Lincolnshire.

Grimsby held a Centenary Meeting, a Life-boat Day, and a Ball.

Mablethorpe and Skegness held Cen- tury Life-boat Days.

Monmouthshire.

Ebbw Vale held a Century Life-boat Day.

Shropshire.

Bridgnorth held a Century Life-boat Day.

Staffordshire.

Cradley Heath held a Century Life-boat Day.

Brecknockshire.

Llanwrtyd Wells held a Century Life- boat Day.

Cardiganshire.

Lampeter held a Thanksgiving Service, a Centenary Meeting and a Century Life- boat Day.

Aberystwyth, Cardigan, and New Quay held Century Life-boat Days.

Carmarthenshire.

Llanelly and Ferryside held Century Life-boat Days.

Glamorganshire.

Swansea held Thanksgiving Services, a Lifeboat Day, and a Ball.

Abercynon, Barry, Penrhiwceiber and Porthcawl held Century Life-boat Days.

Merionethshire.

Aberdovey and Barmouth held Cen- tury Life-boat Days.

Pembrokeshire.

Fishguard, Haverfordwest, Pembroke and Tenby held Century Life-boat Days.

Radnorshire.

Knighton held a Century Life-boat Day..