THE annual meeting was held at the Central Hall, Westminster, on the 20th of March, 1953, with Sir Godfrey Baring, Bt., K.B.E., chairman of the Committee of Management, in the chair.

H.R.H. the Duchess of Kent, Presi- dent of the Institution, presented the medals for gallantry, and other awards, and gave her presidential address.

The Right Hon. J. P. L. Thomas, M.P., First Lord of the Admiralty, proposed, and Lord Latham seconded, the resolution of gratitude to the cox- swains and crews of the life-boats, the honorary officers and committee of the stations, and the honorary officers and members of the financial branches and Ladies' Life-boat Guild. Captain Lord Teynham, D.S.O., D.S.C., R.N., and Mr. Hugh Astor, members of the Committee of Management, proposed and seconded the vote of thanks to the Duchess of Kent.

Supporting the Duchess of Kent on the platform were the Mayor and Mayoress of Westminster, the Vice- chairman of the London County Council, the Mayors and Mayoresses of over forty branches, representatives of the Ministry of Transport, the Coastguard, the Civil Service Life-boat Fund, the Shipwrecked Mariners Society, King George's Fund for Sailors, vice-presidents and honorary life-governors of the Institution, donors of life-boats or their representatives, members of the Committee of Manage- ment of the Institution and the chairman and deputy-chairmen of the Central London Women's Committee.

The Chairman's Address We meet today to receive the report, and present the medals for gallantry, of the busiest year which the Life-boat Service has ever had in time of peace. We meet under the shadow of heavy loss. Last year one life-boatman lost his life, out of over 5,000 who went to sea. This year we have already lost eight of our men, all Scotsmen. Two were from our crew at Islay. Six were men of Fraserburgh where the life-boat capsized, as she was entering harbour in a heavy sea, with the loss of all but one of her crew. The dangers are always there. The risks are willingly taken. But we must keep them in proper perspective. During the past twenty- five years there has been one capsize for every 2,000 times that life-boats have gone to the We welcome today two speakers whom we are very glad to have with us. The first is Mr. Thomas, the First Lord of the Admir- alty, who, though he is still young, as we reckon the age of politicians, has behind him twenty years of membership in the House of Commons, and has held many offices of great distinction. We are very grateful to him for sparing some time to speak at this meet- ing on the work of what the Navy has called its ' sister service '.

Our second speaker is Lord Latham. It is very good of him to celebrate his freedom from his onerous work as Chairman of the London Transport Executive, by coming to our meeting. The Life-boat Service cannot claim to carry so many people as London Transport—although our boats carry a great many—but it has one great advantage. It is under no necessity to charge even the moderate fares of London Transport.

Lastly, I should like on behalf of us all to give a specially warm welcome to our Presi- dent, so recently returned from the important national service which she carried out with such conspicuous success in Malaya. (Ap- plause.) It was an arduous and dangerous service and we are very glad to see Her Royal Highness safely home again.

In this Coronation Year we feel more than ever grateful for all that the Royal Family has done for the Life-boat Service during the 129 years that the Institution has been in existence.

The report and accounts for 1952 are before you. You will, I hope, have read them with interest and approval. I now formally move their adoption.

The Report, Accounts and Elections The report and accounts for 1952 were adopted, and the President, vice-presidents, treasurer and other members of the Com- mittee of Management and the auditors were elected.

Presentation of Medals and Badges The Secretary read accounts of services by the life-boats at Margate, Kent; Ramsgate, Kent; Stornoway, Outer Hebrides; Donagha- dee, County Down; and Portpatrick, Wig- townshire ; of a shore-boat service at Shellness, Isle of Sheppey; and of the work of two of the women launchers at Dungeness. The Duchess then presented the medals to the men and gold badges to the two women.

To COXSWAIN DENIS RICHARD PRICE, OF MARGATE, KENT, the silver medal for the rescue in a whole gale on the morning of the 7th of November, 1952. of the crew of two of the barge Vera, of London.

