A CONFERENCE of branches and guilds from seven counties in the South West of England—Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Wiltshire, Dorset, Berkshire, Oxford- shire and East Somerset—was held at Southampton on the 13th June, 1939.

Sir Godfrey Baring, Bt., chairman of the Institution, presided, supported by Lieut.-Colonel C. R. Satterthwaite, O.B.E., secretary.

Delegates were present from the following branches and Ladies' Life- boat Guild: Andover and Whitchurch, Eastleigh, Hayling Island, Liss (Petersfield), Ring- wood, Cowes, East and West, Calne, Blandford, Poole, Bicester, Bath, Bournemouth, Fareham, Fleet, Lym- ington, Portsmouth and Havant, Southampton, Winchester, Ryde, Yar- mouth, Salisbury, Trowbridge, Sher- borne, Swanage, Weymouth, Reading, Oxford, Thame, and Yeovil.

The Mayor and Mayoress of South- ampton welcomed the delegates, and the Mayor presented to Mr. C. J. Sharp the vellum, signed by H.R.H'. The Duke of Kent, K.G., President of the Insti- tution, recording his election as an hon- orary life governor of the Institution on his retirement after twenty-three years as chairman of the Southampton branch.

After the conference the delegates went for trips in the Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, motor life-boat. Special buses had been provided free by the Southampton Corporation, and the delegates were admitted to the pier without charge by the kindness of the Harbour Board..