FOR SEVENTY YEARS Mrs Olwyn M.

Lloyd, now in her ninetieth year—just 60 years younger than the RNLI—has been concerned with men of the sea. It seems fitting, therefore, that she and her husband, Mr R. M. Lloyd, celebrated their diamond wedding in 1969 on Trafalgar Day.

The very beginning of Mrs Lloyd's interest in the sea was in 1904 when she went to Dreadnought Seamen's Hospital at the RN College, Greenwich; in five years' nursing, until her marriage in 1909, she cared for seamen of all nationalities. From then on, the RNLI was her greatest interest. In 1923 Mrs Lloyd was a member of the first committee at Menai Bridge, and when she moved to Con way in 1930 she was appointed treasurer of the ladies' guild.

It was her job to organise the collection of annual subscriptions, so she called to see everyone herself to explain the need for money. Very few people refused to help; at first it would just be 6d. or Is.

but gradually the amounts grew. In the early years, Mrs Lloyd collected about £30, but now Conway alone raises about £200. Later, Mrs Lloyd was to become the vice-chairman of the ladies' guild.

Over the years Mrs Lloyd has raised about £760 in her own home, with coffee mornings and other events. Her last effort was a wine and cheese party, from which came the grand sum of £111. 'Now', writes Mrs Lloyd, 'I must think of something to raise a little for the 150th Anniversary.' Mrs Lloyd's efforts have not gone unappreciated. In 1937 the Committee of Management presented her with a framed record of thanks; in 1948 came a lifeboatman statuette; in 1957 she received a gold badge and in 1961 Mrs Lloyd was elected an Honorary Life Governor, an honour rarely conferred and only for long and very distinguished service. Mrs Lloyd, receiving the vellum from the Duchess of Kent, regarded it as an honour for her whole branch as well as for herself: 'That day in London when the Duchess presented me with this beautiful vellum, I felt very humble'.

Perhaps, however, an honour which must have given Mrs Lloyd as much pleasure as any was when, in 1966 at the inaugural meeting of the Civilian Committee of the Conway Inshore RescueBoat Station, she was unanimously invited to accept the Presidency. When three of the Conway ILB crew were presented with the thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum after saving the lives of three men off Great Orme, it was Mrs Lloyd's pleasant duty to express the feelings of her branch: 'Brian, Trevor and Ronnie, we are all so very proud of you. God bless you.' The last word should be Mrs Lloyd's: 'I have enjoyed every minute of the work; it has given me great pleasure.

I only wish old age did not prevent me from doing more, but I'm nearly 90 and not out! All the wonderful honours I have received are on behalf of the ladies' lifeboat guild, for without their wonderful and loyal help I could have done nothing.'ALDERMAN Miss Mary Burton's connection with the RNLI also goes back for 70 years. As so often happens, she was following a family tradition. Her father became honorary secretary at that time of the Penmon Lifeboat Station, which was moved to Beaumaris in 1914. From the time Miss Burton left school, she and her mother would go out with her father whenever he took the boat out on practice, until his death in 1938. Her mother was the first president and chairman of the Beaumaris ladies' guild, and Miss Burton was a member right from the start. On her mother's death in 1940, she was elected president and chairman and still holds the latter office, although a new president was elected in 1955.

During the war, as a member of theRed Cross, Miss Burton used to take hot drinks out to the lifeboat crew when they came in from services, and this she continued to do right up until a few years ago when it became possible for the honorary secretary to prepare these drinks in the ILB boathouse; no wonder the Beaumaris crew presented her with a beautiful model of their lifeboat! For seven years, from 1953, Miss Burton was honorary secretary of the Beaumaris Station. The service she remembers most from those years was when, on October 27, 1959, the lifeboat Field Marshal and Mrs Smuts went out to stand by the Greek tanker Essar I.

The lifeboat was launched at 2 p.m. to steam about 19 miles in four hours into the teeth of a force 10-11 wind against the flood tide. She stood by Essar I, at anchor but with engine trouble and her engine room flooding, until relieved by the Moelfre lifeboat at 9 a.m. next morning. Altogether, the Beaumaris boat was out for 22 hours.

Like Mrs Lloyd, Miss Burton has received the highest honour the Institution can bestow, having been elected an Honorary Life Governor in 1972..