To COXSWAIN DOUGLAS KIRKALDIE, OF RAMSGATE, KENT, the bronze medal for the rescue on the afternoon of the 20th of August, 1952, of the crew of the United States steamer Western Farmer, of New York, which had broken in two after a collision with the Norwegian tanker Bjorgholm.

To COXSWAIN MALCOLM MACDONALD, OF STORNOWAY, OUTER HEBRIDES, the bronze medal for a service lasting more than twenty- one hours on the 18th and 19th of September, 1952, in which four men marooned on rocks were rescued.

To COXSWAIN HUGH NELSON, OF DONAGHA- DEE, Co. DOWN, the bronze medal for the rescue on the 31st of January, 1953, in heavy seas and a full gale increasing to hurricane force, of thirty-one survivors from the motor ferry Princess Victoria, of Stranraer.

To COXSWAIN WILLIAM MCCONNELL, OF PORTPATHICK, WIGTOWNSHIRE, the bronze medal for the rescue of two survivors from the Princess Victoria on the same occasion.

To MR. TONY METCALFE, OF SIDCUP, KENT, the bronze medal for putting out single- handed in a choppy sea in his 10-feet motor dinghy to rescue a man and a boy from a sailing boat which had capsized off the Isle of Sheppey.

To Miss MADGE TART, LAUNCHER OF DUNGENESS, KENT, the gold badge for service of some fifty years as a launcher of the Dungeness life-boat.

To MRS. ELLEN' TART, LAUNCHER OF DUNGENESS, KENT, the gold badge for service of some fifty years as a launcher of the Dungeness life-boat.

The Duchess of Kent Our meeting here today is overshadowed by the tragic disaster which only a few weeks ago befell the Fraserburgh life-boat, when six out of the seven members of its crew were lost when escorting fishing boats back to harbour. Tragedies of such a grave character within the Service are fortunately rare, but when they occur they remind us of the great and terrible dangers which the men of the life-boat crews throughout the country must encounter in the normal course of their duties; and I would not wish to let this opportunity pass without extending my very deep sym- pathy, and that of everyone at this meeting, to the families and friends of these gallant men.

Founded 129 years ago, the Life-boat Insti- tution was from that moment fortunate in receiving the patronage of the Sovereign, for in the year of its foundation King George IV became its first patron. This connection of the Sovereign with the Service has con- tinued unbroken ever since, and we are proud that our present Queen is the eighth Sovereign to be the Institution's Patron.

Queen Victoria was Patron throughout the 63 years of her reign, and there is still today a life-boat on the coast bearing her name, as I trust there always will be. The Queen Victoria life-boats have rescued over 220 lives.

As Prince of Wales, King Edward VII took a close and personal interest in the Service, and was the first member of the Royal Family to speak at its annual meeting. It was he who said what I think all of us have felt: " This is one of the noblest and finest services to which a human being can belong." King George V was not only President of the Institution, and then its Patron, but before that, as a Captain in the Royal Navy, lie had served as a member of the Committee ,of Management. Today, Queen Mary, as one of our Patrons, has been associated with the Service for 57 years—only six years less than Queen Victoria.

When Sir William Hillary founded the Life-boat Service he used the memorable words: " It is a cause which extends from the Palace to the cottage." I am very proud of my connexion with the Service as its President, and, as in former years, I -would remind you of the immense debt owed by all of us to the crews of the life-boats, and to those who, through their voluntary work, help to maintain the Service as the finest of its kind in the world. (Applause.) Mr. J. P. L. Thomas, M.P.

I beg to move the following resolution: " That this meeting, fully recognising the important services of the Royal National Life-boat Institution, in its national work of life-saving, desires to record its hearty appre- ciation of the gallantry of the Coxswains and Crews of the Institution's Life-boats, and its deep obligation to the Local Committees, Honorary Secretaries, and Honorary Treas- urers of all Station Branches, and to the Honorary Officers and thousands of Voluntary Members of the Financial Branches and of the Ladies' Life-boat Guild in the work of raising funds to maintain the Service." As Sir Godfrey Baring told you, I have been in the House of Commons for 20 years.

