H.R.H. THE DUCHESS OF KENT, Presi- dent of the Institution, attended the annual general meeting of the governors of the Institution at the Central Hall, Westminster, on the 6th of March, 1961, and presented medals for gallantry and other awards. Reporting on the past year's work, Earl Howe, Chairman of the Committee of Management, said: " You will see from the report that our life-boats last year were launched 714 times. That is not a record; it is not so high as it was in 1959, which was an exceptional year in every sense of the word. But to get things in their true proportion, I would like to quote you another figure. Between the wars the average number of service launches was 416, so that you will see that today we launch 300 times more often than we did in between the wars. I think that is a very good measure of the immensity of the task of the Royal National Life- boat Institution. Last year the life-boats saved 367 people. There were also 103 more who were saved by the efforts of shore boats.

Master of Tanker and Carpenter "Later on Your Royal Highness will be presenting medals for gallantry to two men who are not members of life- boat crews. One is the master of a tanker and the other a carpenter who had little knowledge of boats. As you will hear when the accounts are read out, these two men put out at great risk to them- selves in a dinghy and saved a man's life.

Ever since this Institution was founded in 1824 it has had as one of its primary tasks the encouragement of people who, seeing or hearing that someone is in danger at sea, put out in their own boats or in their friends' boats to the rescue.

This extremely important part of our work is one aspect of the voluntary service which this Institution exists to encourage and promote.

"However, our main task is, of course, the running of a life-boat service. In this, we are fortunate in having such wonderful volunteer crews everywhere, including the Irish Re- pubh'c, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, the Orkneys and Shetlands. We could not ask for finer men, and once again their achievements last year were altogether splendid. But it is our duty, those of us who serve on the Committee of Management and others, to make sure that these men have the best boats and the best equipment which science, skill and money can provide, and that everything possible should be done to enable our life-boats to be launched quickly, efficiently and with the mini- mum hazard. In previous years I have been able to tell you of some of our big new undertakings, particularly the con- struction of a new life-boat station on the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall and a comparable task of building a new boathouse and slipway at Selsey. In the past year these big and very expensive works were virtually completed at a cost of £167,000 and will certainly serve to promote the efficiency of the service.

"The boat-building programme has to go on year after year in order to replace boats that are getting out of date or to a certain extent require replace- ment. Last year five new life-boats were completed at a total cost of £185,000.

New devices are developed, new equip- ment brought into use, constant changes are being made. Already an appreciable number of our new boats of the larger types have been fitted with wheelhouses, and wheelhouses are being added to many of our existing boats. Then a small and rather interesting device was adopted last year which may be of interest to you: this is the fitting of lights which are automatically activated in water to all the life-jackets in use in the service. This means that if a man goes overboard at night, even though he is unconscious and unable to help him- self, the light will be visible. This may not seem a big thing, but it might easily serve to save a life. We are fitting a number of our boats with echo sounders —I expect from the name you under- stand what they are. They are very largely used in the fishing fleets and they are already proving their worth as aids to navigation. I quote these things to you because I think they may be of interest to you and will show you that we are always trying to increase the efficiency of our boats and our crews.

Receipts less than Payments "Of course, it means that a great deal of money has to be spent and corres- pondingly a great deal has to be raised.

Here I have to report that last year, once again, our receipts did not come up to our payments. There was in fact a deficit of £11,000. This may not seem a very big amount in relation to a figure of over £1 million a year, which is what we have to raise, but our reserves are not great, and it is of course essential that we should try every year to make both ends meet. We nearly did last year, and that was due to the wonderful work done by our branches and particularly by our ladies' life-boat guilds every- where. I simply cannot speak too highly of the devotion and the efforts of our voluntary workers, both men and women, and, I think I may be pardoned for saying so, especially the women.

It is beyond all praise. Last year, our branches and guilds raised over £36,000 more than they did the year before. To all of them and to everyone who assisted in this I would like indeed to say thank you. It is because of what you have done that the service has prospered and has achieved so much".

