THE EXPERIENCES of a number of lifeboats in the severe gales last winter led to the appointment in February, 1978 of a working party to examine what more could be done to reduce the dangers facing lifeboat crews in extreme conditions. Vice-Admiral Sir Arthur Hezlet was appointed chairman.

The working party was chosen to allow for an exchange of views between committee and staff members and others with extensive first-hand experience of service in lifeboats, including John King, the former Bridlington coxswain.

In addition to the formal meetings discussions were held with crew members from Kilmore Quay, where the lifeboat was capsized twice on Christmas Eve last year, as well as from St Ives and Torbay, whose lifeboats experienced some of the worst of the storm conditions.

The main subjects discussed were lifejackets, the design of seats and seat belts, the provision of safety lanyards and protective helmets, and training generally. Evaluation trials of a number of items of equipment will be carried out before final decisions are made.

Governors' subscriptions As recently as 1970 the annual cost of running the lifeboat service was less than £2 million. In 1978 the cost is more than £8 million: a rise of more than 400 per cent. Yet during those eight years no changes were made in the subscription rates for governors of the RNLI.

Last spring, however, after extensive discussions at the annual general meeting of the governors, it was agreed that the need for subscription increases would be well appreciated by lifeboat supporters. The following proposal was carried unanimously: 'The governors of the Institution shall consist of the persons who at January 1, 1979, shall already be life governors or who thereafter shall have subscribed to the funds either one sum of £150 or upwards, or by an annual payment of £15 or upwards, and of such other persons as shall be elected to be governors by a general meeting, as having rendered essential service to the Institution, and shall be entitled to vote at all general meetings.' While it is hoped that those members who are already governors will wish to increase their contributions, whether they do so or not they will continue to receive copies of the journal and an invitation to the annual presentation of awards.

Value added tax Concern has understandably been felt by lifeboat supporters recently about the application of VAT to the lifeboat service and in particular about its effect on the work of branches and guilds. This is a complex subject and one on which the RNLI officials have been having long and friendly discussions with Customs and Excise officials to determine how the RNLI and its supporters, who must of course remain strictly within the law, can suffer the minimum impact from the tax.

The RNLI already enjoys zero-rating on the building and repairs of both offshore and inshore lifeboats. From the discussions now in progress it is hoped that the burden placed on RNLI voluntary workers in terms of paperwork will be reduced and simplified and that the outcome of these discussions can be communicated to them in the New Year.

Lifeboat centres The RNLI has now established a number of important repositories of local history in the form of museums and display centres. In addition to the older established museums such as those in Eastbourne and Bamburgh a number of boathouses, which were formerly needed for operational purposes, now house attractive displays.

Among those drawing the largest number of visitors are Cromer and Exmouth. The old Whitby boathouse has the distinction of housing the only RNLI pulling lifeboat in this country which has been preserved in her original condition. The number of these display centres is growing steadily, largely through local initiative. A recently opened example is that at Southwold where a former water tower has been taken over.

The east coast of England has a large number of museums and display centres. Scotland is represented by Dunbar and Portpatrick, and Wales by Barmouth.

A number of national museums also include lifeboat models and equipment, perhaps the best examples being those in the Science Museum in South Kensington and the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.

Unfortunately we are unable, to announce the times of opening of the various centres. They are in practice manned by volunteers who cannot always guarantee to keep these centres open at the times they would wish.

Cof M Vice-Admiral Sir Arthur Hezlet, KBE CB DSO DSC DL, Lt-Cdr Jeremy Tetley, RN (Retd), and William T. Bishop, CBE FRICS, have been elected vicepresidents of the Institution.