He is one year out. It is now, I am afraid, 21 years, so I have the latch key of parliamen- tary life. As Lord Latham, who was once a colleague of mine in the House of Commons, knows, latch keys of parliamentary life are not, I am afraid, recognized by the Govern- ment or Opposition Whips so far as atten- dance is concerned. So, I am delighted to be able to come to this afternoon's meeting and to say to you that during these 21 years inside Parliament and outside Parliament, I have had to move a good many resolutions of appreciation and of votes of thanks. I wish I could honestly say that they had all been honestly made with never a tongue in my cheek, but you know quite well, as so many of you have done the same thing, there does come a time when, to put it politely, an overstatement on the virtues of the people whom you are thanking is some- times forced upon you. But today there can be no overstatement because I know that the Royal National Life-boat Institution, its boats, its coxswains and its crews, are second to none where our admiration and our grati- tude are concerned. My only fear in moving a resolution like this is that one does not do justice to it.

Everybody expects danger in war. I can- not say we like it, but we try and take it philosophically, but certainly, to put it mildly, it is rather a bore when you have to meet it in peace. In the work of the Life- boat Service, as so many of you here today know better than I do myself, there is always that danger; there is always that need for courage, whether it is in times of war or times of peace. The danger may come at any time. I have been studying your record, Your Royal Highness, and the life-boats went out to the rescue 057 times, nearly twice as many times as they went out 20 years ago. You may put it down to the weather, and the weather certainly has been a bit changeable, as you and I know, during the past year, but I am afraid I have also found that a very large number of calls, and more than ever before, have been sent out for the services of life-boats on summer holidays, from holidaymakers and from small craft in difficulties. There has also been an increas- ing number of calls from aeroplanes.

I think I should say a word in passing about the accidents amongst holidaymakers in those summer months. Some, I know, are inevitable, but many of these accidents are due to carelessness, and I think we should do all we can to drum into the minds of those holidaymakers that in risking their own lives they are inevitably risking the lives of others who have to attempt to, or succeed in, rescuing them. So, it is no excuse for people to say that during the rescue of 346 lives last year the life of only one life-boatman was involved. That is merely a tribute to the skill of the life-boatmen themselves, but this year, Your Royal Highness, we have had to face worse weather than usual. We have grumbled about the fog on our way home at night. We have grumbled about the frost and snow which has kept us from our amusements, we have railed against the wind that has brought down our shrubs and brought down our trees, but after all, how very little in all those difficulties and dis- comforts we have to endure compared with the men about whom I am speaking today! I have been given the figures for the last 25 years of life-boat rescues. They tell not only a very moving tale of the calibre and skill of the men, but they also tell you about the seaworthiness of the life-boats themselves, and that is a tremendous tribute to those who built them. During these 25 years life-boats have been out to the rescue 12,500 times, yet they have averaged only one capsize in every 2,000 times that those boats have gone out. What a record that is, and what a tribute to the builders of the boats and to the skill of the men who man them! One hundred thousand men have done this work, and tragic though the loss of 44 lives must always be, it is a remarkably small figure when you think of all the men involved. What abundant proof of the quality both of the men and of the boats! I suppose we are inclined to look upon our life-boats as a national service. But there is something much wider than that. They serve ships equally courageously, equally whole-heartedly, whatever the nation may be to which those ships belong, irrespective of creed, irrespective of colour. There are 18 different foreign nations in this last year alone who have reason to be grateful to our life-boats for the 61 foreign ships that they have helped.

