LIFEBOAT MAGAZINE ARCHIVE

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How the Money Comes: How the Money Goes

IT comes daily from all parts of the British Isles, and not a week passes without bringing some gift from over- seas. It comes in all forms, from cheques and postal orders, to boxes of coins and packets of foreign stamps for the Institution to sell. Here are some of the gifts received recently which show their great variety.

The officers and men of the battleship Ramillies sent a cheque for £65 (one of the many cheques which come to the Institution from the Navy, Army and Air Force all over the world), and an anonymous gift of five shillings was sent from New York by " an American Sea- man." From the Hamburg owners of an oil-tanker whose passengers and crew were rescued by the motor life-boat at the Lizard came £30, in gratitude; and from Northern Ireland has come 25s. from the sale of home-made jams.

The regimental sergeant-major of the first battalion of the Nigeria regiment has sent £7 10*. Od., which was half the proceeds of a cinema entertainment arranged by the battalion, and the children of a Lancashire elementary school (one of many schools which help the service) sent 2s. lid., after reading about the bravery of life-boat- men in the gales of the past winter.

How the Money Goes.

Such are a very few of the ways in which the money comes. Here is a glimpse, from a life-boat station on the south coast of England, showing one of the many ways in which .the money goes. It is the honorary secre- tary speaking: " I managed to pay quarterly salaries to the officers of the life-boat and annual pensions in one afternoon.

The old bowman was carpentering.

The old coxswain ditto. The second coxswain was bringing home withies for lobster pots. The first signaller was on his bicycle going home. The oil man was having his tea. The lightman told me smugglers' stories and escapes. These are just touches to show how the money passes from you to the men. They were delighted.".