WHEN, ON MARCH 27, HRH The Duke of Kent attended the first meeting of the Committee of Management to be held in the RNLI's new London premises, it was the first time that a President of the Institution had addressed such a meeting.

The Duke expressed the RNLI's thanks to The Marine Society whose initiative and enterprise had transformed the old Archbishop Temple's School into new offices. The Society has made available a small suite for the RNL1 and is generously allowing the use of its council chamber for many of the Institution's regular committee meetings.

Following the meeting, the Duke of Atholl, Chairman of the Institution, and Rear Admiral Wilfred Graham, the Director, showed the Duke of Kent over the RNL1 offices, introducing to him the members of staff who work there.

Service to merchant shipping The last two winters have been marked by storms of unusual ferocity.

A number of merchant ships have come to grief and many have been helped by lifeboats. Last year, the medals awarded to the Humber, Wells and Bridlington coxswains were all for service to merchant vessels, as were thethree silver medals presented at this year's annual presentation of awards to the coxswains from Selsey, Shoreham and Padstow. All the services were carried out in extreme conditions and most were prolonged. Intense cold, overwhelming seas and storm force winds met the lifeboats which were sometimes thrown against the much larger casualties.

Expressed as a percentage of total lifeboat services, the number to merchant vessels is relatively small; but these services are likely to be the most arduous, lengthy and potentially dangerous of all and they show how vital the lifeboat service is to all seafarers.

'This is Your Life' Lifeboat coxswains are accustomed to dealing with unusual situations but Coxswain Brian Bevan of Humber was lost for words when Eamonn Andrews stepped up to him in the Kodak Galleries in High Holborn, London, in March and told him, 'This is your life'.

Coxswain Bevan was joined on the television programme by his wife, Ann, and their son, by his crew and their wives and by some of the people Humber lifeboat had rescued. Former Bridlington lifeboat coxswain, John King, and the present Bridlington coxswain, Fred Walkington, both took part in the programme; Brian and Fred hadat one time served together in Bridlington lifeboat while John King was coxswain.

When the programme was broadcast, it was seen by 18.1 million viewers.

Coxswain Bevan is the seventh lifeboat coxswain to have appeared on 'This is Your Life'. The other six are Eddie Madron of Penlee; Archie Rowe of Coverack; Dan Kirkpatrick of Longhope; Richard Evans of Moelfre, whose programme was so popular that it was repeated; Henry 'Shrimp' Davies of Cromer; and Alf Pavey of Weymouth.

Kodak photographic exhibition Two hours after Coxswain Sevan's surprise encounter, the photographic exhibition 'In Danger's House', sponsored by Kodak, was opened by Raymond Baxter, a member of the Committee of Management and chairman of the Public Relations Committee of the RNLI. He was introduced by Mr R. Freeman Wright, a director of Kodak, who had been connected with Sennen Cove for more than 20 years, counting the crew as his friends.

Strangely enough, Raymond Baxter's own connections with the lifeboat service had also begun at Sennen Cove when, at the age of 12, he accompanied his sister to a dance held on the sanded floor of the boathouse and was taken out on a practice launch the next day.

In thanking Kodak and the photographers whose picture made up the exhibition, Mr Baxter emphasised that the great strength of the lifeboat service is that its supporters voluntarily give of their own as best they may, be it in financial backing or personal service; the work of the photographers was a classic example of just that splendid precept—from each according to his ability. Mr Baxter then vividly brought home to his listeners the constant service of our lifeboats: 'Each day, around our coasts, lifeboats will launch seven times. When we are sitting down to breakfast, having our lunch at midday, an afternoon cup of tea, our dinner in the evening, somewhere the maroons are being fired. Andwhen we are in our beds at night they will be fired three times more. On average, three lives will be saved by lifeboats every day. And no matter what the type of lifeboat, whether she is in a boathouse or on moorings, she will be immaculate and all her gear maintained to the highest standard at all times.' The exhibition 'In Danger's Hour' was on view in the Kodak Gallery, High Holborn, for a month in the spring and during the year it will be shown again at Woburn Abbey.

Questionnaire Following last year's Fastnet Race, and with the agreement of the Medical and Survival Committee, Dr William J.

Guild of the Department of Physiology, Edinburgh University, who is also an enthusiastic supporter of the RNLI, sent a questionnaire to the 13 lifeboatstations whose crews were involved in the search and rescue operation when storms struck the fleet of 303 yachts.

The questions covered the effect of hypothermia, seasickness, fatigue, vision, morale, heat in cabin lifeboats, use of rations and effectiveness of protective clothing.

It is the first time that an attempt has been made to gather information in this way and the response from the stations was good, providing some very useful material for discussion by the Medical and Survival Committee. As was to be expected, the need for good clothing as an insulation against the cold and wet was underlined, including warm gloves and spare clothes for survivors, and also the importance of hot food and drinks and toilet facilities on prolonged services. One point which emerged from the answers was the value of the new bump caps being issued to stations, both because of the added warmth they give to the head and also because they help the wearer to brace himself against the boat to meet the violent movement of the sea..