THE thirty-five women launchers of Boulmer were represented at the Annual Meeting by Miss N. Stephenson, the daughter of the Coxswain, and Mrs. B.

Stanton, the wife of the Second Coxswain. During their stay in London they were the guests of the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland at their house in Prince's Gate.

On the morning of the day of the meeting, they went to the Cenotaph and laid a wreath there with the inscription, " In memory of the men of Boulmer who fell in the Great War. From the inhabitants of Boulmer, Northumber- land." After the meeting they were taken by Mrs. Hilton Philipson, M.P., for Ber- wick, in whose constituency Boulmer lies, to see the House of Commons, and in the evening, together with Coxswain Cross, Coxswain Dobson and Coxswain Fleming, they were the guests of Sir Oswald Stoll at the Coliseum, where, each year for a number of years, the Coxswains and Life-boatmen attending the Annual Meeting to be decorated have been entertained.

The previous evening Coxswain Cross and Coxswain Dobson were entertained at the Polytechnic, where they saw Major Court Treatt's film " Cape to Cairo." Neither of the two Boulmer women had previously been further south than the Tyne. What they had most looked forward to, they said, was their visit to the Cenotaph, and one of the things which most impressed them was the crowd of pressmen and photographers waiting to meet them when they arrived in London.At the Alnwick Annual Meeting.

Before the two representatives of the Boulmer women attended the Annual Meeting, all the women were present at the Annual Meeting of the Alnwick Branch, at which Mr. Arthur Schole- field, Chairman of the Alnmouth and Boulmer Branch, presided, and the Duke of Northumberland, a Vice-President of the Institution, and President of theAlnwick and Newcastle - on - Tyne Branches, presented them with the Vellum of Thanks, and paid a tribute to their " splendid gallantry and endur- ance." The Vellum was received by Mrs. John Stanton, the senior member of the body of women launchers. Before the meeting, which was largely attended, they were entertained to tea by the Alnwick Ladies' Life-boat Guild, and after it attended a film entertainment specially arranged for them. The Sew-castle Daily Journal thus described the visit:— " Naturally, the first question to be asked by any inquiring mind with some knowledge of Boulmer would be how many Stephensons and how many Stantons were in the visiting team ? There were nine and eight respectively, and the number was made up with Hollands, Gairs, Strakers, etc. Theirages ranged from 16 to 65, and their raiment from the sober black of middle age—65 counts as middle age in Boulmer —to the plum-coloured, fur-collared coats of youth, with silk stockings and patent-leather shoes to match. Gathered in the old Market Place of Alnwick, these matrons and maidens presented a very comely picture of healthy, Northumbrian femininity, yet it was a little difficult, as one looked approvingly at the fresh bloom on the faces of thegrey-eyed younger generation, to picture them on that wild and bitter December night hauling the Boulmer Life-boat from its house to the launching place.

" Nothing could have been more appropriate than the presentation of the Royal National Life-boat Institution's tribute at the annual meeting of the Alnwick Branch. It infused a spirit oil adventurous realism into what might iotherwise have been a rather prosaic business meeting, and it certainly brought home to an inland populace a knowledge of how their donations and subscriptions are being devoted to the saving of life." An Old Northumbrian's Tribute.

After the Annual Meeting, the Institu- tion received a letter from a lady, ninety-one years old, who is now living in Surrey, but was born in Northumber-land, in 1835, when the Institution was only eleven years old. She sent a con- tribution to the funds of the Institution, and with it this tribute of pride and affection to the women of her old county which she left many years ago :— " I read with the greatest interest the account in the Morning Post of the 35 women at Boulmer who got out the Life-boat on a December night, and that you are going to express your appreciation of their bravery. I am a Northumbrian woman, born two years before our beloved Queen Victoria came to the throne. I lived there (in North- umberland) for nearly 40 years, and still keep the memory of the good brave women I knew in those days, and am so glad there are still some like them.

" I remember seeing the Life-boats and rockets in use at Tynemouth before the North and South Piers were built, and once, unhappily, saw a vessel with all on board lost in one of the rough N.E.

seas—so you will understand why I always read about Northumberland and the Life-boats. I have seen Hamburgh and Grace Darling's home, and Alnwick, that of the Duchess of Northumberland, who is taking an interest also in this case.

" I wish I could send you a donation for each of the 35, but reduced income and other claims prevent this, but enclosed mite will just show that, although far away, my dear old county is still remembered. If you have an opportunity to privately tell your two "visitors how I have thought of them I will be glad. Wishing your Society great success.

" P.S.—You can either let the money help to entertain them here or go to the funds of the Society as you think best. Excuse my shaky writing.".