A number of valuable fund raising suggestions have been put forward by Mrs.

W. E. Huntley, of Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, and some of them are listed here.

• At a party or any social gathering ask couples to put a penny in the lifeboat collecting box for each year of their married life. A useful scale of charges is: 6d. per year for each year up to three years, $d. a year up to six years, and id. a year for all subsequent years.

• A stall selling home grown produce and home made goodies has possibilities during local life-boat week. Sales might be made from the life-boat station or from the temporary headquarters for the week - usually an empty shop in a shopping centre. Among items which sell well are cut flowers, vegetables, miniature trees (apparently these go very well), home made jams, chutneys, marmalades, lunch boxes (if in a seaside area), sandwiches, soft drinks, trays, tray cloths, doll's clothing, and small wooden toys for smaller children. A few local souvenirs, such as postcards, are also ideal for holiday resorts and towns and villages with interesting historical associations.

• Arrange an evening record session once a week during the winter and include youngsters who want to do something for the Institution. On the first evening the host provides the records. Subsequently records are brought by visitors on a rota basis. Charge for the use of the room might be 6d. per person, with, of course, an additional charge for refreshments consumed. Mrs. Huntley gives a warning: do not have records playing too loudly, and do not let the session go on too late.

• Baby minding is a way the mother with a pre-school baby can help herself, her neighbours and the Institution. Once a week arrange for a small group of pre-school children to come to your house and garden while their parents go shopping or even take the afternoon off. The charge should be related to the time they are with you - say 6d. an hour per child. Baby sitting by those without ties can be another way of collecting for the Institution. But be sure, before you accept other people's children, that all safety precautions are taken - young children in strange surroundings need constant supervision.

• Fathers can make money for the Institution by running dart matches, bridge parties and whist drives. If these events become popular, and private accommodation can no longer take all the players, a hall might be found at a reasonable rent.

'There is, Mrs. Huntley says, 'really no ending to the various ways in which you can help to raise funds for the life-boat service'..