Carol singers were out in force before Christmas. In the London area, members of the Mermaid Committee raised £40.41, and Frances Brace with a group of her friends from Forms 5 and 6 of Godolphin and Latymer School collected £93.46. In Carlisle, two young boys, J. MacLean and C. Gardiner, have gone out carol singing regularly for the past few years; last Christmas they collected £16.

Inns, hotels and restaurants are among the most generous of supporters of the RNLI. Recently, the Onedin Hotel, Torquay, presented a cheque for £100 to F. W. H. Park, Torbay honorary secretary; Phyl and Ewan Shaw of the King's Head Inn, Orford, support both Aldeburgh ladies guild and Shoreline and have recently donated well over £100; the Falcon Inn, Denham, has 'adopted' Torbay's lifeboat Princess Alexandra of Kent, with collections in a gallon whisky bottle (£155.76 and £251 have recently been taken out) and a darts competition for The Torbay Challenge Cup; the First and Last House, Land's End, collected over £200 during 1974 in a davit lifeboat box; the Windmill at Winchmore Hill has given about £1,400 in the past four years; the Mitre, Crediton, cracked open a gallon bottle with a hammer at the end of December and released £61.96—a 'guess the amount' competition contributed to the sum and the raffle of one of the prizes brought in another £5; and Roland and Ian Morris, father and son, of the Admiral Benbow Restaurant, Penzance, handed over £350, the proceeds of a champagne supper, to Dr Leslie, chairman of Penlee lifeboat station.Kinross-shire branch sent £560 to Headquarters in 1974. This sum was realised by house-to-house collections, donations and a very successful stall at the Agricultural Show. In addition, a local yachtsman, Sir David Montgomery, donated £125, the proceeds of a fashion show held at Green Hotel, Kinross, organised by Mr and Mrs D. Wilkie.

Mention has already been made of the magnificent collection of £873 made at Goodwood during the RNLI's day at the races last September. Bognor Regis was one of the branches which, by its work both before and on the day, helped to make this fine result possible.

Newly formed, Canterbury branch raised over £470 on its first flag day last October; the Mayor and Mayoress, Councillor and Mrs T. Castle, interrupted their holiday to visit the committee room at Slatters Hotel.

Rochdale ladies guild achieved its best ever total in 1974: over £2,500. One donation, of £1,080, came from a Persian Market organised by Rochdale Rotary Club.

'Gale Force 9: A miscellany through 150 years': Handsworth Wood Ladies guild, at the suggestion of Mrs H.

Bradbury, hired the Birmingham Crescent Theatre and, with the help of local amateur organisations, put on a miscellany of entertainment for two nights. There were musical items from Queen Elizabeth Hospital Operatic Society, the Springfield Singers and Handsworth Evening Townswomen's Guild Choir, and sketches by St Mary's Church Dramatic Society and the Drama Group of the Townswomen's Guild. Compere was Bill Slin of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society, who linked all the items in a very entertaining manner. Profit made for RNLI funds amounted to £250.The small seaside town of Bridport raised £3,750 for RNLI funds during 1974, following a year of what Vivian May, chairman of the entertainments committee, described as 'excellent teamwork'.

One of the main events was the branch's Anniversary Ball, which made a net profit of £672.

Four employees of Schermuly, Miss Barbara Skinner, Mrs Bobby Tuppin, Tony Harrison and Jim Lewis, together with Jeremy Eales, managing director of one of their customers, Fosbery and Co., made an 80 mile sponsored walk from their Newdigate factory to the Salisbury headquarters of sister company, Pains-Wessex. £338 was raised for the Hampshire Rose Appeal, a cheque being presented to its chairman, Sir Alec Rose.

Tiverton, with a sponsored swim (part of the ASA National Sponsored Swim project) raised no less than £1,800 to provide the Burry Port ILB.

A record recital at St Thomas More Hall, Seaford, organised by Miss Dorothy Green, resulted in £66.66 for the RNLI. Works by Handel (including his 'Water Music'), Beethoven and Schumann were played. Each programme was hand written and decorated with ribbon bows in RNLI colours.

Mrs Mary Taylor, known as 'Lifeboat Mary', always has tea and pasties ready for Padstow crew when they come in from a service call or exercise. Last year she raised over £300 for Padstow ladies guild; £140 was made from the sale of dolls dressed as Grace Darling and as members of the lifeboat crew (the coxswain, the mechanic and a crew member); £101 she collected, herself dressed up as Grace Darling, on lifeboat day. Mrs Taylor's father and grandfather were both coxswains of Padstow lifeboats, her grandfather being awarded the silver medal and her father the bronze medal for gallantry.BBC Radio Cleveland have made a record of traditional sea ballads sung by Marske Fishermen's Choir, and for each record sold 25p will be donated to the RNLI.

The record, price £1.25 (plus lOp for postage and packing) can be ordered through K. Thirlwell, divisional organiser, RNLI, 28 Castlegate, York YOl IRP: cheques should be made payable to the RNLI..