EARL'S COURT, JANUARY 4-14 THE COMBINATION OF BLIZZARDS and transport strikes at the beginning of January might have seemed enough to scupper any exhibition—but not the London Boat Show. In spite of these difficulties and a stand which was smaller and less central than usual, the RNLI had a record year for Shoreline enrolments (see Shoreline page) and good results on the sales of souvenirs and lottery tickets.

The battle for the 1,000th Shoreline member and the challenge of selling every coastal calendar turned the stand into a market stall at times and it was the energy of the voluntary workers which brought success on these fronts.

During the show several presentations took place. The public relations awards (below, left) were presented by The Duke of Atholl to John Beattie (1.), assistant editor of the Sunday Express in Manchester who has written several series of lifeboat stories for his newspaper, and Robert Malster, a local historian and journalist from Ipswich who has written extensively on lifeboats in his area. The two other recipients, Jimmy Savile and Harry Berry, could not attend and will receive their awards at other events. The Eastbourne branch and guild (below, right) jointly presented a cheque for £34,000 from the Eastbourne Lifeboat Appeal to Vice-Admiral Sir Peter Compston, chairman of the Fund Raising Committee; Lt-Cdr and Mrs Bradford were able to announce that the appeal was approaching £50,000, a figure which has now been passed. Liptons presented a cheque for £10,000, the result of the nationwide foreign coin appeal held in their stores.

Lifeboat crews and supporters from all over the country called in to renew old friendships and once again the show was a happy and hard working one for all taking part.—R.K..