Christmas festivities in Kirkwall brought a number of generous donations for the lifeboat.

Ron Spiers ofTorvhaug Enterprises set up a magnificent Christmas tree outside his inn door and raised £102.56 with a competition to guess its weight; the winner, Shirley Boyle, was presented with a half-gallon bottle of whisky by Mr Spiers. A Girl Guide carol service in East Church raised £15 and the skipper, Tom Wilson, and crew of Rosewell, one of the Lindsay Coasters of Leith, collected £58.07 in eight weeks for the station. Kirkwall ladies' guild, supported by their husbands, Orkney Sailing Club and Kirkwall Sea Cadets, ran a coffee evening to raise a further (.192.11..