Cheques totalling £4,000 were presented to three charities at St. Martin's School, Walton, Surrey, in October. This sum was raised at the school fete in July—and was nearly double the amount raised at the late fete three years ago. One of the charities to benefit was the R.N.L.I., and the Deputy Director, Mr. John R. Atterton, M.B.E., accepted a cheque for £2,000 from the head boy, Mark Everett. St.

Martin's is a small school and the result was remarkable.

A highly successful antique fair was held at Dulwich Village, London, on 28th October, 1972, which raised about £670 for the R.N.L.I. Special help in making the occasion a success came from Mr. G. Prime, of Harley Antiques, Brixton, and Mr. Martin Banks.

The Mayor of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (Mr. Laurence A. Kenny) recently made this appeal: 'As president of the Kensington and Chelsea branch of the R.N.L.I. I seek your aid in our proud venture to raise £1,400 to provide an inshore life-boat to be named the "Kensington and Chelsea".'' Cheques or postal orders may be sent to the R.N.L.I. Appeal, c/o The National Bank, 33 Kings Road, Chelsea, SW3 4LT.As a result of a successful 1972 carnival season at Cramer, the Voluntary Entertainments Organisation voted a cheque for £150 to the R.N.L.I. This represented the major share of the proceeds from various collections at events during the season.

News reaches the Journal that Mrs. Graham Doggart, of London, S. W. 1, who is president of the Selsey and district branch, has run flag day collections for 32 consecutive years. She has been on the station branch committee for 21 years and its chairman for eight. A remarkable record.

At the Chanonry and district ladies' life-boat guild sale on 17th August, 1972, the llth Ross-shire Sea Scouts gave enthusiastic support in many ways, chief among them being the running of side-shows. For one item they acquired a small dinghy and went to a great deal of trouble to rig it up and disguise it most ingeniously as a life-boat on rockers, with a steeringwheel, radar, and various gadgets. This was a winner with the children present.

David Bridle, of Marsworth Avenue, Pinner, Middlesex, was last year the editor of the 'Pinnerwood School Newspaper' which raised £8.50 for the R.N.L.I. The editor tells us: 'We sold the paper at most of our play times. The cost was Ip and more.

This was so that they could pay whatever they wanted.

We put in the paper recipes every week, news, puzzles and sport, and started an idea called "Looking Back" which we hope will be carried on as one of the main features under the next editor, Mathew Whalley.' At the time of writing David Bridle's staff consisted of Michael Rib ton (assistant editor), Clive Wilson (typist], Glyn Rees (reporter and treasurer], Philip Dry (reporter), Stewart Brown (reporter), with help from Christopher Heavey and Stephen Gale.

The Aldershot branch of the R.N.L.I. had a stand at last year's Army Show and raised over £100.

This was the first large event attended by the Aldershot branch and they are aiming to raise the cost of a McLachlan ILB (about £5,000) over the next two or three years. They were the only civilian organisation participating.

A large industrial concern in Essex fine their employees if they are late for work. The money collected in this way is given to the local life-boat branch.When the Halifax ladies' life-boat guild had their 21st birthday anniversary last year, having been re-formed in 1951, 12 past presidents (all ex- Mayoresses of Halifax) attended. Others present included Mrs. Hazel Mackintosh, the guild treasurer, who received a silver badge on completing 21 years in that office, and Mrs. Janet Hall, guild chairman, who was awarded the Institution's gold badge at last year's annual meeting.

The Tynemouth branch of the ladies' life-boat guild last year completed 50 years of continuous service forthe R.N.L.I. In 1972 they raised £2,230 towards the upkeep of their local boat named ' Tynesider''. In recognition of the guild's efforts on behalf of the R.N.L.I., the following awards were made last year: gold badge, Mrs. R. G. Phillips, 20years as chairman; silver badge, Mrs. V. Mitchell, 14 years as treasurer; silver badge, Mrs. S. B. Whatley, 10 years as secretary.

