THE NAMES of famous lifeboatmen tend to stick to places along the coast. So, too, do the names of voluntary workers who over many years have left their mark on communities in the name of the lifeboat service. One of these is Mrs Kathleen Swallow, of St Aidan's, Seahouses, Northumberland, and it is a well-known fact that in 1952, following a decline in fund-raising activity at Seahouses during the post-war period, things improved due very much to the efforts of the Swallow family.

Mrs Swallow, who is chairman of the North Sunderland ladies' lifeboat guild, is the widow of Mr T. W. A. Swallow, late honorary secretary of the North Sunderland lifeboat station.

When Mrs Swallow's first grandchild, Elizabeth Alston, was born she was enrolled as a guild member almost during the first week of her life.

Mrs Swallow's late mother-in-law, Mrs W. A. Swallow, was honorary secretary of the North Sunderland ladies' lifeboat guild in the 1930s and 1940s.

She was awarded a record of thanks in 1949.

At Seahouses the most outstanding fund-raising activity every year is the harbour fete. Started in 1952, it has been held every year since with the exception of 1966, when a serious outbreak of foot and mouth disease among cattle made it necessary to cancel all public gatherings.

Last year, for example, the function held on August Bank Holiday brought in a total of £1,980.

The Swallow family is involved completely in the harbour fete, for which Mrs Swallow's own mother worked indefatigably until her death in 1971. Now all the in-laws and grandchildren lend a hand.

Mrs Swallow has helped the lifeboat service all her married life and is known to lifeboat crews, branches and guilds in most parts of Northumberland.WHEN people who know the RNLI think of Stourbridge, Worcestershire, they think of Mrs Angela Wooldridge, MBE, of Norton, Stourbridge, who attended her first lifeboat meeting when the branch was re-formed in 1952.

And at the annual meeting of the RNLI in May this year Mrs Wooldridge received the gold badge for her work for the lifeboat service.

Mrs Wooldridge, who has been honorary secretary of the local branch since 1954 and in 1962 was awarded the silver badge, has made the RNLI 'the top charity in Stourbridge'. She has cultivated all the local newspapers of importance and despite an active public life—she is a JP—Mrs Wooldridge makes the lifeboat service her first love.

Since Mrs Wooldridge's connection in 1952 with the local branch, donations have increased at a tremendous rate.

In 1953 Stourbridge collected £203 for the RNLI, for the last six years the branch has raised over £1,000 a year, and in the 20 years of her association over £14,000 has been sent to the London headquarters.

Mrs Wooldridge said: 'Our contributions to headquarters are due to our many loyal helpers and the generous spirit of the people of Stourbridge. An annual dinner and dance has been established—it was our tenth last year— and I held my thirteenth annual coffee day on June 28.' Mrs Wooldridge has raised funds for the lifeboat service at a number of functions—at fashion shows, at a fish exhibition, at a display of floral art, and at a luncheon. The annual houseto- house collection and flag day, together with the day-to-day work of speaking at various local functions and meetings, is a continual source of promoting the work of the RNLI.

Talking at schools is particularly important, Mrs Wooldridge believes, for she considers it most essential that the future generation should be aware of 'the great tradition of this wonderful lifeboat service over 150 years'.

Of her recent award of the gold badge, Mrs Wooldridge comments: 'I regard it as an honour to Stourbridge, for its wonderful response as a Midland town so far from the sea'.Mr Cyril Chown Mr Cyril Chown, who was honorary secretary of the Exmouth, Budleigh Salterton branch of the RNLI for 11| years, died early this year and at his own wish his ashes were scattered at sea from the local lifeboat because of his 'considerable services to the Institution'.

It was Mr Chown who took the much admired picture of the Duchess of Kent, whose husband, the Duke of Kent, is President of the RNLI, which appeared on the cover of the October 1971 Journal.

Co-operation Changing technical requirements often mean that companies who have served the RNLI have to terminate their associations, often of long standing.

A good case is Coastal Radio Ltd, of Chelmsford, who began their link with the lifeboat service in 1948 with the introduction of the Coastal Radio Type 97 radio-telephone.

Until early this year the RNLI's medium frequency equipment had been exclusively supplied and maintained by the company.

A spokesman at the RNLI headquarters said: 'As an example of the continued co-operation with Coastal Radio, it is worth recording that when it was found we were having troubles in finding a medium frequency radiotelephone which would meet the international regulations which came into force on January 1, for our 37-foot boat, the company at no cost to the RNLI brought a radio from Canada to Newhaven so that we could carry out trials.

'If we rind that we can use this equipment it will mean the setting up, by Coastal Radio, of spares for equipment not normally available in the UK.' Brentwood retirement Lady Ashton, who has been president of the Brentwood and district branch of the RNLI since 1956, and who was responsible for raising it from a 'oneman' band to its present very flourishing state, has retired. As its new president, the local branch has Captain Sir George Barnard, who is a member of the executive Committee of Management of the RNLI and has recently retired from the post of Deputy Master of Trinity House.

MP joins governing body Lt-Colonel Richard Crawshaw, OBE, MP, Labour Member of Parliament for the Toxteth division of Liverpool since 1964, has joined the Committee of Management of the RNLI. Col Crawshaw is 55 years old and was called to the Bar in 1948.

News from the Channel Islands There is great enthusiasm in Jersey, CI, for the local lifeboat and the Arun lifeboat appeal in Guernsey. Jersey, for instance, staged a sponsored row in the RNLI's boarding boat to Guernsey, a distance of 25 miles..