TWIN NAMING CEREMONIES at Opposite ends of England took place at 3 o'clock on Saturday, September 6, 1975. At the same time as, in Northumberland, the new Amble lifeboat was being named Harold Salvesen by Mrs H. K. Salvesen, widow of the late Captain Salvesen, in Kent the new Walmer lifeboat was being named Hampshire Rose by Lady Rose, wife of single-handed circumnavigator Sir Alec Rose. Both boats are of the 37' 6" Rother class.

While at Walmer, however, the day was fine, at Amble cloudburst followed cloudburst. Despite torrential rain about 400 people sat or stood out in the open, some ankle-deep in water, defying the elements, and the 30-strong Newbiggin Salvation Army Band played on undeterred.

At sea both the Eyemouth and Newbiggin lifeboats were in attendance.

Harold Salvesen was presented to the RNLI by Gerald Henry Elliott, a nephew of the late Captain, delivered into the care of Amble branch by P.

Denham Christie, a vice-president of the Institution and member of the Committe of Management, and accepted by Councillor John Matthews, honorary secretary of the station. Also present was W. F. G. Lord, vice-convener of the Scottish Lifeboat Council and a member of the Committee of Management, for Scotland has deep connections with the new Amble boat.

The Salvesen family originally came from Southern Norway to Scotland in the 1840s and have been established asship-owners in Leith since the 1850s.

Today the fleet of Christian Salvesen Ltd. includes colliers which each week make the passage to the north-east of England to load coal. Harold joined the company in 1928 and after the second world war was in sole charge of its whaling operations, himself regularly voyaging to the Antarctic with the whaling fleet. He took great interest in the welfare and training of those serving in the Merchant Navy and also played an important part in international negotiations for the preservation of the Antarctic whale. Over the years the company has made regular generous donations to the RNLI, and recently the Theodore Salvesen Memorial Trust has given £20,000 towards the cost of a new lifeboat.

Other benefactors also contributed to the new Amble boat. George Watson's College, Edinburgh, for instance, gave £162.53 to meet the cost of the pedestal compass, and the two pupils who came to the naming ceremony were the particular guests of the crew. Special goodwill messages were brought to the crew from New Zealand by Miss Gwen Wilkinson, honorary secretary of Durham City ladies' guild, recently back from that country, and they were delighted to receive a shield from the New Zealand Volunteer Coastguard and a pennant from the Summer Lifeboat Institution.

Meanwhile, further south, after LadyNorton MBE, a member of the Committee of Management, had delivered Hampshire Rose to the care of the Walmer branch, and the boat had been received by the honorary secretary, Norman Cavell, a service of dedication was conducted by the Bishop of Southampton, the Right Reverend John Kingsmill Cavell, assisted by the Vicar of Walmer, the Reverend Peter Hammond. Thus were linked together the endeavours of the people of Hampshire and the people of Walmer.

It was in May 1973 that Sir Alec Rose launched the Hampshire Rose appeal.

Conscious of the debt owed to the RNLI, and to mark the 150th anniversary of the Institution, a committee had been formed in and around Portsmouth with the object of raising £50,000 towards the cost of a Rother class lifeboat. Although originally it had been intended that the appeal should be confined to Hampshire, it gained momentum and spread to the surrounding counties. The support the appeal received not only from branches and guilds but also from individuals, schools, clubs and all sorts of organisations has been magnificent and has resulted in the original target being surpassed by more than £21,000.

Of the 2,000 people at the naming ceremony, many were from Hampshire, including the Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Malmesbury. They were welcomed by General Sir Norman Tailyour, KCB DSO,Captain of Deal Castle and Patron of the Goodwin Sands and Downs branch.

Present, too, were representatives from Calais and both the Calais lifeboat, Marechal Foch, and the 44' Waveney Dover boat, Faithful Forester, were in attendance when, after the service, Lady Rose knocked out the launching pin and Hampshire Rose slipped down the beach into the sea.

A fortnight later, on September 14, a Sunday of brilliant autumnal sunshine and a biting northerly wind which tipped off the tops of the waves in dancing white, a third lifeboat was named; this time at Dunmore East in Co. Waterford. It was a great day for the whole of the Republic of Ireland because the new St Patrick, a 44' Waveney lifeboat, is the culmination of the 1974 national appeal throughout the Republic to mark the 150th anniversary of the RNLI, and lifeboat people had come from all over the country, in the words of Mr Peter Barry, Minister of Transport and Power, to wish her 'many joyful returns'.

The occasion was heralded by the pipes and drums of the De La Salle Band, which, marching through the town and down the curved road to the quay, drew the people down to the harbour where St Patrick lay dressed overall in company with coastal mine sweeper Fola, yachts and the colourful herring fleet. It was a great meeting of friends. Coxswains or crew members had come from a number of east coast stations; Coxswain and Mrs Owen Kavanagh had made the journey from Arranmore in the furthest north west; Dick Walsh, ex-coxswain of Rosslare Harbour, was there, and so was Patrick Power, ex-coxswain of Dunmore East who, in 43 years service, had beenanniawarded four bronze medals. Among the good wishes received during the day was a telegram from Captain the Hon.

V. M. Wyndham-Quin, RN, a past chairman of the Institution.

St Patrick was delivered to the care of Dunmore East branch by the present RNLI chairman, Major-General R. H.

Farrant, CB, and accepted by the honorary secretary, Stanley Power.

There followed the blessing of the lifeboat by the Very Reverend James Aylward and the Reverend Ivan R.

Biggs, and then the naming ceremony was performed by Mrs Peter Barry.

After tea in the fish auction hall, beautifully decorated with floral pedestals, everyone gathered up on the harbour wall to watch the sparkling joint lifeboat/helicopter demonstration which brought the day's formalities to a close.SERVICES AND LIVES SAVED BY OFFSHORE AND INSHORE LIFEBOATS January 1, 1975 to September 30, 1975: Services 2,292; lives saved 814 THE STATION FLEET (as at 30/9/75) 123 inshore lifeboats operating in the summer LIVES RESCUED 100,674 from the Institution's foundation in 1824 to September, 30, 1975 135 station lifeboats.