Vice-Admiral Sir Arthur Hezlet is chairman of the Search and Rescue Committee and also serves on the Executive and Boat Committees; he joined the Committee of Management in 1970 and he is an RNLI representative on the Government Search and Rescue Committee. Lt-Cdr Tetley joined the Committee of Management in 1967 and also serves on the Medical and Survival Committee. Mr Bishop joined the Committee of Management in 1969; he was previously chairman of the Fund Raising Committee and is chairman of a special committee which was set up to deal with construction of the new offices and depot when the RNLI moved the administration from London to Poole.

Two new members recently joined the Committee of Management: Professor Sir George Algernon Smart, BSc MD FRCP, who joined the Medical and Survival Committee in 1971 and is the Institution's honorary medical consultant, and Cargill Sandeman, chairman of Glasgow branch and a life-long sailor.

'Right Way Up' Tremendous interest was caused by 'Right Way Up', an exhibition staged at the Science Museum, South Kensington, last summer which told the story of the self-righting lifeboat. Mounted by the RNLI in a gallery provided free of charge by the museum, it marked the twentieth anniversary of the introduction of the first modern self-righting lifeboat at Scarborough in 1958. Visitors, many of them children and young people, came not only from all parts of Great Britain and Ireland but also from overseas and, during the two months the exhibition was open, it was estimated that about a quarter of a million people passed through.

Jack Chambers, exhibition manager, was helped by voluntary branch workers as well as by RNLI staff based in London. Some of the most loyal support came from young Arthur Gardner (above); he helped for over a month during his school holidays and soon earned the nickname 'The Governor'! A number of Shoreline members were recruited, foreign coin was collected and, with donations and the sale of a limited range of small souvenirs, about £4,000 was raised.

The exhibition is to be remounted at the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, from May 16 to 22.

Cdr Michelmore Commander T. G. Michelmore, QBE RD RNR, who died in October 1978 joined the RNLI from the P and O Company in which he was serving as second officer in RMS Rawalpindi. In this ship he met HRH The Prince of Wales, then president of the RNLI, who was at that time returning in the vessel from one of his world tours.

In World War I Cdr Michelmore served with the Royal Navy and his first post with the RNLI was as Northern District inspector in 1930. He moved to the Eastern District in 1941 and was appointed deputy chief inspector in 1945. He became chief inspector in 1951, retiring from the Institution at the end of June 1958.

Cdr Michelmore brought to the post of chief inspector an encyclopaedic knowledge of lifeboats, their crews and the local committees who administer the stations on the coast. He was the last of the chief inspectors with prewar, and war-time, experience of RNLI organisation and perhaps has turned a quizzical eye on some of the post-war innovations. Nevertheless, he was fully aware of the inevitability of change and had a true seaman's adaptability. E.W.M.

The qualities I remember most clearly in Cdr Michelmore were fairness and a sense of duty. I never knew him fail in either.—P.H.

Remembrance By invitation of the Royal British Legion the lifeboat service was represented at the Festival of Remembrance at the Albert Hall on Saturday November 11, 1978, by Coxswain Thomas Jones who has served in the crew of Hoylake lifeboat for over 40 years and as coxswain for the past four.

Northern Lights HRH The Duchess of Kent has agreed to become Patron of'Northern Lights', the National Festival of Flower Arrangement organised by The National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies of Great Britain, to be held at The Winter Gardens, Blackpool, on May 9 and 10. Part of the proceeds from the festival will be donated to the'RNLI, whose president is the Duke of Kent. Members from the Isle of Man flower clubs will be staging a special exhibit as a tribute to the RNLI, which was founded in 1824 by Sir William Hillary, who lived at Douglas.

Information from Mrs Margaret Hardman, 3 Stratford Avenue, Walmersley, Bury BL9 5LB.

'Men of the Year' Coxswain John Petit of St Peter Port attended the 'Men of the Year' luncheon at the Savoy Hotel on Wednesday November 8. Coxswain Petit was awarded a second bar to his bronze medal for the rescue of the crew of four of the French yacht Canopus on November 11/12, 1977, and a silver medal for the rescue of two men from the oil rig Orion on February 1, 1978..