Totton and District branch is organising no less than 12 fund-raising events in 1980, and has distributed its programme to 8,000 homes in its area. The first event, a jumble sale in February, realised £313. The branch received donations amounting to £250 in memory of the late Mr. W. G. Burgess of Calmore, Southampton, from his workmates at Husbands Shipyard, Marchwood, some of his relatives and his friends at the Red Lion, Totton.

The crew of Salcombe lifeboat was responsible for £2,290 out of the remarkable £12,728 raised by Salcombe, Hope Cove and Kingsbridge branch in 1979.Unwanted yachting gear was brought and bought at a sale organised by Skippers Stuart Cromie, John Ball and Alan McGarvey of Down Cruising Club, Northern Ireland, in March. As a result, £500 was presented to Captain the Earl of Roden, RN, honorary secretary of Newcastle lifeboat station.

Moelfre, Amlwch and Amlwch Port ladies' guild held a dance with a cabaret to mark the tenth anniversary of its founding by Mrs J. M. Francis. During the evening a presentation was made to Mrs Francis, now the guild's president.

In the past three years the guild has raised £8.685—and £40 was raised by the anniversary dance itself.

A 'thrift' shop is run by the ladies' guild at North Ferriby where nothing but top quality, nearly-new goods are sold. The guild has raised £1,400 withinfour months which includes £70 made from a jumble sale of the goods not new enough for the shop.

For several years Bob Frost, headmaster of Kent's Hill Junior School, has arranged a nativity play just before Christmas and donated the proceeds to Canvey Island branch. This year the school presented a fine performance of 'Alice' for three nights; it was attended by Canvey Island branch president, Charles Neale, who at a subsequent assembly of the school was presented with a cheque for the magnificent sum of £156.21. On the same day the branch honorary secretary, Bernard Griffith, attended Cornelius Vermuyden School to receive a cheque for £50.14 from Houghton House, the proceeds of its charity shield quiz.

Miss M. Bird, secretary of the Flamborough lifeboat appeal, found a man staggering up her drive with a full plastic bag clutched to his chest. Asking not to be thanked he deposited the bundle on her kitchen floor. On closer inspection it was found to contain 30 pounds (in weight) of halfpenny coins.

A 'count in', with morning coffee, was quickly arranged before the money was banked.

After a coffee morning held on board the Italian ferry Espresso Olbia last March, Hakin Point (Dyfed) branch was able to pay an extra £1,400 into its funds. The money had come from a variety of sources including £400 raised by a special effort of the crew of the B and I Line flagship Connacht organised by Chief Purser Bob Heapes, £150 from yachtsmen on wireless telegraphycourses at Pembrokeshire Yacht Club and further contributions from the crew of the Italian host ship. A draw was made for a round trip for two from Pembroke to Rosslare, donated by B and I Line and won by John Kendall.

and Hakin branch honorary secretary, Ethel Clark, presented an RNLI plaque to Captain David Gillan ofConnacht in appreciation of the help received from the ship and her crew who had raised nearly £2.000 for the lifeboat service within a year.

The second auction sale ever to be organised by Coventry ladies' guild made more than double the amount of its predecessor. £750 was raised when a collection of over 200 lots came under the hammer of auctioneer Noel Leaf, who gave his services free of charge.

The items for sale were all donated and ranged from early Victorian to brand new goods. Parkside Garage generously allowed its showrooms to be used for the occasion.Peter Conning is a busy man. running his tools and machinery supply shop in Whittlesey. Peterborough; he leaves raising money for lifeboats to his 'silent salesman', a glass fronted case which hangs outside the front of the shop where people pay lOp to advertise whatever they wish to sell. So far £12.50 has come in for the RNLI with no cost to Mr Conning's valuable time.

A second blind sponsored swimmer to report on in this issue is Mr D.

Raymond-John of Cardiff. On a cold blustery day he plunged into the sea at Pembrokeshire Yacht Club, where he is a member. £50 was handed to Hakin Point branch as a result.

Two Essex schools made good collections recently. Oglethorpe School, Cranham, accumulated £37.60 after the children had seen a film and heard a talk on the lifeboats, while Engayne Infants School. Upminster, raised £20.1 '/2 even before a speaker had visited them.The gamekeeper of an estate north of Aberdeen came across a gentleman shooting on his employer's land without permission. The proprietor, who happened to be a keen lifeboat supporter, confronted the transgressor with a choice: either be prosecuted for poaching or make a suitable donation to the RNLI. A cheque for £10 rapidly found its way into Aberdeen's branch funds.

After hearing a lecture at school about the RNLI given by Carl Seager of Reigate and Redhill branch, Fiona Hunter-Craig organised a sponsored three-legged race which made £5 for the Institution. A class at the same school. Dunottar, adopted the RNLI as its special cause and raised £100 for the lifeboat service.The 1980 Beaulieu Boat Jumble held on April 13 raised £1,134.70 for the RNLI. The marine jumble collected by Lymington branch and sold on its stall raised £525, Lymington ladies' guild sold £104 worth of souvenirs and the auction held by the Beaulieu Boat Jumble organisers of goods donated by stall holders raised a further £385.70. In addition New Milton and Barton-on- Sea branch raised £120 selling draw tickets for the Mountbatten of Burma appeal.

