CHESHIRE.

Century Life-boat Days were held at Crewe, Hollingworth, Nantwich, Sand- bach and Whaley Bridge.

Poynton had a House-to-House Col- lection.

Congleton had a Garden Party.

Hyde a Swimming Gala and Dance.

CUMBERLAND AND WEST- MORLAND.

Carlisle and Maryport held Thanks- giving Services and Century Life-boat Days.

Kendal, Kirkby-Stephen and Seascale held Century Life-boat Days.

At Penrith the President of the Branch issued a special appeal.

DURHAM.

The principal Life-boat event was the launch of the Hartlepool Motor Life- boat, Elizabeth Newton, which is described elsewhere. Hartlepool and West Hartle- pool both held Century Life-boat Days, as also did South Shields and Sunder- land.

Eyton-on-Tyne carried out a collec- tion in the Picture Houses.

LANCASHIRE.

Blackpool.

A Life-boat "Rescue." On September 6th, Blackpool held its Century Life-boat Day, and a demonstra- tion in life-saving at sea was given by four Life-boats—the new Motor Life-boat from New Brighton and the Pulling and Sailing Life-boats stationed at Black- pool, Lytham and St. Anne's. The following account of the demonstration appeared next day in the Manchester Sunday Chronicle: " Thousands of visitors to Blackpool to-day saw the exciting spectacle of life-saving at sea.

Some distance out from North Shore, a boat was seen to send out with her flags the message: ' In distress; want assistance.' New Brighton Life-boat, which was cruising in the distance, at once raced to her assistance, and when nearing the vessel fired a life line to her.

With the Life-boat close to the vessel in distress, rescue work was immediately started. Some of the crew were ordered to jump from the deck of their boat to a jumping net on the Life-boat. Then the Life-boat backed some distance, and a few others were rescued by means of the breeches buoy, a cone-shaped canvas bag, in which the men were hauled across a life-line. The remainder of the crew, equipped with lifebelts, jumped into the water, and were picked up by the Black- pool, Lytham and St. Anne's Life-boats, which were standing by. But actually the boat, which was the James Fletcher, of Preston, was never in distress. The ' rescue ' was a side-show to help Black- pool's Life-boat Day, but at any rate, if it had not the ' catch in the throat' tenseness of an orthodox rescue at sea, it gave one, by this close up, a better idea of how the thing is done when lives really are at stake." In the evening the Mayor of Blackpool entertained the crews to dinner.

Thanksgiving Service.

On August 31st a Thanksgiving Ser- vice was held at the Palace Theatre, attended by the Mayor and members of the Town Council, special collections were made in the churches, and 200 collecting boxes were distributed to the hotels and boarding houses. Blackpool's aim was to raise £1,000 as a special centenary gift, and this aim was achieved.

Manchester, Salford and District Branch.

The Thanksgiving Service.

THE Manchester and Salford Thanks- giving Service was held on 4th May. It was held in the Royal Exchange, because there was no other building in Man- chester large enough for the great congregation which the occasion brought together. Manchester has had a Cotton Exchange for the past two hundred years, but it had never before been used for a religious service, for a public meet- ing, or for anything but the business forwhich it was built; and when it was first proposed that it should be the scene of a great Life-boat Thanksgiving Ser- vice, the idea was laughed at as im- possible. But the service was held there, and Manchester was struck first by surprise, and then by a feeling of its singular appropriateness.

The Manchester Guardian wrote on the day after : " That great expanse of floor which Lancashire business men tread so confidently every Tuesday andFriday in the very mundane cause of cotton was trodden yesterday by a great multitude of folk gathered for a religious service in commemoration of the Cen- tenary of the Royal National Life-boat Institution. It might have struck one of the confident business men as a very novel sight, but to one who knows nothing of the bi-weekly mysteries per- formed within its walls this use of the great building did not appear in the least odd. Prayers and hymns ascended appropriately enough into the high domes where scriptural exhortations tocommercial correctitude gleam in letters of gold." And the Manchester Evening News : " A vast congregation ; thin uniformed lines of colour—blue and scarlet, yellow and white and gold, interspersed with serried ranks of khaki—with a ten- thousand-pieced kaleidoscope of hu- manity standing reverently in between.

