THOUGHTS ON THE ANNUAL PRESENTATION OF AWARDS FOR GALLANTRY by Alan Neal Deputy Secretary (Operations Division) 'AH! THERE'S THE RNLI,' exclaimed the coxswain of an East Anglian lifeboat who had travelled to London to receive a medal for gallantry at the Institution's annual presentation of awards at the Royal Festival Hall. The scene was the crowded lounge of the Rubens Hotel at which the Institution accommodates the medallists and their wives: the time, the evening before the presentations, when senior members of the RNLI staff come to welcome the lifeboat people arriving from the coast and to discuss with them the programme for the following day. It was back in 1975 that I caught those heart-warming words above the general conversation; and there was Tommy Knott, coxswain at Lowestoft, whom I had known for many years—indeed we once crewed together in a reserve lifeboat on a special escort job from Dover to Calais. He had recognised me while I was on my way round, greeting arrivals. I suppose mine was the first familiar face he had spotted among the throng.

On average about 15 coxswains, crew members or 'shore boat' seamen travel to London every year to receive medals for gallantry at the Royal Festival Hall. Their wives, and sometimes their children, come with them as the guests of the Institution and it is the special responsibility, and pleasure, of my team—at present Norman Stripp, rescue records supervisor, Norman Ford, station personnel supervisor, David Linklater of rescue records staff, and myself, to ensure that all members of the party, which in a 'busy' year can number at least 50, enjoy their visit and take home happy memories with them.

When there are a large number of guests, Keith Peters, who works in the RNLI London office, helps us to escort our guests.

It has been the tradition of the RNLI for very many years to entertain medallists and their families for the two days they spend in London and the occasion gives the Institution's staff the opportunity of meeting very brave men and making new friends among our lifeboat colleagues on the coast. During that first evening a number of RNLI people will call in, if only for a few minutes. I can hardly remember, for instance, a year in the past quarter of a century when Pat Howarth, public relations officer, or John Atterton, now deputy director, has not been there. Usually each medallist will be supported by the station honorary secretary and his wife. And so the party assembles, ready for what always proves to be one of the most memorable and happy days on the Institution's calendar.

Coincidences have occurred. In 1975 a Suffolk station honorary secretary met a Scottish station chairman. They knew each other well in the business world but neither was aware that the other would be in London for the presentations.

That same year silver medals were to be presented to Coxswain Albert Bird from Aberdeen and to Coxswain Ben Tart from Dungeness. Now, one of the greatest rescues in the history of Dungeness station was to the motor vessel Teeswood, in 1956, when Albert Bird had been one of Teeswood's crew; it was because of his experiences that day that he later volunteered for the lifeboat service. And then, after nearly 20 years, Albert and Ben met at the Festival Hall. What a reunion that was! The sole aim of my team, indeed of the staff as a whole, is to ensure that our guests thoroughly enjoy themselves while they are with us. The day of the presentations can perhaps best be described as informally formal—at least we try to make it so. It begins with one of the most convivial breakfasts that any hotel can ever witness; and we are at hand to answer questions, deal with any problems, or just chat.

At 9.15 we give the party a run-down on the timetable of events for the day.

It is a tight schedule beginning with press and television interviews and photographs on the Thames Embankment outside the Royal Festival Hall, followed by a sightseeing tour of central London and back to the hotel for lunch at noon. The Rubens Hotel is not far from Buckingham Palace and our return nearly always coincides with the Changing of the Guard, to the great delight of the younger members of our party and, I imagine, to some of the adults as well.

Lunch over, the medallists and their guests are driven to the Royal Festival Hall where, at three o'clock, the meeting begins, supported by eminent men and women from public life and witnessed by an audience of some 2,000.

Unless other official engagements make it impossible, it is the normal practice for His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent, as president of the RNLI, to present the medals for gallantry following the reading of the citations by the director, Captain Nigel Dixon.

The speeches of the afternoon are both interesting and entertaining; the first is given by the chairman of the Committee of Mangement, the second by a guest speaker. At the AGM in 1974, the Institution's 150th anniversary year, Coxswain Derek Scott of The Mumbles gave a speech none of us who were there will ever forget, and how we laughed with our good friend, Raymond Baxter, in 1975. This year the principal guest speaker will have been Clare Francis, just back from the round-the-world yacht race. Presentations to voluntary workers and a vote of thanks brings the business of the day to an end, and soon after four o'clockeveryone adjourns for tea and biscuits in the foyer. During the refreshments His Royal Highness talks with the medallists and their wives but they are also in great demand by their Members of Parliament, Mayors, old friends and the press.

Tea over, the party is conducted back to the hotel for a short break and a light meal before going on to a theatre as guests of the Institution. After the show everyone comes back to the hotel for supper, which this year will have been a gift to the medallists and their families from Mrs. Anne Wall. The tensions of the day are forgotten and only pleasant memories remain. By now there has been time for everyone to get to know each other well and there is a fine party atmosphere. If there are Welshmen among the medallists we are sure to have some singing . . . .

It is difficult these days to choose what can be described as a 'family show' in London to suit the tastes of 50 or so people, but this year our guests will have seen the musical 'Oliver' at the Albery Theatre. If the reviews are anything to go by they will have had a most enjoyable evening. We were fortunate in the early post-war years to be able to book annual seats for the Crazy Gang show which featured Bud Flanagan and his henchmen. I recall that for at least ten years running the medallists and their families saw this show which, luckily for those men who made more than one trip to London to receive medals during those years, was updated from time to time.

