THE JOURNAL 0 I feel that I cannot let the July edition of your journal pass without comment. I would have thought that the object of a publication named THE LIFE-BOAT would have been to give ne vs on developments, e.g. the article by Lieut.- Commander Forbes, together with news of the work being done by the boats and news and ideas for fund raising.

At the risk of being accused of being narrowminded can our journal really afford the space for an article such as that written by Arthur Gaunt, especially when that article appears in the issue that covers the annual meeting of the Institution and must therefore be short of space for other news ? Even if it is considered that such an article is an integral part of our service then surely the priorities must need attention when the article is allowed to occupy 51.4 column inches as against 39.7 inches to reports from the areas and a paltry 17.6 column inches for the Central Appeals Committee.

The coverage which is given to our service by the mass media is very slight and hence we need a medium that gives us all the news; the interest of the readers of your journal is assured, but many of us who read THE LIFE-BOAT do so not only from the point of view of our own interest, but also to find information that will enable us to speak with authority on the activities of the service which we serve. It is an assistance to us to be able to describe what is going on and capture the imaginations of those we hope to get to help us.

I would have thought that an exchange of ideas through the medium of your columns would have had far more point than an article which occupies a lot of space and mentions our service only once, and that only a grudging mention of the YLA Problems of the environment are indeed our problems, but with the limited amount of space which is given to our service anywhere else could we please leave environmental studies and problems to rather more specialised journals.—DENNIS SALE, Silverdale Road, Bexleyheath, Kent.

The circulation of THE LIFE-BOA Tis nowabout 35,000, and the readership, we know, is very much larger. We try to cater for a wide variety of tastes but welcome the views of our readers on whether we succeed.—EDITOR.

0 I have recently completed a bankers' order for payment of my annual subscription, and have been in receipt of your magazine. While this is excellently produced, it does seem to be a waste of effort and must be a considerable expense despite the advertising revenue you receive. May I make a suggestion which would give the recipients of your magazine a feeling that they were getting value for money and helping a good cause at the same time ? Some years ago one of the yachting magazines produced an insert which was called 'Local Knowledge' and each month they obtained information from local life-boatmen about particular areas, the dangers, currents, and the safest means of passing through. It occurs to me that a few of the centre pages of your magazine could be so utilised, the information being obtained from the life-boatmen and, if possible, backed up with photographs and sketch charts.

These centre pages could then be taken out and placed into a folder to build up a library of very useful information for yachtsmen around Britain.

I am sure that your revenue from members of the sailing fraternity would considerably increase and such a project would not be too expensive for you to undertake as undoubtedly each lifeboat station would give you the information as long as prompted them on the particular headings under which you required information, such as problems with wind directions and strengths, tidal streams, adverse currents, etc.One other particularly helpful item of information, at least to me, and possibly to other yachtsmen, would be photographs or drawings of particular landmarks. For instance, if one sees Portland Bill looming out of the mist one cannot be sure whether it is part of a large tanker or Portland Bill; one only knows because the chart says that there is something there that is likely to be Portland Bill, but a definite picture, which charts do not normally give, would be very valuable.—p. j. CULPITT, New House Park, St. Albans Herts.

SLIPWAYS • I am a member of the Lifeboat Enthusiasts' Society and have recently been involved in a debate as to the question of life-boat slipways.

One of the queries raised concerns the longest life-boat slipway in the country. According to an encyclopaedia I have, the longest slipway is at Porthdinllaen, at 337 feet.The Encyclopaedia Britannica gives the longest slipway as 393 feetGinches, atBarrow-in-Furness, but I think this refers to the station there that was replaced by the present one, in 1928.

Then you also added to the debate when, on page 177 of the October 1971, Journal, you stated that the new Padstow station had the longest slipway in the country, at 240 feet.

As you can see, this question appears to be rather confused and I would be most grateful for any help you can give me on this subject.— j. p. MORRIS, Medina Road, Coventry.

We do agree that there does seem to be some confusion about which is our longest slipway. It really depends to an extent on where the measurements are made. Our consulting engineers, however, give the following list: Barrow, 393 feet 6 inches; Weston Super Mare, 368 feet; Tenby, 366 feet 9 inches; Porthdinllaen, 351 feet 1 inches; Padstow, 240 feet.—EDITOR.

CHARITY AT SCHOOL • In appreciation of the youth of today, this letter has come to be written. The Kingswood and Hanham (Bristol) branch is quite new, and in the first year of our life we collected £200. This year we hope to double these figures and thanks to the 1,000 pupils and staff of Kingsfield School (late Kingswood Grammar School) it looks as though we shall achieve and surpass our target.

The writer, who is the hon. box secretary, and also works on the maintenance staff at the school, was discussing the life-boat service with a couple of pupils. Unknown to him, these pupils approached the school council, and when discussing their annual Christmas charity, they decided to support the R.N.L.I, and one other charity.

In the two weeks before Christmas they organised raffles, draws, dances, cleaned staff cars, gave life-boat film shows and organised many other money-raising schemes.

As the writer went on holiday to America just before the end of term, he didn't know the results of their labours. On his return, the treasurer informed him that £53 had been paid into the bank for 'the life-boat' and there would be a little more to come. To his amazement, a further cheque for £60 was handed over, making a total of £ 13, a truly magnificent collection for one of the greatest of causes.

Many things are said of the youth of today, and we feel the above belies a lot of the things said. I hope to persuade other schools in the area to follow suit.

Well Done, All At Kingsfield School!— w. E. RIALL, Brook Road, Kingswood, Bristol.THE DAYS OF OLD % Round about the spring of 1906 or 1907 I was at Hoylake on holiday from Port St Mary, I.O.M., where we were all living at that time.

I was very interested in all that went on in the estuaries of the Dee and Mersey and what a very dangerous bit of water it was.

I was looking at the shops when I heard the loud bang of a gun being fired. A vegetable dray standing in the street, while the owner was selling some of his produce, took off full gallop to the beach and the life-boat shed, leaving the the road covered with potatoes, swedes, etc, There the horse was taken out of the shafts.

trace harness was put on and hitched on to the life-boat along with other horses which had arrived, also without their owners. The horses then proceeded to draw the life-boat with crew on board into the shallow sea—B. P. HANDS, Fairfield Road, Old Bosham, Chichester..