THIS is the story of the Blackpool Life- boat Band, which is very proud of being the only Life-boat Band in the world.

Blackpool was a very different place forty-two years ago from the popular seaside resort of to-day, and the mem- bers of the Life-boat Crew, finding that the winter evenings dragged heavilyapproached the Coxswain — '; Bob " Bickerstaffe—and suggested that they should form a brass band. The sugges- tion was not without its humorous side, for not one man knew a single note of music or possessed an instrument of any kind, neither had they the necessary money to purchase them, and the Coxswain's reply was that " To get music out of a fisherman would be harder than getting blood out of a stone." But Bob Bickerstaffe's heart was not of stone. He sought out his cousins John and Tom Bickerstaffe, a subscription list was started, and before long the| Life-boat Band became an accomplished I fact.

i Since that day the Band has been , much more than a hobby to the Crew of ; the Blackpool Life-boat, and has en- ! abled them to raise large sums of money for various charitable causes and good works. It was in 1895 that a terrible disaster befell the fishing industry at the neighbouring port of Fleetwood. Seven fishing boats went down, and thirty-three children lost their fathers in one stormy night. The Life-boat Band acted at once. It paraded Blackpool's streets and collected money with such success that a tour of the Lancashire towns was organised. It played morning, noon, and night outside the mills and work- shops, in the market places, and where- ever crowds assembled, until sufficient money was raised to meet all claims upon the fund which had meantime been opened. Much charity work was under- taken during the Boer War, but during the Great War of 1914-1918 there was no band. Almost every member of it volunteered and was accepted for war service. At different times the Life-boat Band has visited Manchester, Birming- ham, Newcastle - on - Tyne, Sheffield, Leicester, Nottingham, and other places, each member giving his services in the cause of some deserving object.

There are still six of the original mem- bers playing in the band, which has now become one of Blackpool's proud insti- tutions, and every year it is to be found leading the Mayoral procession to Church on " Mayor's Sunday," and playing at the annual Armistice Day service at the foot of Blackpool's war memorial on Princess Parade.

The photograph of the Band, which appears with this article, was taken recently, when Alderman Sir John Bickerstafie, J.P., presented new uni- forms to the men in honour of the knighthood which he had just received.

Born at Blackpool seventy-eight years ago, he spent his youth in the boats owned by his father, and on the sands, ; which no man has since done more to • popularise. He was one of the first volunteers of Blackpool's original Life- boat—the Robert William—and has j been out to four rescues. The first was in 1864, the year in which the Station was established, when he was sixteen years of age. On that occasion the crew [: of the French brig St. Michael was brought ashore in a high sea, and two 1 members of the Blackpool Life-boat Crew, who were placed on board, safely took the vessel into Fleetwood. The following year he was one of the Crew j that was out on service for twenty- | eight hours when the barque Lexington, : of Nassau, ran on a sandbank.

Another memorable night was in 1892, ! when the Siren was being hopelessly buffeted about by the waves which were breaking with tremendous force over i the promenade. It was impossible to I launch the Life-boat, and all that the j Crew could do was to stand by. The i Siren was washed towards the shore and ! struck the stanchions of the North Pier j with great force. Sir John was among ; the rescuers who carried the ship- wrecked crew into safety whilst the pier I rocked and cracked, and, just as the last man was saved, collapsed into the waves, i The most famous of these services was : in 1897, when the old wooden battleship ! Foudroyant, Lord Nelson's flagship, which had been towed round the coast for the purpose of exhibition, was over- taken by a sudden gale. She was at anchor off Blackpool, but was driven ashore, and the Life-boat rescued the twenty-eight men on board; the Fovd- royant herself became a total wreck.

Altogether the Blackpool Life-boats have been out on service thirty-eight times and have rescued 130 lives..