High up, near the roof, the prices board caught the eye—' Alexandria ; Last close : First report: May, June, July,i October—45-25, 43-90, 44-23'—telling ' mutely of a miracle ; the miracle of the largest congregation Manchester has probably ever known, of all creeds and beliefs, drawn into this Temple of Finance to thank the God of All and of all things—yes, Finance included—for the strong saving arm He has extended, through these gallant Life-boatmen, to His shipwrecked ; to give thanks for the bounty of sixty thousand lives saved in the course of a hundred years." The whole of the many-sided life of Manchester was represented. The LordMayor of Manchester and the Mayor of Salford attended in state, and all re- ligious denominations took part in the service except the Roman Catholic Church, which does not see its way to participate in such joint services, but which held, instead, a special High Mass in Salford Cathedral on the same day.

Addresses were delivered in the Ex- change by the Very Rev. Dr. JosephGough McCormick, the Dean of Man- chester ; by the Rev. Dr. J. E. Roberts, one of the leading Nonconformist minis- ters, and by Miss Mary B. Booth, C.B.E., Divisional Commander, Salvation Army; while the Rev. Dr. Berendt Salomon, the Chief Rabbi, read as the lesson the 107th Psalm.

The singing was led by the Halle Choir. The Manchester Police Band and the Blackpool Life-boat Silver Band, the members of which are the Life-boat crew, provided the instrumental music.

But the most remarkable feature ofthis unique occasion was the congrega- tion. There were no seats. Fifteen thousand people had come to the service.

The doors were open to them at 2.30; the service concluded at 4. During that time the congregation stood, close- packed, on the great floor of the Ex- change, which was divided into four parts by Boy Scouts forming a light barricade with their poles. Loudspeakers and amplifiers carried the ! voices of the speakers throughout the | hall. They carried them beyond to a j great crowd which filled the street out- I side, and which stood during the whole ! service in a downpour of rain, joining in : the hymns as the loud speakers brought the sound of the singing to them from the hall.

" I do not know," writes one who was I present, " which was most impressive— the sight of the crowd outside in the rain taking a reverent part in a ceremony which they could not see, or the scene in the hall itself when the conductor of the Halle Choir lead that vast audience in the singing of ' 0 God our help in ages past.' " No appeal for money was made, but purely voluntary contri- butions amounted, to £100.

There have, this year, been many great tributes to the universal appeal of the Life-boat cause, but none so pro- foundly impressive as this great gather- ing of all who make up the life and activity of one of the greatest cities and sea ports of the Empire.The Centenary Bazaar.

The Thanksgiving Service was fol- lowed, on 15th, 16th and 17th May, by a Centenary Bazaar, at which the Man- chester and Salford Branch achieved its aim of raising, in addition to the ordinary contribution of the Branch to the general funds of the Institution, a special Centenary gift of £10,000, for the building of a Motor Life-boat. This Boat is being built for Ramsey, Isle of Man. She will be of the latest type—the Watson Cabin, with an 80-h.p. engine, and she will be named The Manchester and Salford. In the past there haveThe Centenary Bazaar.

The Thanksgiving Service was fol- lowed, on 15th, 16th and 17th May, by a Centenary Bazaar, at which the Man- chester and Salford Branch achieved its aim of raising, in addition to the ordinary contribution of the Branch to the general funds of the Institution, a special Centenary gift of £10,000, for the building of a Motor Life-boat. This Boat is being built for Ramsey, Isle of Man. She will be of the latest type—the Watson Cabin, with an 80-h.p. engine, and she will be named The Manchester and Salford. In the past there havebeen four City of Manchester Life-boats, all stationed at Carmarthen Bay, and a Manchester & Salford Sunday School Life-boat, stationed at Douglas, Isle of Man. In addition the Institution has owed a number of Life-boats to the generosity of individual citizens of Manchester.