There are also the many people, some of them mentioned this afternoon, who helped to launch the boats and again helped them on their return. It is seldom that these helpers hit the headlines, but their work is of the very greatest importance and without their aid there would be occasions when the life-boats could not put to sea or could not return in safety. The second half of this resolution deals with the people behind the Life-boat Institution. Where should we all be without them? Where, indeed, Your Royal Highness, should we be without you yourself, because you are the inspiration of this Insti- tution. (Applause.) Coming from the Admiralty, I have proofs of the inspiration which you give to other sections of the Hoyal Naval Service. We are conscious of the flag sellers—at least, I hope we are—risking pneumonia at the usual British street corners, but think of the thousands of thousands of people behind even them, behind the scenes, who give up their free time—and there is less free time than ever today, I say bitterly as a bachelor, in the domestic world—to keep this organization running on smooth lines and to raise the money.

Then, there is the task of raising money in times like these. Money is a good deal shorter in these postwar years amongst many people who used to contribute very generously —because they had the means to do so. quite apart from their generosity of heart— towards the funds of this Institution. Then, look at the very short way money goes today with the present prices of materials. Twenty years ago the largest life-boat in the fleet cost £9,000. Today it costs £31,000. The total cost of the Life-boat Service was a quarter of a million pounds 20 years ago; last year it was three quarters of a million.

I do not want to end this speech, coming as I do from the Admiralty, without men- tioning the link between the Royal Navy and the Life-boat Service in war and in peace.

I am glad to see that in the different messages of congratulations and thanks which I have read from the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to the Life-boat Institution, the life-boatmen are always referred to as brother sailors. There can be no greater tribute, I assure you, to those life-boatmen than that. In peace-time I have picked out two memories of the help that these seamen of yours give to the other seamen.

The first was when the life-boats went out to that gallant old lady, Warspite, who was so determined not to reach the knacker's yard that she put herself on the rocks at St. Michael's Mount; the second the appalling tragedy of the submarine Truculent when she sank in the Thames in 1950.

Through the long period of 129 years this Institution has watched the life-boat change from a rowing boat made buoyant with cork, emptied of water with baling tins, to the modern type driven by 60 horse-power diesel engines. What a difference there is! But, throughout the years one thing has re- mained the same. The Service has depended through those years on voluntary crews, and those voluntary crews have depended upon voluntary subscriptions. So. today. I move this resolution of deep gratitude to one of our greatest national services not supported by the State, but approved whole-heartedly by all political parties, a voluntary society directly supported by the public itself. The best reward that we can give to these brave people and to the band of those devoted workers behind them, is to see that in these voluntary subscriptions, at least, we do not let them down. Your Royal Highness, I beg to move. (Applause.) Lord Latham I think perhaps in the interests of my own personal safety I should say at the outset that although I am still chairman of the London Transport, I am not here in that capacity this afternoon and all questions about the modest fares of London Transport are out of order.

I feel greatly privileged, Your Royal Highness, to have been asked to second this resolution of gratitude to the coxswains and crews and to the numerous men and women of goodwill who give honorary service in raising funds to maintain our fine life-boat service and in many other ways to promote and to sustain its work. The First Lord of the Admiralty has submitted this resolution so felicitously and so comprehensively that there is no need for me to make a long speech which, perhaps, in these days of hurry and press is not a disadvantage, but I am sure that you will all feel with me that seldom can there be an occasion when our gratitude is more well merited.

The life-boat crews stationed around our shores are, and always have been, a gallant company of brave men who risk their lives and at times give their lives, as witness the tragedy at Fraserburgh and the loss of eight lives this year in the service of their fellow men when in danger from the cruel and relentless sea. The brief accounts—indeed one might well say, epics—to which we have listened this afternoon of the services of those who have earned the medals graciously presented by Her Royal Highness have moved us to great pride and deep humility.

We have all been greatly impressed by the bravery and skill of Tony Metcalfe, who is a splendid example of the quality of our youth and, indeed, is an inspiration to adults. (Applause.) So is the devotion of Miss Tart and Mrs. Tart to arduous and hazardous duty at Dungeness over well nigh half a century. (Applause.) We all salute and pay respectful homage to them all.

