Some of the lifeboats have taken part in historic events. Plymouth's lifeboat Clemency was present on August 19, 1879, at the ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the new Eddystone Lighthouse by the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh. Newhaven's 45ft Watson Cecil and Lilian Philpott was one of the lifeboats at Dunkirk.

Sadly, not all remembrance in 1978 was happy. On November 19 a service was held at Rye Harbour Parish Church in memory of the loss 50 years ago, on November 15, 1928, of the Rye Harbour lifeboat Mary Stanford with her whole crew of 17 men while on service to the Latvian vessel Alice. It was the greatest loss of life from any single lifeboat of the RNLI in the Institution's history. Rye Harbour was closed as an offshore station in 1928, but was reopened as an ILB station in 1966.

A service at Mutley Baptist Church on April 24 was one of Plymouth's tributes to her 175 years of lifesaving, and a little later, in May, Major-General Ralph Farrant, president of the Institution, was to open the West Country Boat Show in Plymouth. In that same month Guernsey lifeboat station was the central feature of the first Guernsey Boat Show.

Penlee celebrated its 175th birthday with special fund raising efforts embracing the whole Mount's Bay area. A week of celebrations organised by Penlee branch from May 28 to June 2 included events in Penzance and Newlyn and there was also a sponsored sail by Penzance Sailing Club, there were Harvest Homes at the Old Coastguard Hotel, Mousehole, and the Crown Inn, Penzance, and also an anniversary draw with a prize of Martell-Cognac given by Martell. 'A marked feature of the year' wrote D. L.

Johnson, Penlee honorary secretary, 'has been the tremendous support we have had not only from our own people but from the local organisations, the public and the police.' A fitting postscript to such an historic year..