Redcar branch ladies guild's income for 1976 exceeded £4,000, all raised the hard way. None of the members has a car, so that large suitcases have to be heaved on and off buses in support of their various fund-raising efforts. In October they organised a Rainbow Bazaar, at which every stall represented one colour plus white. Every article on sale followed the colour of the stall, even the stallholders had a coloured sash to match the reds, mauves, greens, blues, purples, oranges and yellows of their wares. It was the idea of Mrs Vera Robinson, MBE, who has worked for the RNLl for more than 40 years. £134 was added to the guild's funds by a Country and Western Dance; during the evening a man dressed as a cowboy tossed his stetson on to the floor, asking everyone to throw in coins as they danced—that brought in £14.50.

Grimsby guild and branch undertook the marathon task of organising a draw, in conjunction with the four-day Humberside County Show last September, for which a motor car given by Satra Motors was first prize. Despite the heavy rains of that time, by sheer hard work and perseverance they sold over £2,000 worth of tickets.Despite atrocious weather, four men at the Ring O'Bells, West Kirby, Wirral, persisted in their attempt on the world marathon bowls record over the weekend September 25 and 26. On Friday night it rained for six hours and between 6 pm on Saturday and 6 am on Sunday 3.7 inches of rain fell in Wirral. Undeterred —and fortunately they had lifeboat waterproofs—they went on to break the record, in the end completing 48 hours. More than £500 was raised for the RNLl.

As an experiment, Mrs Wither put an RNLl collecting box in the car park of her guest house, Low Isle House, Isle of Whithorn; in three weeks £140 had been collected. Next year collecting will start at the beginning of the season! A class of 10-11 year olds at Barncoose County Primary School, Redruth, planned a wonderful surprise for their form master, Crew Member John Thomas of St Ives. In secret they organised a sale, making jam tarts and sausage rolls. RNLl Hags and bookmarks and bringing in toys and comics.

With this spontaneous gesture they raised £11 for the lifeboat service.

Before setting off on a fishing trip at Rhyl last July, the women's section of Newcastle (Staffordshire) Deep Sea Anglers presented acheque for £75, raised with jumble sales, to John Owen, honorary secretary, Rhyl and District branch.

Solo yachtsman David Sandeman signed 500 envelopes bearing the l i p Jersey stamp commemorating America's bicentenary and took them on his voyage across the Atlantic last summer. Theseenvelopes were date-marked on the day David set off from Jersey, June 5, and again when he reached Newport, Rhode Island, on July 18. They are being sold at £5 each for the benefit of the RNLI and, while stocks last, are available from Mrs S. D. Felkin, Kilimani, Mont Cochon, St. Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands. One envelope has been sent to HM The Queen, as Patron of the RNLI.

Mrs J. Rose, chairman of Heworth ladies' guild, York, was one of the people who attended the 150th anniversary RNLI Buckingham Palace Garden Party in 1974. Since then she has undertaken several speaking engagements, taking as her theme 'A Day to Remember at Buckingham Palace' and, as a result, has paid over £40 into the guild account.

A Bournemouth television firm held a water polo competition to mark the centenary of the game, first started in Bournemouth by a group of people playing with a ball in the sea alongside the pier. Competing teams travelled from as far away as Andover, Somerset and London (Metropolitan Police), and the £50 raised was donated to the RNLI.

Children are wonderful! After a family visit to Flamborough lifeboat station, Helen and Robert Braid and Beverley King went home to Prestwich, organised a jumble sale and sent the resultant £6.50 to the station with their best wishes. Another group of children, in Halifax, raised £7.10* for the lifeboat service with their jumble sale; they are Stephen and Richard Cawthra, Tracy and Robert Walker, Paul and Karen Greenwood, Martin and Ian Gates and Jonathan Firth.

West Wight ladies' guild souvenir stall in Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, lifeboat house, open each weekend last summer from April 1 to September 5, achieved the splendid result of £1,957.

Royal Naval Association Tamworth branch settled for messing about on the river one July day last year, braving the River Anker in a sponsored 'sink or swim' on a polystyrene raft, 'HMS Polly'.

The resulting £100 was given to Tamworth ladies' guild.

When Royal Fleet Auxiliary stores support ship Stromness visited her ownport of Stromness last July, she brought with her a fine donation for the RNLI.