Lord Howe formally welcomed H.R.H. the Duchess of Kent, the Presi- dent of the Institution; the guest speaker, Mr. Harold Watkinson, Minister of Defence, and Mrs. Watkinson; and other distinguished guests including the Irish Ambassador and Mrs.

McCann; Mr. Henry Clark, Member of Parliament for Northern Antrim, and the Chairman of the London County Council.

The report and accounts for 1960 were adopted, and the president, vice- presidents, treasurer and other members of the Committee of Management and the auditors were elected.

Mr. Harold Watkinson then moved the following resolution: "That this meeting, fully recog- nising the important services of the Royal National Life-boat Institution in its national work of life-saving, desires to record its hearty apprecia- tion of the gallantry of the coxswains and crews of the Institution's life- boats, and its deep obligation to the local committees, honorary secre- taries, and honorary treasurers 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 main- tain the service".

In doing so he said: "I would like to say how honoured I am to have this task. Statistics are very misleading things, and in a world where nobody seems to talk in any figure less than millions, the bald statement in the report which your Chairman has re- ferred to that the life-boat service has already saved over 80,000 lives in its history perhaps does not suggest a very large figure. But I know there are many in this hall who live rather nearer to the scene than that, and who know what it means on a dark, cold night, with a gale blowing, to have to go and face the fierceness of the sea and the risk and danger that is inherent in the calling of a service which is never short of brave men to volunteer to meet the need.

That is why I believe the service finds such a wide and devoted body of people ready to find its funds and serve it and look after it; and, much more important, why it has a very close and warm place in all our hearts.

Help given to Yachtsmen "Speaking as a small boat sailor myself, I see now that the yachtsmen are providing a fairly large number of clients for the life-boat service—perhaps that will increase—and I must say as an ex-Minister of Transport that I would not like to express my views on a suggestion which I have seen that there should be driving tests for yachtsmen.

All I will say is that it is often a very warm and pleasant thought in the heart of a yachtsman in a rough sea off-shore to know he has got the life-boat service to fall back on. But if I may make one point here, I do hope that too many yachtsmen, particularly those new to this fascinating sport, will not rely too much on the fact that if they get into trouble there is the life-boat service which will come and get them out of it, because that is, after all, not quite the task for which this great service was initially started. So there it is: a great task which always seems to branch out and expand as the years go by, always with men who come forward to do this difficult and very often dangerous job.

But to this meeting I want to say some- thing more specific. I am asked to move a resolution and you are asked to support it, a resolution pledging our- selves to support this great work. I cannot think of anything on which £1 million is better spent than this great service. I think perhaps this afternoon our task might be to try and see whether in the forthcoming year we can finally get it out of the red and raise all the money that is necessary to pay for the service year by year. We are not very short of the total now, and I think with the devoted work that this service attracts it ought not to be an impossible task to take the burden off your shoulders, Mr. Chairman, of being a little, anyway, in debt. I hope that is the task which we shall all set ourselves in the coming year.

So Many Devoted People "To sum up, I would say this. In my previous Ministry I had to read the reports of a great many life-saving operations round our coast. They were ones in which the life-boat service played a very prominent part. I will not try to mention to you this afternoon any of the individual records of heroism and bravery that I read there; they were too many anyway to mention to you.

What is important is that through it ran that particular thing which we seem to do well around these islands—I must be careful, your Excellency, about which islands!—this task which we seem to do so well, all of us, and that is to go down to the sea to rescue those who are in trouble, to cope with danger and disaster in a highly successful and seamanlike fashion. That is the task which this great Institution devotes itself to; it is a task which is supremely well carried out; it is a task which I know could not be fulfilled without the help of so many devoted people who work for the cause. Good luck and success to you all, and may the coffers next year be even more full as an encouragement to those men who do this dangerous, rewarding and wonder- ful task".

H.R.H. The Duchess of Kent then gave her presidential address. After thanking the Chairman for the welcome given to her, she said: "I can assure you that it is a very great pleasure for me to be present, once again this year, at this meeting, and that I always regard it as a privilege to be asked to present medals for gallantry on this platform.

