from page 17 married James Ritchie, whose family were the owners of the brewery Heron and Brearley, and she has stayed for a lifetime. Her present home, not far from the boathouse, looks out over Ramsey Bay, and as the years have gone by her interest and her joy has become the lifeboats and lifeboat people of the island.

Jamesiand Ann Ritchieiboth loved the sea and in the early 1960s the 54 ton motor cruiser Silver Lai was built for them at Silver's yard, Rosneath. In her they cruised extensively, sailing the waters of the Isle of Man and Scotland and going as far afield as the Mediterranean.

Some few years later, the keel of another motor cruiser was laid down for them at McGruer's yard, Clynder.

She was the 56 ton Golden Lai designed by J. A. McLachlan of G. L.

Watson and Co, who was also the designer of the first prototype hull of the Arun lifeboat. Mr McLachlan introduced Mr and Mrs Ritchie to Stirling Whorlow, secretary of the RNLI at that time, and it was on hearing that a new lifeboat would soon be needed at Ramsey that a thought which had been with James Ritchie for many years took definite form: '/ would like to put her there myself.' Sadly, before he could follow his intention through, James Ritchie was taken fatally ill, and it was his wife, Ann, who made sure that his last wishes were translated into the Oakley lifeboat James Ball Ritchie which went on station at Ramsey in 1970. As far as she is concerned, that lifeboat is the gift of her husband.

Mrs Ritchie then made the bold decision that she would go to sea again in Golden Lai. As master, she was determined that, although she would have a crew, she would know how to handle her yacht herself, and even went to the length of spending two hours every evening studying the workings of the marine engines. In the next five years Golden Lai cruised to Norway, France and, of course, Scotland, but always returning to the Isle of Man where many of the lifeboatmen became Mrs Ritchie's friends. Bobby Lee, Douglas coxswain from 1950 to 1970, she remembers with particular gratitude for his ready help and advice.

In 1976 Mrs Ritchie gave a second lifeboat to the island, the 54ft Arun The Cough Ritchie, which is stationed at Port St Mary. Her reward and her pleasure is in the pride of the lifeboatmen themselves in the Ritchie boats and the care they bestow on them.

Looking back with great happiness, she regards herself as very lucky because she has been able to do what she really wanted to do: make a positive contribution to the saving of life at sea.

Individually, and as a community, Man has a remarkably good fundraising record. To take just one example of what a comparatively small number of people can do, Port Erin where the station honorary secretary, Dick Rimington, himself gives a strong lead, last year raised the equivalent of about two pounds per head of population. Hard work and enjoyment go hand in hand, each area having its special social events—a coffee morning, or perhaps a celebration champagne party. A great deal of planning goes into the island's flag days and lifeboat collections—followed inevitably by a great deal of determined effort. Douglas, for instance, includes the ferries and many of its pubs in its collections and at Port Erin all the hotels are visited, the collectors going round the individual tables. Port Erin's men's committee, supported by the local silver band and choir, holds an open air service of community hymn singing, a Carolare, on the first Sunday of June each year, coinciding with the start of the Manx TT week, and there is always a good collection for the lifeboats.

No less than four Manx lifeboat stations have already celebrated their 150th anniversaries and without doubt, lifesaving at sea and the support given by the people on shore is an important strand in the history and heritage of Man. So, when the island celebrated its millennium last year, it was fitting that lifeboat people should take their part.

Two lifeboatmen were chosen to be in the crew which, early in the summer, rowed the replica Viking longship Odin's Raven from Trondheim in Norway to make their landfall at Peel, retracing the voyages of the Norsemen: David Eames of Peel and Jonathan Tomlinson of Port St Mary. Then, on a beautiful Saturday morning in early August, after the Sail Training Association fleet had raced from Fowey to Man, it took station at Port St Mary to be reviewed by King Olaf of Norway.

In company with such famous training ships and ocean racers as Winston Churchill, America, Rona, Royalist, Outlaw and Drumbeat were Port St Mary's The Gough Ritchie and Port Erin's Osman Gabriel, with Port St Mary's D class inflatable lifeboat and boarding boat alongside. The lifeboats manned and cheered ship while overhead, off the pier end, hovered another of their partners in search and rescue, a helicopter from RAF Valley in Anglesey.

Crowds had gathered on the pier and foreshore for the review and they stayed to watch demonstration exercises inside the harbour and at sea given that afternoon by the lifeboats and the helicopter. For the RAF crew that afternoon was the first of a series of exercises with each of the island's lifeboats in turn as part of regular mutual training and co-operation.

Landmarks in history may come and go, but for the watch kept by the rescue services there is no end . . ..