I am sure that those who have received the medals would wish to include all those hundreds of other crews who no less have done their duty and are honoured and remem- bered by those they have succoured and brought to safety. The quality of devotion of life-boat crews is all the higher when we remember that they are all volunteers, many of them fishermen. (Applause.) They are men who, going about their daily tasks, may at any time, and more often than not in heavy seas and at great danger, be called away at a moment's notice to rescue seamen and nowadays airmen and others in distress.

The fine principle of voluntary service extends throughout the National Life-boat Institution.

It embraces thousands of workers up and down the country working through a thou- sand financial branches which in 1952 brought in no less than £100,000, £5,000 more than in 1951. (Applause.) That is surely a great achievement in these days of almost universal personal financial stringency.

Here we have in happy and successful co- operation two groups of workers, both volun- tary, the one the workers, helping to gather in money from year to year to maintain and expand the Life-boat Service, and the other the coxswains and crews, who man the boats.

That this should be so is a worthy testimony to the fine spirit of voluntary service which is traditional with us in this country and which, notwithstanding the progressive ex- tension of services provided by the State, still flourishes and still brings in a magnitude of ways to our collective life so much that is kindly and so much that is expressive of personal goodwill to one another. I am sure that we all say, long may this spirit of personal service flourish among us, for without it life and its graces would, indeed, be much poorer. (Applause.) For 129 years the Royal National Life-boat Institution has remained efficient and finan- cially sound without Government support 01 subsidy of any kind, a really great achieve- ment. (Applause.) Indeed, the quality of the organization and its services rests essen- tially on its voluntary character, and no one would seriously suggest in the presence of its fine work and achievement that this should be changed to become part of a State Department or other central organiza- tion. Maintained by voluntary contribu- tions and people's voluntary work, the Institution has carried on developing, modernizing and improving its great humane and varied services which over the years have saved countless lives. Our life-boat services are a great pride to us and they are known and esteemed wherever men go down to the sea in ships.

In wishing the Institution and all associated with it continued and abundant success, I beg leave, Your Royal Highness, with every sincerity, to second the motion. (Applause.) Presentation to Honorary Workers The Secretary of the Institution said: Since the last annual meeting three honor- ary workers have been appointed honorary life governors of the Institution. This is the highest honour which it can confer on an honorary worker, and the appointment is accompanied by a vellum signed by the President of the Institution.

Two of the three are here this afternoon: MR. P. M. OLIVER, OF MANCHESTER.

Miss F. M. POLE, OF NEATH.

The gold badge, which is given only for distinguished service, has been awarded to the following honorary workers: Miss A. H. DOLMAN, OF ABERTILLEBY.

Miss A. WATERS, OF ABERTILLERY.

LADY Row ALLAN, OF KILMARNOCK.

MRS. A. HORROCKS, OF LEIGH.

Miss A. E. BOWLER, OF LIVERPOOL.

MRS. R. PUGH, OF RHYL.

MRS. W. M. AINSWORTH, OF TOTTINGTON.

MRS. G. M. SMETHURST, OF TOTTINGTON.

MR. J. S. DUNCAN, OF WICK.

MRS. M. SUTTON, OF WRAGBY.

The Duchess of Kent presented the vellums and badges.

Captain Lord Teynham, R.N.

I beg to move the following resolution: "That the hearty thanks of this meeting be given to H.R.H. The Duchess of Kent for graciously presenting the awards at this the hundred and twenty-ninth Annual General Meeting of the Royal National Life-boat Institution." (Applause.) I cannot imagine a more honourable and welcome duty than to be called upon to propose a vote of thanks to Her Royal Highness who, together with her late husband, Prince George, Duke of Kent, has done so much for this great Institution. Her Royal Highness has told us how many years the Royal Family have been associated with the Institution, and I would like to remind you particularly that the Duke of Kent became President in the year 1937, and that he had previously taken a very active part in its work for no less than nine years and had attended and addressed a number of our annual meetings. On these occasions he met and talked with men from the life-boat crews and presented them with the medals awarded for gallantry.