"Last year, I presented the first gold medal for gallantry which had been won for ten years. This was to the coxswain of a Welsh life-boat, Cox- swain Richard Evans. Later on in the year I visited the Moelfre station, in Anglesey, and had a chance to talk to that magnificent crew.

Irish Medallists "This year, those members of life- boat crews who are to receive medals for gallantry are all from Ireland. One is from the Irish Republic; the others come from Portrush in Northern Ire- land. It was the Portrush life-boat which went to the rescue of the Greek vessel Argo Delos and saved the lives of fourteen Greek seamen. This is a typical example of the truly inter- national nature of the life-boat service.

"None of us who are connected with the Institution are ever likely to forget the tragic disaster at Droughty Ferry in 1959. Last year, I am thankful to say, not one member of a life-boat crew lost his life on service, and not one of our life-boats was lost or seriously damaged.

You will also be pleased to hear that a new life-boat has been sent to Broughty Ferry, and I am especially glad that I shall have the pleasure of naming her on the 15th of May. I am very much looking forward to my visit to that station.

You who are here in this hall are all connected, in one way or another, with the life-boat service, and it is a reflection of the enthusiasm felt for it all over the country that so many of you have been able to come here to-day. The life-boat service is truly one in which the whole nation can play a part. Many of you will have heard with pride the Chair- man's account of its work during this past year.

Source of Inspiration "To all of you who play your different parts—those who man the life-boats, those who work on the local com- mittees which run the stations, the volunteer members of branches, and indeed everyone to whom the life-boat service is a source of inspiration and pride—I wish every success in the coming year".

The Duchess of Kent then presented: To COXSWAIN SAMUEL CUNNINGHAM of Portrush the silver medal for the rescue of fourteen members of the crew of the Greek motor vessel Argo Delos on the 22nd of October, 1960; To SECOND COXSWAIN ROBERT McMuLLAN the bronze medal for the same service; To COXSWAIN PATRICK POWER of Dunmore East a second clasp to his bronze medal for the rescue of the only man on board a dis- abled barge on the 4th of October, 1960; To MR. THOMAS CARTER of Gloucester the silver medal for the rescue of a man who had been on board a blazing tanker in the River Severn on the 20th of October, 1960; To MR. CHARLES HENDERSON of Bishop's Stortford the silver medal for the same service.

The Duchess of Kent presented the certificate of an honorary life-governor to: MRS. O. M. LLOYD, vice-chairman of the Conway and district branch.

She presented a bar to the gold badge to: MR. R. D. BRAY (represented by MRS. V. M.

DAVIS), Bognor Regis.

She then presented gold badges to: MRS. G. TAYLOR, Altrincham, Bowdon and District; CAPTAIN G. B. PIGGOTT, Barmouth; MR. W. SMITH, Buckie; CAPTAIN J. H. EVANS, Cardigan; MRS. G. MANSELL, Central London; MR. C. J. QUINTON, Civil Service Life-boat Fund; MR. B. H. BROWN, Cullercoats; MRS. G. J. HARTLEY, Earby; MRS. P. HAMLEY-ROWAN, East Sheen and Barnes.

MRS. G. SAYERS, Epsom and District; MRS. G. F. NEWMAN, Heston and Isle- worth; MRS. G. P. LLOYD, Leominster; MRS. R. S. CARMAN, Llanelly; MRS. H. S. FORD, Margate; MRS. F. M. COALES, Newport Pagnell; MR. R. R. WILTON, Padstow; MR. A. O. KERNICK, Sennen Cove.

MR. E. SELBY DAVIDSON, Tynemouth.

Commander Oscar Henderson, a member of the Committee of Manage- ment, moved a vote of thanks to the Duchess of Kent, saying: "I move this vote of thanks to the Duchess of Kent, our President, with the very deepest sincerity, as we of the Management Committee know the great care, the interest and the time which Your Royal Highness gives to the work of the Institution. I well remember, Ma'am, how on your last visit to Belfast, you gave very strict instructions that certain of the life-boatmen should be presented to you, and I can assure you that that gesture gave very great pleasure to the men and to those who live in the little seaport from which they came, which we in our almost un- translatable language call Cloughey.