Performances of 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs', produced by Mrs Marie Rydin and acted by the Kidlington Lifeboat Theatre Players raised an impressive £2,000 towards the Mountbatten of Burma appeal.The Ralph family, who are members of Lichfield Cruising Club, spent an unusual day beside the Coventry Canal when Brian, Janet and their 13-year-old son Ian earned £629 from sponsors for Criccieth inshore lifeboat by 'bow hauling' a 10-ton cruiser by hand eight miles from Tamworth to Lichfield.

Newport, Gwent, branch held its annual cocktail party at the town's Missions to Seamen last February and made over £800 for the RNLI. Among the guests were the Mayor and Mayoress, Councillor and Mrs Garfield Mathias.

One windy winter weekend Gerald Harding and Martin Curtis, regulars at the Passage Inn, Topsham, Devon, decided along with landlord Graham Evans to organise a draw for the customers, all sea faring folk. The reception to their idea was somewhat luke-warm until it was suggested the proceeds go to the lifeboats. Suddenly the tickets were sold out and £36 was sent to the local Exeter branch.

The 'Dirty Dozen' darts team of The Anchor Inn, Coven, near Wolverhampton, which includes the licensee, Frank Smith, undertook a marathon 12-hour game for sponsorship. With three players throwing constantly, a total of 268,570 points was amassed and £400 raised for the lifeboats. Wolverhampton branch members kept the score and would like to know if it is a record.On its 1980 flag day Bromsgrove ladies' guild reached its highest figure yet: £492.61. The guild's regular star collector is an elderly lady, Mrs Pottier, from Catshill. This year she was out all day, filled five boxes and achieved a total of £104.40'/2.

A project for junior schools in South London has produced remarkable results. A special card is issued to each pupil which enables him or her to 'sell' different components of a lifeboat depicted on the card to friends and relations.

Many schools have raised over £200 in this way and Hamsey Green Middle School's sum of £300 has swelled the total South London figure to £2,000 this year.

In its village hall, the Broad Oak section of Rye and Winchelsea branch attracted many from a small, scattered community to a coffee morning which made £210.

The staff at the Electricity Showroom in Fishguard must have been agreeably surprised when a member from the ladies' guild walked in holding a plate of Welsh cakes and a flask of coffee. She had come from a nearby RNLI coffee morning and knowing the staff were workbound had decided to bring the mountain to Mohammed. The entire event raised £190.

Local businesses paid for the tickets of 75 pensioners when they attended the Olde Tyme Music Hall organised by Orpington and District branch in March. The Metropolitan Police Armets Group provided the song and dance for the 300 strong audience and a magnificent £671 was made for the RNLI.

For every day that he went without drinking alcohol, publican Brian Westof Caversham accumulated more money in sponsorship for the Mountbatten of Burma appeal. By the end his dry bout, which lasted a month, he was able to hand over £90 to Caversham ladies' guild.

The ladies of Broadstairs guild helped to run a coffee morning that had been organised by Peter Roger of the Royal Albion Hotel and which achieved a £237 profit. Mr Roger is distantly related to Louis Marches!, the founder of the Round Table movement, after whom Newhaven lifeboat named.

By three hours of sponsored disco dancing, an energetic duo, Louise Surr (15) and Carol Housden (16) of High Storrs School, Sheffield, raised £12.80 for the lifeboat service.

Chorleywood and Rickmansworth branch arranged an Arabian Night and, apart from the great enjoyment derived from the evening, the dance made £1,046, half of which was given to the RNLI and the other half to King George's Fund for Sailors.The social and other fund-raising events organised by Dunstable branch in the course of last year led to a final figure of £1,650. As well as a flag day when, in pouring rain, collectors made good use of their oilskins, the branch arranged a cheese and wine party, a plant stall at the local carnival, a bonfire night party and a farmhouse barbecue which was very much enjoyed by all who attended.

West Wight ladies' guild's wine and cheese party at the Royal Solent Yacht Club on March 8 realised £322 for RNLI funds. On April 30 Mr and Mrs J.

Gilchrist gave a coffee morning at which, together with the sale of souvenirs, £228 was raised.

Six hundred pounds, proceeds from a special fund-raising project by pupils of Rydens School, Walton-on-Thames, and from the Michael O'Donnovan memorial fund, was presented by the school's headmaster to Ken Miles of Dover lifeboat committee to pay for equipment for the station's new lifeboat, Rotary Service.Two airlines have been helping the RNLI recently; the winners of a golf tournament organised by Air Ecosse donated half of their f 1,000 prize to the lifeboats and half to another charity, while Dan-Air Services gave two return tickets between Aberdeen and London as a prize at the 1980 Aberdeen lifeboat ball.

A local dealer has so far paid a total of £200 to Mrs Atha, wife of Halifax branch chairman, for waste paper she saves to help the lifeboats.

In Westgate, Kent, the Greenwich Hotel each year holds a raffle and allows the local Margate ladies' guild to sell souvenirs to its senior citizen guests. £45 was made on a recent raffle and last year £ 1,000 worth of souvenirs were sold at the hotel.

A meeting after a lengthy time between two seamen in the Channel Port Pub, Dover, was beneficial for the RNLI; one of the men remembered he owed the other £5 but his creditor refused to accept the money. The note was pushed to and fro between them on the bar until the publican in exasperation intervened by pointing out that the RNLI was evidently in far greater need than either of them; so it went into the collecting box..