The Bazaar was held in the Free Trade Hall, and was designed as an old English village. The Lady Sheffield, C.B.E., J.P., Honorary Secretary of the Man- chester and Salford Ladies' Life-boatGuild, was President of the Bazaar Committee, with Sir William Milligan, M.D., J.P., Chairman of the Branch, as its Chairman, Sir Percy Woodhouse, J.P., as its Honorary Treasurer, and Mrs. H. J. Wilson as its Honorary Secre- tary. On the Committee sat, among others, all the civic and religious leaders of Manchester and Salford: the Lord Mayor and the Lady Mayoress of Man- chester, the Mayor and the Mayoress of Salford, the Very Rev. the Dean of Manchester, the Very Rev. Mgr. Canon A. Poock, D.D., R.D., the Rev. Dr.

Roberts, M.A., and the Rev. Dr. Berendt Salomon.On the first day the Bazaar was opened by Field-Marshal Sir William Kobertson, Bt., G.C.B., G.C.M.G.; on the second day by His Excellency the Governor of the Isle of Man, Major- General Sir William Fry, K.C.V.O., C.B.; and on the third by Mr. Robert Smith, Coxswain of the Tynemouth Life- boat from 1910-1920, and one of the Institution's Gold Medallists.

A Centenary Souvenir Handbook was published, in which appeared messages of goodwill and congratulation from H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, E.G.

(President of the Institution), the Prime Minister (the Right Hon. J. Ramsay MacDonald, M.P.), the Right Hon. David Lloyd George, O.M., M.P., Admiral of the Fleet the Earl Beatty, G.C.B., O.M.

(First Lord of the Admiralty), and the Earl of Derby, E.G.

The Prince of Wales had telegraphed to the Lord Mayor of Manchester, in response to a message sent him when he was presiding at the Centenary Meeting in the Mansion House, on March 4th:— " Your telegram of congratulation on the Centenary of the Life-boat Service and splendid offer to mark Manchester and Salford's long and intimate asso- ciation with this national and heroic cause by gift of best and most modern Motor Life-boat was received and read by me to meeting at Mansion House, Lord Mayor presiding. Announcement warmly appreciated. On behalf of the Institution and all its hundreds of thou- sands of supporters, I thank you, the Mayor of Salford, and the Chairman of our Manchester Branch for this new and striking proof of Manchester and Salford's proverbial generosity towards good and noble objects." The Prime Minister wrote :— " I am glad to hear that Manchester— so sensitive to the appeal of all great causes—has identified itself with the Centenary of-the Royal National Life- boat Institution. For one hundred years the National Life-boat Institution has pursued its mission to help those who, within sight of our shores, were in danger of shipwreck and disaster Though many of us live in towns far more remote than Manchester from its dangers, yet the sea, with its tale of enterprise and tragedy, cannot fail to stir the imagination of an island people.

The traffic of the sea has made our history. Up and down our coasts our ife-boats have watched our sea-folk in danger, and have rescued them. I, who have seen the boats in action, know what it means. Every citizen who feels pride in reading the record of shipwreck and rescue should respond to this new appeal and feel that, in whatever measure it may be, he has some share "n the launching and in the work of the Boat which Manchester is sending to oin this gallant company." Two days after the Bazaar the cost of the Life-boat, £10,000, was sent to the Institution, and a further cheque for £1,003 16s. 8d. has since been added to the Branch receipts! Other Celebrations.

Liverpool held a Centenary Meeting at which the Lord Mayor presided, and Sir Godfrey Baring, Bt., Chairman of the Committee of Management, delivered an address. Liverpool also iarried out a Century Life-boat Day.

At nearly all the other Lancashire Branches Centenary Meetings were held, and the following other celebrations took place:— Colne, Lytham, Newton-in-Makerfield, Preston, Southport and St. Anne's held Thanksgiving Services and Century Life- boat Days.

Hoylake held a Carnival and a Century Life-boat Day.

Lancaster and Stockport held Thanks- giving Services and House-to-House Collections.

Bury, Bacup, Carnforth, Farnworth, Fleetwood, Haslingden, Heywood, Hind- ley, Irlam and Little Hulton, Middleton, Morecambe, Rishton, Turton, Ulverston and Warrington held Century Life-boat Days.

