Fourth lottery THE FOURTH NATIONAL LOTTERY of the RNLI was drawn by Ed (Stewpot) Stewart on Wednesday January 31 at RNLI headquarters, Poole. Supervising the draw were Major-General Ralph H. Farrant, chairman of the Committee of Management, John Atterton, acting director, and Cdr E. F. Pritchard, appeals secretary. As well as other visitors and members of staff, a party of schoolchildren from South Road Combined School, Poole, witnessed the draw, and when 'Stewpot' cried 'Crackerjack!' he got a tremendous response. Each child went away with his autograph, and they all sent beautifully written letters of thanks to the RNLI. One little girl wrote: 'My dad is a fisherman and the lifeboat saved his life in 1970. He says if it was not for the lifeboat he would be dead by now . . .' Ed Stewart was currently appearing in 'Dick Whittington' at the Pavilion Theatre, Bournemouth and in the children's TV show 'Crackerjack', as well as introducing 'Junior Choice' on BBC Radio 1 and 2 each Saturday and Sunday morning.

The prizewinners of the fourth lottery, which raised approximately £24,000, were: £1,000: K. D. Murkin, HMS Phoebe.

£500: B. A. Baker, Bristol.

£250: Mr Puszet, Cyprus.

£25: Miss B. Parr, London SW16; Miss Kyd, Coverack; Mrs L. Bartlett, London SE2; J. A. Nichol, Aberystwyth; Mrs M. D.

Hardwick, Dorchester; S. W. Chitson, Godalming; Mrs S. Lewis, Bury; L. K.

Wilkinson, Mill Hill; Doris Cummings, Warley; Miss J. E. S. Bunch, Sherborne.Aberdeen lifeboat ball, one of the main social events in the Scottish lifeboat year, raised over £2,300 this year. Held on February 2 the ball had, as its principal guests, Coxswain Albert Bird and the crew of Aberdeen lifeboat and their wives, Rear-Admiral J. R. D. Nunn, Port Admiral Rosyth, and Mrs Nunn, and the Reverend W.

Geraint Edwards, Minister of the West Church of St Nicholas, and Mrs Edwards. Seaforth Maritime Ltd very generously met all expenses and, as well as gifts for the tombola, many firms donated items to be auctioned; three flights over the Forties oil field donated by BP were sold for a total of £250.

St Anne's luncheon club recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. A cheque for £800, which included a £100 donation from Dalmeny Hotel, venue of the club, was presented to Donald Redford, a Committee of Management member. Since the club was formed £4,500 has been raised. The honorary secretary, coxswain and mechanic of the Lytham lifeboat and their wives, and also the Mayor and Mayoress, were invited to the anniversary luncheon. Russell Braddon, the well known author and broadcaster, was guest speaker.

For one of the Royal Dart Yacht Club's regular winter lectures Edward Tuson was invited to talk on handmade jewellery. During the talk one of Mr Tuson's craftsmen was actually making a delightful pendant; a golden yacht with silver sails, sailing in a sea of green agate set in silver. After the talk Mr Tuson asked that the pendant be raffled in aid of the RNLI; it raised £58.

A ten-mile sponsored walk was undertaken by regular customers of the Dewdrop Inn, Rainham, Gillingham, Kent, last September. A cheque for £435 was presented to John Darbyshire, ADOS South East, by Jane Terry, the reigning Miss Medway; the money was donated to Chatham and Rochester branch.

Also from Gillingham comes an excellent fund-raising idea; the suggestion of Helen Hicks, an SRN and Health Visitor. At meetings non smokers sponsor smokers for not smoking so much every 10 or 15 minutes, while smokers pay 5p for each cigarette smoked during the evening; all the money being put in a collecting box.

A barbecue and disco was held at the Old Dunstonians' Club, West Wickham, last September. The event, organised by Orpington and District branch, raised £229.58.

Broadstairs ladies' guild held a successful Autumn Fair in October which raised £829.41. During 1977/78 the branch raised a record amount of £2,750.

A junior branch has been formed in association with the Bare and Torrisholme ladies" guild. The three members, Helen Catchpole and Meg and Jo Wiseman, meet each Friday evening and among their activities are camping in their back gardens and cooking meals on the beach. Each is compiling an individual book; birds of prey, Ian Botham, the cricketer, and the RNLI, being the subjects. During October the girls worked hard making needle cases, dishcloths and candles for Mrs Wiseman's coffee evening; with help from Mrs Catchpole they raised £9.20.

West Wight ladies' guild have certainly had a tremendous year of fund raising. One of the many successful events organised was a coffee morning held at the home of Mrs Gilchrist. During the morning Christmas floral decorations, made by Mrs Gilchrist and Mrs S. Muggins, raised £157. In addition £51 worth of souvenirs were sold.

