The Province of Northern Ireland improved its fund-raising in 1975 by 21 per cent; a sterling achievement in difficult times. The voluntary workers of Belfast raised no less than £11,000.

London flag day, Tuesday March, 16, resulted in £83,864, which is £8,135 more than the 1975 total: it was the largest advance so far achieved in any year.

In 1975 Redcar guild worked extremely hard to increase their high annual income to £3,500, and had already raised £1,250 towards their 1976 total by February. Opening the boathouse at Easter to sell souvenirs, despite bitter north east winds, several ladies donned specially prepared Easter bonnets. So attractive was the presentation that they were invited to tour the hotels and public houses with collecting boxes, and this is now to be a feature in the town. The treasurer is always alert for a telephone call from one of the four ships that have adopted the guild, and at a moment's notice dashes off to the docks to receive money accumulated during a voyage.

A long beat for Police Constables John Myhill and Arthur Sykes of the Humberside Force: 152 miles from Fleetwood to Flamborough and it took them from September 16 to 20. Fleetwood branch, Rotherham, Driffield, Bridlington and Flamborough guilds and Flamborough supporters club all helped with the sponsorship and a splendid £1,260.37 was raised. At the end of the walk there was a civic welcome at Flamborough and the lifeboat was launched for a trip afloat.Sue Punch, who works as a part-time barmaid at the Amsterdam Restaurant, Shoreham, claiming she could do any job a man could do, accepted a challenge from Robert Denis that she could not complete a week's training on one of his construction sites. The stake was £50.

Digging a sewer, laying bricks, driving aJCB digger and using a pneumatic drill were involved; and that was only a start! Sue won her bet, and, with additional sponsorships and collection, earned £160 for the RNLI.

Crystal Palace Football and Athletic Club raised £92 for the RNLI at a St Valentine's disco dance on February 14.

Bury St Edmunds branch, re-formed two years ago, has already raised over £2,000, by organising a flag day, two barbecues, two dances and a children's sponsored cycle ride. Until his recent death, the branch had the support as chairman of Air Vice-Marshal Stanley Vincent, who had been one of the oldest pilots in the Battle of Britain.

Stan Timerick of Kingswinford has assembled a magnificent model railway in his loft. Visitors have to buy a platform ticket, and the proceeds all go to the RNLI.

Over 1,000 people were present in the Assembly Hall of Walthamstow Civic Centre one April evening to hear a three-hour concert of jazz and Glenn Miller style music played by KennyBall and his Jazzmen and Syd Lawrence and his Band. The concert, sponsored by the International Lloyds Insurance broking firm J. H. Minet and Co., raised £750 for the RNLI. Among the guests were the Mayor of Waltham Forest and three members of Hastings lifeboat crew with their wives.

Hythe branch luncheon club raised over £150 for the RNLI during its winter season from October to March.

There were 86 members at the last lunch on March 24, when the guest speaker was Colin Cowdrey, CBE. Also in March, the branch arranged a Gaelic coffee evening jointly with Cancer Research; 150 people were at the Town Hall to watch Robert Spicer's dog Sandy present cheques for £215 each to the RNLI and Cancer Research, being the proceeds of Spicers of Hythe's golden jubilee celebrations.

Havering branch of the Independent Order of Foresters adopted the RNLI as their charity for 1975 and raised £650, most of it by a 24-hour sponsored bowl at Dagenham Bowling Alley.

Membership of West Wight guild is increasing and in 1975 £2,200 was raised.

Activities included a cheese and wine party at the Royal Solent Yacht Club, coffee mornings, a ploughman's lunch party at Marsh Farm, Newtown, and the sale of souvenirs at Easter and during summer weekends as well as the flag day collection.Appledore branch was given £4 by four local girls who gave up sweets for Lent but fined themselves Ip for any sweet eaten.

A 15" Easter egg given by Mr and Mrs David Larcombe, owners of the White Rose Hotel, Sway, was raffled during a dinner dance at the hotel on Saturday, April 17, and the £54.20 raised given to Lymington branch. The egg was won by a Merchant Navy officer and his wife, Mr and Mrs Michael Farrow.

Chanonry and District Guild had a record season in 1974/75, raising over £1,200 with coffee mornings, a sale, house-to-house collections and a sponsored walk.An exhibition by the Ladies Flower Club at Wythall, near Birmingham, held at Kings Norton Golf Club early last November, raised £100 which, at the request of E. W. Turner, a Shoreline member and the husband of the secretary of the club, was kindly donated to the RNLI. The theme of this excellent exhibition was 'Winter Cruise'.

J. D. Lewis of Bury, Lancashire, another Shoreline member, has since Christmas been making a slight detour on the way to the school at which he teaches to pick up another member of staff. She wished to make a contribution, but Mr Lewis suggested that, instead, she should work out how much she had saved in fares and make out a cheque to the RNLI. He has sent in a first instalment of £10.

Tytherington County Secondary School, Cheshire, organised a sponsored knit for the RNLI and achieved a fine total of £138.A costume Wreckers' Ball organised by Bodmin and District branch at Lanhydrock House, a National Trust property, last autumn raised £721 for the RNLI. The ball has become an annual event and the next will be held on November 19.

continued on page 176Some ways of raising money (continued from page 174) Instead of buying birthday and Christmas cards for each other, the ladies who work on the BPF Section of Thorn Lighting, Leicester, saved the money and sent a cheque for £26 to Wells-next-the-Sea guild for Wells lifeboat.

In a sponsored sailing regatta on a lake at Margam, Port Talbot, last autumn, 160 West Glamorgan children raised £662 for the lifeboat service. For those who raised the highest amounts there was a trip to sea in The Mumbles lifeboat.

Every New Year's Eve Monkstone Cruising and Sailing Club hold a fancy dress party. Anyone not wearing fancy dress is fined and the money so collected is usually donated to Neath branch.

This year's collection amounted to £25.50.

The day staff at Plymouth Telephone Exchange chose Plymouth lifeboat for their special charity gift in 1975. There was a sponsored walk, a bring and buy sale, raffles and a number of individual efforts, and two blankets were knitted.

The result: £250 for the lifeboat..