A bottle of home-made wine was used in the dedication last year of a new inshore lifeboat, the gift of Sir John Fisher, at Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire. The wine—a hock made by Mr. T.

Downing, the life-boat station honorary secretary— was poured over the bows of the new craft by Lady Fisher after Sir John had unveiled a plaque in the station commemorating his gift of the £1,000 vessel.

Mr. W. D. Opher, president of the Barrow branch of the R.N.L.I., said Sir John had placed the rescue boat in the hands of the Barrow branch after receiving it as a gift from his colleagues at James Fisher and Sons, Barrow.

On 5th November at the Dun Laoghaire, Dublin, boathouse, the Dublin Women's B'nai B'rith presented a cheque for £100 to Dr. John de Courcy Ireland, the honorary secretary of the life-boat. B'nai B'rith is a Jewish service organisation which helps the Irish community as a whole. While not specifically a fundraising organisation, the ladies decide on one annual project and, this year, the R.N.L.I, shared the results of their very successful efforts.

Commander John H. Bowen, of Haviland House, Corfe Castle, Dorset, runs a very successful fund-raising scheme. The 'coins in the fountain' idea made £363 in seven months in 1972. This was -£31 up on the 1971 figure. Commander Bowen writes: 'The public have been very forthcoming: even in this last "quiet" week of late October, we had 350 coins in the fountain, realising -£7, and over £2 in the boat.

We've now been collecting for 10 seasons, and have been able to hand over some £1,900 to the Swanage boat, while the number of coins is getting near the 180,000 mark!' The Cramer branch of the R., .L.I. owes a debt of gratitude to the Westhoughton County Secondary School, Lancashire. The school has a brass band of 25 boys and girls aged between 11 and 14 years of age. In 1971 they made a highly successful tour of the Lake District, playing at schools, hospitals and charities such as the Cheshire Homes and mountain rescue teams. For this they were awarded the first prize in The Guardian Schools Competition on Community Relationship. Last year their venue was Cramer during the middle of May with a similar type of programme. In March Mrs Illingworth, their music mistress and conductor, wrote to Cramer offering to play, on one occasion, for the R.N.L.I. The offer was accepted. It was decided that the band should give their concert in the open, outside the old boathouse museum, on a Sunday evening. It was given at the end of a heavy day when they had already staged a morning and an afternoon concert, one of these being at Cramer hospital. The collection from the boxes amounted to nearly £7.

On 30th July, 1972, Mark Brown (aged 14) and Steven Wilton (aged 13} started out on a sponsored row of 50 miles from Sonning Lock to Surbiton (Thames Sailing Club). Jonathan Stevens, a member of the Surbiton branch of the R.N.L.I., gave up a week of his holiday to accompany the two rowers and keep a safe eye on them. Nightly camping arrangements were organised at the various locks en route and the course was completed the following Sunday. The idea for the row came from the boys themselves and the magnificent sum of £300 was raised towards R.N.L.I.

funds. This money came from sponsorship for each mile covered and collections from the many boats that were met while negotiating the locks.

The South Caernarvonshire ladies' life-boat guild celebrated its golden jubilee last year. The first committee meeting was held on 5th September, 1922, under the presidency of Dame Margaret Lloyd George.

A garden fete was subsequently held on 28th September and showed a balance of £,119. The first cheque sent to headquarters from the South Caernarvonshire ladies' guild was in March, 1923, and amounted to £125. The amount raised by the South Caernarvonshire ladies in 1972 was about £2,200.

A 71-year-old Rugby grandmother and a polio victim both swam 30 lengths of the Regent Street bathslast year . . . to raise money for the R.N.L.L Mrs.

Kathleen Robertson, of Millfields Avenue, was the first of nearly 400 Rugby swimmers who took to the water on behalf of the Institution. Mr. Alan Manning, a design engineer from Crick, was quick to follow her.

Mr. Manning, who is unable to use his arms, swam most of the distance on his back..