In addition to all this work, and the many other calls upon his time, he managed to get about the country and name life-boats at no less than ten stations, as far apart as Weston-super-Mare in Somerset and Strom- ness and Longhope in the Orkneys. In the year before the war he had to say good-bye to the Institution as its President because he had to become the Governor of Australia, but all, of course, was changed by the war and he had to take up other duties. In July, 1942, he presented at Plymouth the bronze medal won by the coxswain of the Plymouth life-boat for the rescue of the crew of an Australian aircraft, and this was the last public act that he was able to carry out for the Institution.

In the same year Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of Kent, accepted the invitation of the Institution to become its President and to carry on the great work of her husband.

In so doing she became the first woman President, and the sixth Royal President of the Institution. (Applause.) I need hardly remind you that Her Royal Highness has been present at nearly all our annual meetings and presented the medals awarded for gallantry. She was only absent on one occasion, owing to illness. In 1945, some of you may remember, she attended the first full meeting that had been held since 1939, and at that memorable meeting pre- sented the eight gold medals which had been won for conspicuous gallantry during the war.

In spite of all Her Royal Highness's many other activities, she has been able to find time to visit many life-boat stations. She has named six life-boats. On that lament- able occasion when the Mumbles boat cap- sized in 1947 she visited the widows of the men who had lost their lives.

Her Royal Highness has found time to take an interest in many of our practical affairs and has visited the Institution's depot at Boreham Wood, where she inspected the whole outfit and saw the work in every depart- ment. I think it is very likely that Her Royal Highness knows as much as, if not more, than many of us on this platform today about the work of the Institution, and I am sure you will all join with me in thank- ing her for coming here again today and gracing us with her presence and for the excellent and moving address which she has given us. I beg to move. (Applause.) Mr. Hugh Astor It is a great honour and privilege for me to be able to second the vote of thanks to our President, which has just been proposed by Lord Teynham, and which we all so warmly endorse. We have been reminded by Lord Teynham of the active and vital interest with which our President fulfils her office, and I am sure that many of us in this hall who are associated in one way or another with the work of the Institution can add many other examples of that interest from our own personal experiences.

When Her Royal Highness accepted the ollice of President in 1942, she expressed the desire to meet as soon as possible after the war members of the crews from many differ- ent parts of the country, to thank them for their gallant services in those critical years of the war. We all know how enthusiastic- ally and energetically she has set about achieving that wish. In addition to visiting many stations on different parts of the coast and attending many naming and launching ceremonies, she has attended nearly all the annual meetings, and in the course of those meetings she has met crews from 27 different stations from all parts of the British Isles.

At one of those meetings Her Royal Highness expressed her pride at being associated with a Service which was so rightly famed through- out the world, and on another occasion she referred to the almost inexhaustible bravery of the service.

May I, in reply, say how proud we are to have her as our President and how grateful we arc for her great and continuing interest in our work? Nearly 130 years ago our founder, Sir William Hillary, expressed the belief that this was a cause which would appeal to palace and cottage. How right he has been proved! From the time of its foundation, and through- out its history, the Institution has been assisted and encouraged by the ample support and patronage of many members of the Royal Family, and we are indeed very grateful to Her Royal Highness for carrying on this fine tradition.

It is my privilege to second the vote of thanks and to thank Her Royal Highness for her continued interest in our work and for her gracious presence at this our one hundred and twenty-ninth Annual General Meeting.

(Applause.) The resolution was carried with acclama- tion, and three cheers were given for the Duchess.

After the Meeting In the evening the medallists and their families saw the variety per- formance at the Palladium. In the interval the men were asked to stand and were applauded by the audience..