Ramsbottom, Rawtenstall and Widnes made House-to-House Collections.

Stalybridge had an American Tea.

Grange-over-Sands had a Sale of Work.

NORTHUMBERLAND.

Alnmouth held a most successful Garden Party.

Blyth held a Thanksgiving Service and a Century Life-boat Day.

Holy Island had a Collection.

Newcastle-on-Tyne keld a Centenary Meeting and a House-to-House Collec- tion.

Cullercoats, Cresswell, Hauxley, New- biggin and Tynemouth held Century Life-boat Days.

YORKSHIRE.

Bradford.

A Centenary Gift of a Motor Life-boat.

Before the Centenaiy Year opened, Bradford, as a special centenary giftprovide a Motor Life-boat, to be stationed on the Humber, and had started a second fund to pay for the Boat-house and Slipway. The Inaugural Ceremony of this Boat, which, owing to the remoteness of Spurn, took place at Scarborough, is described elsewhere.

This is the fourth Life-boat to be presented to the Institution by Bradfordand the fifth to bear the city's name.

The others have all been stationed at Ramsgate.

Thanksgiving Service.

A Thanksgiving Service was held on May 25th in the " Alhambra," lent for the occasion by Mr. Francis Laidler, who for many years past has held there an annual Life-boat Matinee in aid of the Bradford Branch. Sir William Priestley, Chairman of the Branch, presided in the absence of the Lord Mayor. The Service was conducted by the Rev.

Gilbert Nair, and addresses were de- livered by the Bishop of Bradford (Dr.

Perowne), the Rev. Sam Rowley (Presi- dent of the Bradford Free Church Council), the Rev. J. W. Hind and the Rev. W. Bowker. In the course of his address the Bishop said: " True courage, true comradeship, and true discipline, are God-given, and this great trinity finds expression in the Life-boat Service.

The oourage which braves death for people unknown, the comradeship which j may involve the supreme sacrifice, the j discipline which subordinates selfish i interests for a self-imposed task ofj heroism and danger, spring from the j spirit of Christ." ! Bradford also held a Century Life- j boat Day. | I Scarborough.

Thanksgiving Service.

A Thanksgiving Service was held on j August 25th, from the new Motor Life- j boat, Herbert Joy, which was taken on} its carriage to Peasholm Gap. The j Service was conducted by the Rev. I George Carver, representing the Inter- [ denominational Union, and he was i supported by the Vicar of Scarborough j (the Rev. J. W. Capron), who delivered the address, ministers of the Primitive Methodist Church, and a representative of the Free Church Council.

At Scarborough there was a double launching ceremony on May 25th, described elsewhere, of the new Scar- borough Motor Life-boat, Herbert Joy, and the new Motor Life-boat for the Humber Station at Spurn Point, City of Bradford. Scarborough also held a Century Life-boat Day.

Other Celebrations.

In most of the Yorkshire Branches, Centenary Meetings were held.

Bridlington, Darlington, Flam- borough, Filey, Goole and Redcar, all held Thanksgiving Services and Century Life-boat Days.

In Sheffield, Major-General the Right Hon. J. E. B. Seely, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O. (a member of the Com- mittee of Management), attended the Annual Meeting and on the same day a special meeting of the Chamber of i Commerce. j Leeds had a special appeal issued by Lord Airedale, and a Century Life-boat Day.

Middlesbrough's Centenary Meeting j was addressed by the Lord Lieutenant of the County (Sir Hugh Bell) and a Century Life-boat Day was held.

Normanton held a Carnival.

York had' a Garden Party.

Century Life-boat Days were held at Barnsley, Castleford, Dewsbury, Harro gate, Hull, Keighley, Mytholmroyd, Mirfield," Mareden, Slaithwaite, North' allerton, Noiton, Rotherham, Robin Hood's Bay, .Saltburn, Sedburgh, Sheffield, Saddleworth, Staithes and Runswick, Settle, Sowerby Bridge, Trawden, Thirsk, Todmorden, Whitby..