THE GAG secretary has a new telephone number, 66 38209, on which both the secretary and the chairman, Mr. R. N. Crumbie, can be reached. The address remains the same: 126a High Street, Orpington, Kent.

The 1972 national sponsored swim is proving to be a very successful venture and has so far raised nearly £12,000, excluding sums raised by the schools taking part in the auxiliary project by them under the auspices of the English Schools' Swimming Association. It should be possible to publish a figure for the main swim and details of the sums raised by the schools in the April Journal.

At Tiverton, Devon, in a town of 14,000 people, some 8,000 people took part and produced £1,800. There were some 500 swimmers, 7,000 sponsors and the remainder were the organisers from the Tiverton swimming club and elsewhere.

A sponsored swim by members of Celtic Dolphins raised more than £175 for Maesteg branch of the R.N.L.I. The sponsored swim put Maesteg at the top of the list in Wales for the amount of money raised. Although Maesteg is an inland town, its support of the Institution is vital because more people are being rescued now who are not 'seaside' people.

Robert Brothers allowed cash collections during their circus tour in the Midlands, north of England and Scotland and this resulted in the sum of over £1,160 being raised. A further tour is now in progress in the southern half of England and collections are again being allowed.

The Tesco Supermarket Green Shield Stamp scheme in the north of England is now nearing completion. It is planned to run until the first Saturday in 1973. However, it is not yet possible to give an indication of the number of stamps collected but, as in the south of England project, a very successful result is visualised.

Also for the future, a sponsored walk with a difference is planned which will be associated with Jimmy Savile and involve youngsters throughout the country. Mrs G. F. Chapman, a vice-chairman of the CAC, has agreed to be chairman of the organising sub-committee which hopes to raise sufficient money for a life-boat.

It is additionally hoped that a Round Britain Cycle Rally may be organised under the auspices of the CAC. Discussions are at present in the preliminary stage only, but details should be available soon.

Other fund-raising projects are in the pipeline.

This does not mean that further ideas would not be welcome. All suggestions are given careful consideration.

The New Year is an appropriate time to express the committee's grateful thanks to branches and guilds, together with all those others who have put forward fund-raising ideas during 1972..