First Public Function "In 1952, when I had the honour of being associated with this resolution, Your Royal Highness brought Princess Alexandra, and I think you told us that that was the first occasion on which the Princess had ever been at a public function. Since then Her Royal High- ness has done some magnificent jobs for the country and Commonwealth. May I tell you as her mother how much pleasure the Princess's visit gave us? In fact, it made her so much one of ourselves that we frequently forget to give her V.I.P. treatment.

"In moving this vote, it is very appropriate, coming as I do from the north of Ireland, that Your Royal Highness has just honoured those brave men from Portrush for their magnificent service on what I know as a sailor to be an extremely treacherous coast. It is also fitting that another Irishman should take part in the vote, proving con- clusively that there is no division and there are no politics in the work of the saving of life at sea.

"I now beg to move this vote to Your Royal Highness from all in this hall and in fact from all of the life-boat service with our very deepest respect and our affection." Vote Seconded Seconding the vote of thanks, Com- mander A. J. O'B. Twohig, a member of the Committee of Management, said: "It is a great honour for me to be asked to second the vote of thanks to Your Royal Highness, the Duchess of Kent.

I reiterate everything that the proposer, my friend, Commander Oscar Hender- son, has said about Your Royal High- ness ; and I would like to draw attention to the fact that since 1943, when Her Royal Highness assumed the presi- dency, the Committee of Management have had a wonderful help from her and a personal interest in everything that has to do with the promotion of the life-boat service.

"Mr. Watkinson may not worry too much about borders, and Commander Henderson has already mentioned that there is no border in the life-boat service, absolutely no border. I had the pleasure and honour, I might say, of coming up from the south of Ireland to deputise for Commander Henderson at the centenary celebrations of the Portrush life-boat, the coxswain and crew of which were honoured by Her Royal Highness today. I found that I got a most wonderful welcome, and it was made absolutely clear that there is certainly no difference between the north and south.

"I wish especially to thank Her Royal Highness today on behalf of all Irish people; let me assure her that no one in these islands appreciates what she does for the Life-boat Institution any more than the people of Ireland.

Thanks in Irish "With regard to decorating the cox- swain of the Dunmore life-boat, I would like to mention to you that Dunmore East has had a life-saving service for 127 years, and it is rather a strange thing that in 127 years there have been 129 lives saved there. Coxswain Power, who was decorated today, has been associated with the life-boat from bowman to coxswain since 1938, and in those 22 years it is rather extraordinary that 72 lives have been saved. Now I do think that when Coxswain Power goes back home he will carry with him and disseminate to the good people of Dunmore East the gratitude of the Irish people to Her Royal Highness for coming here today and sparing her valuable time to decorate these worthy men.

"Now as the Dunmore life-boat is situated in what one might call a Gaelic-speaking area, I hope that Her Royal Highness will accept a few words in Irish that I am going to speak as an indication of the goodwill of the people of Dunmore East and the whole of Ireland towards Your Royal Highness.

(Commander Twohig here spoke a few words in Irish).

"Translated, it means that we thank Your Royal Highness for coming here today, for your interest in the Life-boat Institution, and we wish God's blessing on you and on everyone who is associa- ted with the Royal National Life-boat Institution." Supporters on Platform Supporting the Duchess of Kent on the platform were the Ambassador of the Irish Republic and Mrs. McCann; the Mayor and Mayoress of West- minster; the Chairman of the London County Council; the member of Parlia- ment for Antrim North; the mayors and mayoresses of forty-nine towns and boroughs; the chairmen of two urban district councils and their wives; repre- sentatives of the Ministry of Transport; donors of life-boats or their represen- tatives, including the Civil Service Life- boat Fund, the Girl Guides Association and the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company; representatives of charitable trusts which have actively supported the Life-boat Service; honorary life- governors and vice-presidents of the Institution; members of the Committee of Management; and the chairman and deputy chairmen of the Central London Women's Committee of the Institu- tion.

In the evening those who had received awards for gallantry and their families went to see the Crazy Gang show at the Victoria Palace and in the interval were invited to drinks by the management..