A collecting box sent by E. Burtonwood, assistant secretary of Warrington branch, to his friends Bill and Beryl Symons who own the Oliver Twist Bar in Gibraltar has, in just a few months, raised £64 for the RNLI.

Rutland ladies' guild held a wine, cheese and pate party at Rockingham Castle in December, by kind invitation of Commander and Mrs Michael Watson.

Log fires blazed in the great hall and panel room and together with decorations and candles added to the atmosphere of Christmases of bygone years. More than 200 guests enjoyed the evening and £450 was raised for the lifeboat service.

Elstree and Borehamwood branch received an unexpected donation from the crew of MV Dixcove, the master of which is the husband of Mrs K. Smith, branch treasurer. While at anchor at Koko, Nigeria, three crew members walked round the promenade deck covering about 28 miles in four hours, raising £57.31 from sponsors. Later, at a bingo evening, several crew members donated part of their winnings, bringing the total up to £63.71.

North Lincolnshire Riding Club generously donated the proceeds from a recent gymkhana, over £379, to Grimsby ladies' guild. The guild raised more than £350 with a raffle and a blanket collection in the ring brought in a further £30.51.

During 1978 a group of sixth form boys of the Duke of York's Royal Military School in Dover organised a marathon five-a-side football match.

The boys played for 62 hours, breaking the world record and playing their way into the Guinness Book of Records.

The money raised from this event was split equally between the RNLI and one other organisation and as a result a cheque for £191.92 was sent to RNLI headquarters.

Matthew Clark and Sons, the UK agents for Martell brandy, who supply each lifeboat with a bottle of three-star brandy for the survival kit, donated a US gallon of Martell to Penlee branch.

It was raffled and over £700 was raised.

With a population of only 2,002, Moffat, as far from the sea as you can get in Scotland, raised £1,066 last year.

With Christmas in mind, we are still hearing from carol singers. Children of St Peter's Church of England Primary School and St Clement's Primary School, both in London, with staff and parents sang in the Kensington High Street Arcade each evening for a week; a cheque for £50 was sent to the RNLI, one of a number of charities helped.

Richmond-with-Kew branch held a very successful carol service at St Matthias Church in December; about 360 local children took part, as well as The Elizabethan Singers; the choirs were conducted by Dr Malcolm Williamson, CBE, Master of the Queen's Music; the service was so well attended that even standing room was very quickly filled, and about £300 was raised. A carol service arranged by the Salvation Army and choirs of Beechgrove Church of Scotland and Torry United Free Church of Scotland raised £288 for Aberdeen branch.

Thirteen-year-old Donna Simpkins of Weybridge, Surrey raised £5.31'/2 by carol singing.

Last September Bradford ladies' guild and luncheon club arranged a floral display at the home of Mrs S. H.

Chippendale, a committee member and past chairman of the guild. 'A Prelude to Autumn' was opened by Richard Whiteley of Yorkshire Television. With a sherry evening, a coffee morning and various stalls, £954 was raised, bringing the total raised for the RNLI in Mrs Chippendale's home over the years to £8,000.

Tim Gabriel and Pauline Dagleish from Leigh-on-Sea raised £90 by making their first ever parachute jump, sponsored, of course. Unfortunately, Tim hurt a foot on landing and had to spend the next three weeks with his ankle in plaster.

A display at Barclays Bank, Liscard, by kind permission of the manager, was staged by Wallasey guild last autumn.

A 'lifeboatman', the display model for which was generously loaned by Burtons, was the centrepiece of the display which also included photographs, souvenirs, and charts of Liverpool Bay showing launches and rescues of the New Brighton lifeboats. Altogether over £200 was raised from the display, the sale of souvenirs and Wallasey's house-to-house collection.

An auction held at the Cross Keys Inn raised £625 for Dinas Powis branch. Brian Williams, the auctioneer, keeping everyone laughing, refused to accept bids unless rounded to the nearest 50p. The lots included bottles of wine, selling for £5; whiskey went for £9, and three plates of faggots were sold for £7.50.

A garden party, organised by Camberley branch last J u l y , raised £250, an increase of £90 on last year's total.

In the last issue of the journal mention was made of the Point Battery Art Exhibition held at Old Portsmouth from May to September each year.

Unfortunately it was not made clear that the £975 raised for lifeboat funds in 1978 as well as the monies collected in previous years represents the voluntary 'commissions' the artists pay on any pictures sold together with collections made in boxes at either end of the exhibition area. In addition, the sale of souvenirs during the five summer months of 1978 made a profit approaching £250.

We regret that in reporting the harvest home at The Old Coastguard Hotel, Mousehole, in the last issue of the journal, an error was made in the names of the organisers. The event was arranged by Mrs Mary Williams who, in nearly 50 years service for the RNLI held the office of chairman and secretary of Penlee ladies' guild for many years and was awarded the silver badge in 1977. She was helped by Mrs Richards, the mother of the coxswain and Mrs Madron, wife of the motor mechanic..