'A one-eyed, cantankerous and troublesome fellow'1: thus, leaning back in his chair, pipe in hand and smiling happily, does John Chapman describe himself.

But the smile belies the words, for it is the smile of a man who, as honorary secretary of the Civil Service and Post Office Lifeboat Fund, has trod with great determination and dedication in the footsteps of such illustrious forerunners as Charles Dibdin and Charles Barrett; a man who knows that the endeavours of his years in office have prospered and that the batton he accepted when assuming that office is being passed on safely down the years.

Of all the RNLFs many friends, none have been more constant or more generous than the members of the Civil Service and Post Office Lifeboat Fund.

Since its foundation 110 years ago, in 1866, the fund has given a million pounds to the lifeboat service, providing no less than 38 lifeboats, 13 of which are in the present offshore fleet. They have ranged from simple pulling boats of early years, costing a few hundred pounds, to twin dieselled, electronically sophisticated modern boats such as the 71' Clyde Charles H. Barrett in the relief fleet, the 44' Waveney Eric Seal now stationed at Eyemouth and the 54' Arun Edward Bridges at Torbay. No. 38, a 37' 6" Rother, has just left the builder's yard. She will be on display at the 1977 Earls Court Boat Show before going on station, and Her Majesty The Queen, Patron of the Civil Service and Post Office Lifeboat Fund, has graciously agreed that, to celebrate her 25 years of the throne, this boat should be named Silver Jubilee.

At the time of the fund's centenary in 1966, Leslie G. Fawkes, remembering how, in these islands, we are all close to the sea, wrote: '. . . in Britain alone amongst nations the Civil Service, that supposedly humdrum and cut-and-dried profession, has a long standing and entirely voluntary connection with the voluntary national body responsible for lifesaving at sea. There is nothing else in the world quite like this—a voluntary service, which is essential to our life, being assisted by a body of professional State servants. This is the very essence of things British . . .' Such a bond must be unique. It is also strong and lively, as John Chapman explains: ' has always been the policy of the fund not just to contribute to the RNLI, but to serve. Since we were founded in 1866we have purchased lifeboats and sometimes, in the past, their houses. We contribute towards the running of those boats which are, should we say, "our fleet" and also we pay the rewards for service to their crews' It goes without saying that great interest is taken in all launches on service of the Civil Service 'fleet' of lifeboats and in the achievements of their crews. Bonds are forged with particular stations. For instance, in 1928 Greater London (Civil Service No.

3) went on station at Southend-on-Sea; in 1955 she was replaced by Greater London II (Civil Service No. 30); when, last year, Southend was redesignated as an ILB station, the Civil Service and Post Office Lifeboat Fund donated, as" a new departure, the money for that station's first Atlantic 21, named Percy Gar on.

Almost without interruption the amount collected has grown year by year. In 1866 it was £300: in 1975 £57,046. 'And all our funds are collected in florins and fifty-pence pieces', claims John Chapman with pride. ' is a personal contribution made at the Civil Servant or Post Office worker's own desk.' Up to now the total has seldom been augmented by box collections or fund-raising events (although this year a cricket match in the Midlands is planned). Every June the honorary secretary sends out to each collector in each department the annual report of the previous year together with collection sheets. The collector circulates these sheets to the members of his or her department, who add either 'anon.' or their names and the amounts they are subscribing. The money is then marshalled in and transmitted to the honorary treasurer, at present Mr R. A.

Brail, or John Chapman—and in comes anything up to £57,000! It sounds so simple, but it is the result of a great deal of painstaking work by many, many willing helpers. Some small departments, like the Treasury or Cabinet Office, will have only one collector, while, at the other extreme, the Post Office or departments like Health and Social Security, scattered throughout the country, will number their collectors by the hundred.

The strength of the fund lies in the fact that its secretaries have never been satisfied. Men like Charles Dibdin, a founder member who not only became secretary of the fund in 1873 but whose enthusiasm and practical interest was so great that in 1885 he gave up his career in the Post Office to become secretary of the RNLI, a post in which he served with great distinction until his death in 1910; men like Charles Barrett, who kept the fund going almost single-handed through the second world war, building up a reserve fund of £40,000 for post-war replacements; men like John Chapman who, facing fair and square the problems of rising prices and inflation, has seen the amounts collected rise by thousands in a year under his stewardship but nevertheless, with his committee's help, is still working to enlarge the collection by enlarging the catchment area. It worries him that probably well over half the members of the Civil Service and Post Office never get the chance to contribute to the fund.

John Chapman has himself sailed all his life . . . 'This, I suppose, is one of the reasons why I have always been interested in lifeboats and I am a strong supporter of Shoreline.' His parents had a boat before the war and he learnt much of his sailing in Thames sailing barges.

Since then he has always owned a boat, his present one being an old 12-ton cutter. His sailing grounds are the East Coast and the Thames Estuary . . . 'and I am very fond of slipping across to Holland, sometimes on my own, sometimes with a crew'.

Life Charles Dibdin, his interest in lifeboat activities does not end with fund raising; looking to the past, he is a member of the Lifeboat Preservation Working Party, and to the future, a member of the American/British Lifeboat Appeal Committee.

The time of retirement from the Civil Service is approaching for John Chapman.

His years as a Trust Officer in the Public Trustees Office are just coming to an end, but he will still continue as honorary secretary of the Civil Serice and Post Office Lifeboat Fund for a little while yet. We wish him happy years and good sailing—and long may the lifeboat service be lucky enough to have as its friends such troublesome fellows!—J.D..