THE YEAR 1974 began in an atmosphere of gloom and anxiety with industry limited to a three-day week and restrictions on lighting recalling wartime blackouts.

The first month of the year was also one in which there were gales of exceptional severity. In some areas sea conditions were reported to have been as bad as any in living memory. Accounts of some of the services carried out by lifeboats in these conditions will appear in later numbers.

All this followed a year in which more people were saved from death at sea by lifeboats of the RNLI than in any other year in time of peace in the 150- year history of the Institution. The total number of lives saved last year was 1,823, a striking increase on the figure in 1972 of 1,452.

Royal Garden Party The Queen, who is Patron of the RNLI, is to pay her tribute to the lifeboat service by holding a garden partyin the grounds of Buckingham Palace on July 16. Invitations will be sent out towards the end of May. The intention is that lifeboat crews, members of station and financial branches and of ladies' lifeboat guilds should be as fairly and fully represented as possible.

Priority in the issue of invitations will be accorded only to a very limited section of RNLI supporters such as life vicepresidents and honorary life governors, donors of lifeboats, holders of the gold medal for gallantry and widows and orphans of men who have given their lives in the service.

Sporting Events Two important sporting events have now been arranged as part of the celebrations of 'The Year of the Lifeboat'.

One is a pro-am golf tournament which will take place at the Notts Golf Club, Hollinwell, near Nottingham, on Wednesday, May 29. The sponsors of this event, Associated Tyre Specialists, are putting up substantial prize money, and all the leading golf professionals on the British circuit are expected to take part.

The amateur entry will be an unusual one. Every amateur taking part is being asked to make a donation of £100 for the privilege of playing with the professionals. This will entitle him to be a life governor of the Institution and to the use of various insignia such as ties and car badges. It is hoped that this competition will attract leading figures in industry, finance, show business and other walks of life to make an appropriate contribution to the RNLI in 'The Year of the Lifeboat' and, at the same time, have an enjoyable outing. Anyone whose handicap is not more than 18 is eligible to play.

It is hoped, too, that a number of visitors from overseas will take part as amateurs. In a recent report in The Times it was stated that some Japanese firms have been prepared to spend up to £50,000 to enable leading executives to join a suitable golf club. By that yardstick £100 to play in a unique RNLI pro-am tournament does not seem a large amount.

The other event is a cricket match to be played by Whitbread Wanderers atExmouth on September 14, from which the RNLI is expected to benefit substantially.

Support from Banks A central feature of the RNLI's plans for 'The Year of the Lifeboat' is an appeal to the public to contribute generously towards meeting the cost of the huge boat building programme which is now under way In this respect the RNLI is receiving valuable help from the clearing and trustee savings banks. Throughout the period from Monday, April 29, to Friday, May 24, anyone who enters a bank will be provided with paying-in facilities for making a direct contribution to the RNLI. Posters appealing to the public to contribute will also appear in the banks. Such facilities are rarely provided and the offer has been made as a tribute to the work of the RNLI over the past 150 years.

During roughly the same period the RNLI will be provided with 2,000 sites for posters, free of charge, by the British Poster Advertising Association.

New Headquarters By the time this number of THE LIFEBOAT appears the headquarters of the RNLI will have been established at Poole. In the next issue of THE LIFEBOAT there will be a review of Oliver Warner's new official history of the RNLI. In this he gives details of the moves of the RNLI's headquarters which have taken place over the years, from the City of London to Charing Cross Road and then to Grosvenor Gardens. During the last war the head office was transferred to the Boreham Wood depot, but apart from that emergency the major head office has always, until now, been in London. The transfer to Poole has been carried out with remarkable smoothness and a gratifying absence of disruption of administrative work.

This number of THE LIFEBOAT will be the first to be edited from Poole, the new assistant editor, Joan Davies, having taken over from Christopher Elliott, who after eight years with the RNLI has taken up an appointment with the Royal British Legion. It was during Mr Elliott's term of office that the presentation of THE LIFEBOAT changed more strikingly than in any other period of its history.

Annual General Meeting The Annual General Meeting of the Institution will take place at the Royal Festival Hall on May 21. The guest speaker this year will be Coxswain Derek Scott, BEM,of the Mumbles. After a winter of such prolonged and severe gales there will not surprisingly, be an exceptionally large number of lifeboatmen present to receive medals for gallantry..