MY HUSBAND AND I took over as joint secretaries of the Barmouth R.N.L.I, branch and guild in 1967. Our hard-working predecessors had received wonderful support in their fund-raising efforts from both residents and visitors. With rapidly increasing calls on the service we thought that something new, interesting and lucrative, should be added to the usual run of coffee mornings, produce fairs, dances, etc., if we were to achieve our ambition or making the station self-supporting.

In September, 1968, we decided to do a leisurely tour of the South Coast. This tour automatically developed into a 'life-boat crawl', and it was at Eastbourne, in their old life-boat house, that the idea of a maritime museum in Barmouth was conceived. At Eastbourne they have the old boat-house as a small museum, withmodels of every type of life-boat from the early 1800s, and they have added a flourishing R.N.L.I, souvenir stall. We were inspired to try and build up a similar display at Barmouth, if only we could find suitable premises.

On our return home, we took a stroll along the harbour and noticed—really for the first time, although it had been there since 1800—an empty double-fronted cottage, approached by a flight of stone steps, adjoining the yacht club and opposite the ferry boat moorings. We asked one or two of the ferry men, many of them oldlife-boatmen, who owned the cottage, and found that it belonged to the council, but that it was derelict inside and was not for sale or to let.

I approached the then chairman of the council, Councillor R. H. Williams, w~ho is also officer-in-charge of Barmouth coastguards, and a loyal supporter of any effort to help the R.N.L.I. I asked him if we could use one of the front rooms at Pen-y-Cei ('head of the quay') to house a small maritime exhibition and R.N.L.

souvenir stall.

Within ten days we found an interior wall being removed to make one good-sized room! It couldn't have been more appropriately housed, as the first rowing life-boat in Barmouth was launched from the basement of the house in 1830.

We hadn't even mentioned the idea to either of our committees and we were rather apprehensive about the sort of welcome it would receive, but no misgivings were voiced.

We told the council that if they would make good the walls and old beamed ceiling, we would do the necessary decorating. The period of labour was short, but rather tiring, and all the time we wondered what we could find to put in it.

We decided that an old office desk should be re-christened a 'chart table' and used to house and display R.N.L.I, souvenirs. We searched our house for suitable maritime exhibits, found two small oak tables to stand things on, a little oak chest made at sea by a young mariner, an old picture of Ramsgate harbour and life-boat in storm, a rather lovely print of the Mayflower II, a small French bronze figure of a boat-builder's apprentice and an early map of Barmouth estuary. Also, for good measure, and as it was investiture year, a 17th-century oil-painting of Caernarvon Castle! These we took down and 'spread' around the museum, making it look larger and emptier.

had mentioned the project to several local residents, but I do not think that at the time anyone thought that it would materialise and, except for a few small pictures, the room remained bare. So I tried an appeal in the Barmouth Advertiser and in the Cambrian News, and within a week we had some response.

First came a letter from an old Barmouth resident, offering us a six-foot scale model, radio-controlled, of the Royal Yacht Britannia and two slightly smaller model yachts. Then our stalwart friend Bob Henry Williams, brought in a signalling lamp, a ship's sextant, a compass, an oil lamp in gimbals and two fourfoot long sawfish blades, which make most unusual pelmets over the two windows. R.N.L.I.

headquarters in Cardiff, now in on the act, sent three boards of early pictures, telling the history of the service from its early beginnings in 1800,a realistic plastic capstan from Messrs. T. D.

and H. O. Wills and a large R.N.L.I, house flag to hide a rather bad piece of wall directly opposite the entrance! By this time, people were beginning to send in a variety of objects, including rowlocks from an early life-boat, old mussel rakes, a halyard block from an early sailing vessel, an old painting of a cargo boat often seen in Barmouth, the H.M.S. Barmouth bell from a wartime boomdefence vessel (lent by the council), samples of knots and bell-pulls, masthead lamps, ships in bottles, pictures of old Barmouth, half-boat models in glass cases, models for schoolboys' corner, three small life-boat models, including one of our own Liverpool class, etc. Also, in one corner, we formed an honours list with framed documents and pictures relating to awards won by local life-boatmen and long-serving members of committees.

We opened on 4th June, 1969, with the Lord Lieutenant of Merioneth, Colonel John Williams-Wynne, doing the honours, attended by the B.B.C.; the ladies' guild provided the tea in the yacht club.

Our dream came true and now we have one of the most interesting attractions in Barmouth, enthralling thousands of children and their parents.

The membership of the ladies' guild has grown to nearly 60 strong, with half of these readily giving their spare time to keeping the museum manned for three two-hour shifts daily.

New exhibits include an early passenger steamer model, sent by a well-wisher in Salisbury, a set of pictures reproduced from Victorian lantern slides depicting an early rescue (these came from Ireland!), a magnificent five-foot model of a battle-cruiser built by a local man, more pictures of Barmouth in the 1880s. Our proudest and most topical exhibit is a small medallionstruck at the time of the launching of the Great Britain in 1853. The medallion depicts the ship and its dimensions and tonnage on one side and, on the reverse, the profile of Queen Victoria and her consort.

Sales of R.N.L.I, souvenirs have exceeded all expectations and, in addition, we have sold nearly 400 Ib of honey, bottled up in all sizes of screw-topped jars collected by members of our ladies' and junior guilds. Paper-backs and glossy magazines are excellent sellers, and we find that most people are glad of a good home for these.

Also, and most important, the Barmouth station is one step nearer to being self-supporting..