Captain John Logan, her master, handed over to Coxswain Alfred Sinclair a cheque for £140, the result of various money-making activities by his officers. A large cake decorated with the Stromness crest, made by the ship's catering staff, was also presented to the RNLI for display and fund raising.

A total of £768 was raised by Scarborough ladies' guild at a two-day exhibition of paintings by the Rev.

Edward Mowforth at Scalby last June.

Of that sum, pictures he gave to the guild to be sold realised £530 and £200 was an anonymous donation. One picture is of an old Scarborough lifeboat, Lady Leigh which, on November 10, 1872, saved the crew of five and a boy from the brig Palestine, wrecked in a full north-east gale on Ramsden Scar; one of the men, Captain John Steel, was Mr Mowforth's father-in-law.

More than 100,000 tickets were sold throughout the Lancaster and Morecambe area during last summer in Lancaster branch's raffle for a Dell Quay runabout complete with water skis, fishing tackle and food hamper; an effort supported by many sailing, water ski and sub aqua clubs. Fred Gardener, a member of Morecambe ILB crew, with the Mayor and Mayoress of Lancaster, Councillor and Mrs Peter Sumner, drew the lucky ticket; the winner was Police Constable John Wilkinson. Proceeds from the venture were £3,336, which, with the results of a coffee morning and other efforts, means that Lancaster branch contributed £4,750 to RNLI funds in 1976.In what she describes as 'a mad moment', Mrs Angela Herbert, licensee of the Norway Inn, Truro, challenged her daughter, Mrs Susan Flynn, licensee of the Mermaid Inn, St Mary's, Isles of Scilly, to a ladies' gig race, sponsored in aid of the RNLI to be rowed off St Mary's. Wednesday, July 28 was set as the day, Roger Shaw of Westward Television acted as official starter and, with a flotilla of boats on the water and spectators on shore, more than £2,000 was raised. The race was won by the Mermaid Inn team.

At Beccles last year a sponsored walk to Lowestoft in June raised £140, and a 17-mile sponsored Sea Scout canoe to Reedham in July raised £50. A new, fund-raising sub-committee has been set up by Beccles and District branch and anyone who would like to help will be welcome. Please write to the honorary secretary, Lieut.-Commander P. H.

Cator, Holly House, Barnby, Beccles, Suffolk.

By August last year Campbeltown ladies' guild had already raised £2,200, £250 more than in 1975. They started with a record-breaking event on Easter Saturday, a coffee morning and Easter draw which brought in £307 and £300 respectively, and followed this with another record, £430, on their flag day on July 24. On that same day £356 was realised from a bottle and tablet stall at the Round Table's 'It's a Knockout'.

Tynemouth ladies' guild has received a donation of £90 from a local firm. One of its employees, on retirement, asked that the gift which would usually have been presented on this occasion should be given, instead, to the RNLI.

Eastcote branch held a buffet dance last October to conclude a very successful year during which £1,200 was achieved—the branch has raised its total to this amount from £300 in four years.

At the dance the guests enjoyed thesinging of Scarlet and Lace, a folk group who generously donated their time to help the Institution.

Formed in 1970, Ledbury and District ladies' guild has gone from strength to strength. Last autumn, by kind per: mission of the Hon. Mrs Hervey Bathurst, a highly successful party was held in Eastnor Castle, raising £600, their best single effort so far. Although the weather prevented those present from enjoying their refreshments on the terraces, the castle rooms, steeped in history, provided a most suitable and enjoyable setting.

An RNLI exhibition, opened by Sir Alec Rose, was staged in Co-op House, Portsmouth, from September 2 to 11; first an Atlantic 21 at the entrance, then up to the first floor where a D class ILB was the centrepiece of the main exhibition and photographic display.

There were continuous film shows and a Christmas card and souvenir stand.

Manning was by volunteers from branches in Portsmouth, Southsea, Hayling Island, Havant, Cosham, Waterlooville, Portchester, Denmead and Hambledon. There was £174 profit for the RNLI.

A disco at Gunnersbury Fair Public House raised over £100 for the RNLI.

The owners of the house, Goodhews B and S Ltd, plan to hold a number of disco's around the country in an effort to raise enough money to fund a lifeboat.

Mrs Gladys Harvey of Stoke Bishop has been running coffee mornings, for a number of charities, since right back in the 1930s. For a very long time now there has always been one each year for the RNLI, and the 1976 party raised more than £175..