Flanagan, who had great regard for the RNLI, used to stop the show and announce that RNLI medallists were in the audience; spotlights picked them out and the applause they were given did your heart good to hear.

Alas, the majority of shows nowadays do not allow for announcements to be made from the stage during the performance, but some theatre managements have arranged back stage parties and meetings with the cast in recent years. One memorable occasion was when we met Anna Neagle and the cast of 'Charlie Girl'; another was a party given by the management of the Vaudeville Theatre and the cast of 'Salad Days', which the entire cast attended and which lasted well into the small hours; and there was the time when the cast of 'There's a Girl in my Soup' came round to the front of the house to talk.

While the medallists are in their comfortable seats enjoying the show it seems a far cry from the gales, storms and cold in which they won their awards.

The backroom organisation of the annual presentation of awards falls to several different departments of the Institution but it is one of the Operation Division's jobs to ensure that travelling arrangements, accommodation, cater- ing and entertainment for our guests are arranged down to the last detail.

The most important thing we have to do is to make sure that the medals themselves are ready on time and a few anxious moments have occurred when, because of manufacturing delays, medals have reached us only days before the meeting. Over years of sometimes nerve-racking experiences we have built up our own 'fail safe' measures; for instance, the medals are now removed from the office safe a day or two before the meeting because one year when we went to unlock the safe on the presentation morning the key broke in the lock! It was several hours before a locksmith could be found to retrieve the medals, which finally arrived at the hall with literally only minutes to spare. A few more grey hairs—but an important lesson had been learnt.

I have had the privilege of being a member of the organising team for upwards of 30 years and can look back on many outstanding occasions. Since 1947 five men have been awarded gold medals for gallantry; Coxswain Thomas King of Jersey, who sadly died earlier this year aged 92; Coxswain Richard Evans, BEM, of Moelfre, who has been awarded two gold medals; Coxswain Hubert Petit of St Peter Port, Guernsey; a former lifeboat inspector, Harold Harvey; and Second Coxswain Keith Bower of Torbay. When Keith Bower and his crew went up on to the platform last year to receive their medals they received a spontaneous standing ovation. There is no doubt that, year by year, audiences find the meetings uplifting. I can well remember, a few years ago, a lady coming up to me afterwards and telling me that she had felt inspired to collect more money than ever for the RNL1. I am quite sure that a great many of our fund raisers go away determined to redouble their efforts after watching the medallists going up on to the platform, one by one, and listening to the citations which sum up so much endeavour and endurance in so few, quiet words.

There was one occasion, in 1955, when the silver medal for gallantry was presented by Her Royal Highness Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent and at that time our president, to th'e pilot of a United States Air Force helicopter, Capt Curtis E. Parkins, for the rescue of a man from the South Goodwin Lightvessel; his crew were accorded the thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum. It was the first time for very many years that the RNLI had made awards for gallantry to foreign nationals and I remember how impressed the pilot and his wife were with the whole atmosphere of the meeting. I can also recall the time when the AGM, as the meeting was known in those days, coincided with St Patrick's Day and a coxswain from the Republic of Ireland gave Princess Marina a box of shamrock in return for his medal.

I am sure that our American friends took back with them to the USA happy memories of their visit, but our meeting was certainly not unheard of over there years before. In the old BBC Transatlantic Quiz days, in the immediate post-war years, on one programme the question was asked from London: 'On what annual occasion in England is the Sailors' Hornpipe danced?' Back came the quizzical reply: 'Would that be the annual meeting of the Royal National Life-boat Institution?' Alas, that is not so. The hornpipe was in fact danced by the boys of TS Arethusa at the Shaftesbury Homes annual prizegiving day.

The boys' own brass band provided the music and they were trained by a chief yeoman of signals who had served in HMS Sheffield for the whole of the war.

I must say that endless possibilities are conjured up by the thought that RNLI staff should dance the hornpipe at the annual presentation of awards but perhaps we had better leave it to the band of the Royal Marines to continue to set the scene before the presentations begin with their melodious nauti- cal airs as they have done so well for the past ten years or more. This year, unfortunately, they will not have played for us because their own commitments made it impossible, but we shall look forward to having them with us again in 1979.

Up to 1972 medals for gallantry were presented at the annual general meeting of the governors of the Institution, but in 1973 it was decided to hold a separate business meeting for the governors in the morning (the AGM) and to follow it up by another meeting for the presentations in the afternoon. This procedure does, among other things, allow more time to be devoted to the actual medal presentations, citations and speeches. RNLI medals for gallantry have not always been presented at the Institution's annual meetings. It is recorded that in 1902 ex-Second Coxswain James Haylett of Caister was presented with the gold medal for gallantry by King Edward VII at Sandringham, when Haylett earnestly expressed his hope that His Majesty would live to be a hundred years old and then die and go to heaven.

There is no doubt that our visitors to London enjoy themselves as did a Scottish second coxswain, James Sim of Fraserburgh, who, on his return home nearly 50 years ago told the press: 7 cannot get words to express the fine way I was treated. Supposing I had been a lord I could not have been better looked after'. It will be our aim to maintain our high standards of hospitality in the years to come—that's the RNLI!.