SECOND OF THE STEEL HULLED 18 knot fast afloat Thames class lifeboats, Elizabeth Ann, 50-002, recently completed her first comparative trials with the prototype, 50-001, and with an Arun class boat, 52-02. Although only light to moderate weather conditions were encountered, 50-002 compared well with both of her running mates.

The main improvements are a bow modification, which reduces wetness, and a better layout for the crew cabin.

Some further small modifications remain to be evaluated in heavy weather after which, all being well, the experimental GRP bow will be replaced by a steel structure.Anniversaries: Three stations, Arklow, Blyth and Dungeness, are, this year, celebrating their 150th anniversaries, and one, Eyemouth, its centenary. As part of the celebrations at Dungeness a collection of oil paintings of its coxswains was unveiled by Lady Norton, a member of the Committee of Management, on July 18. The paintings are part of a special display at The Britannia inn, which includes a scroll listing crews from 1915 to the present day and a pictorial history of Dungeness lifeboats and their rescues.

* * * Aberdeen lifeboat, the 54' Arun BP Forties, visited Stonehaven in early August at the time of Stonehaven ladies' guild annual gala. She was the first offshore lifeboat to come to this Kincardineshire harbour—which now has an inshore lifeboat—since the lifeboat station was closed in 1934. The gala, helped by BP Forties' presence and a joint display by the ILB and HM Coastguard, raised £1,700.

* * * Horton and Port Eynon has, in the past 12 months, been provided with a latest model radio for the boat and a magnificent steel flag pole, together with a crosstree and an aerial which makes monitoring over a wide area possible. After many months of hard work, overcoming problems, the station has also a water supply. All these additions are the result of the generosity of the station's supporters, whose help is practical as well as financial: laying a water pipe from main road to station, for instance, and installing the 2J-ton pole from which the RNLI flag flies..