SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL illuminated so many aspects of our life with the majesty of his words that it is hardly surprising that some of the most stirring sentences ever spoken about a life-boat were uttered by him.

The occasion when he made his great speech on the subject of life-boats was a dinner held at the Hotel Cecil in London on 2nd July, 1924, to celebrate the looth anniversary of the foundation of the Institution. The Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VIII, presided, and there were five speakers: Winston Churchill; the Prime Minister, J. Ramsay MacDonald; the Spanish Ambassador, A. Merry del Val; the Minister for the Netherlands, R. de Marees van Swinderen; and the Superintendent of the Tynemouth life-boat. Major H. E. Burton, who was a gold medallist.

WORK OF SELF-SACRIFICE The concluding words of Winston Churchill's speech were: "We live in a valiant age, an age which, although peculiarly a nervous age, nevertheless has proved capacities of daring, of self-abnegation, self-sacrifice, dauntless defiance to the brute powers of nature and of death, which no former age has excelled, which we may perhaps reasonably contend no former age has equalled; but there is something about the work of saving life which raises it, in certain aspects, above any form of peril and self-sacrifice which is combined with taking life. It is a great problem to balance the self-sacrifice of the soldier and the self-sacrifice of the life-boatman. Still, one feels that the life-boatman may plead that he represents the cause of humanity, and not that of any single nation or any single cause which may in the march of events from time to time arrive.

THREE WORDS OF INSPIRATION '* 'Man the life-boat' - it is an inspiring call. It may, as the Spanish Ambassador has suggested to us, have other applications in daily life. When a friend is in trouble or in sickness 'Man the life-boat!' If a class is submerged, ill-treated or exploited 'Man the life-boat!' If a small nation is fighting for its life 'Man the life-boat!' "All these are applications of the same idea, but the finest of all is the simple actual sphere by the seashore. There is the glorious sphere of heroism and chivalry in human nature. The wreck lies on the reef, great waves are breaking over it, the timbers are going to pieces, the plates are buckling every hour, the crew and the passengers, women and children, are lashed to the rigging, clinging on to any coign of vantage which gives them shelter, or huddled in some structure which has survived the fury of the elements.

THE LIFE-BOAT DRIVES ON VALIANTLY "There they are, out in the night, in the sea, in the tempest. They have no hope in this world except the life-boat, but their signals have not been unperceived. The order has gone forth 'Man the life-boat!' - an order which is never disobeyed. Great waves may thunder on the shore, winds may drive and beat with their utmost fury, the boat goes out, thrusts its way ahead to the wreck, it is twisted and turned by the convulsions of the sea, it is swamped with water, it is driven back, again and again it returns, it pursues and perseveres on its mission of rescue, of salvation, to those who are in peril.

"It drives on with a courage which is stronger than the storm, it drives on with a mercy which does not quail in the presence of death, it drives on as a proof, a symbol, a testimony, that man is created in the image of God3 and that valour and virtue have not perished in the British race." As early as 1915 Winston Churchill became a Vice-President of the Civil Service Life-boat Fund. Blyth life-boat which was built in 1948 today bears the proud name Winston Churchill (Civil Service No. 5). On 30th January, 1965, the day of Sir Winston Churchill's funeral, Blyth life-boat was launched in company with a number of local boats, and a service was conducted on board the life-boat..