ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL, LONDON, THURSDAY MAY 22 'The RNLI . . . the finest club in the country . . .' MORE PEOPLE THAN EVER BEFORE gathered at the Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank of the River Thames on Thursday May 22 for the Institution's yearly day of meetings, the annual general meeting of the governors in the morning and the annual presentation of awards in the afternoon; and, looking back over 1979, there was much for which to be both thankful and proud.

More than 1,000 people had been rescued by lifeboat crews during the year and, to make this possible, more than ten million pounds had been raised by the RNLI's branches and guilds helped by the lifeboat service's other friends and supporters. And looking back over the testing years of the 1970s there was also much cause for satisfaction, not only in the first class service given by the lifeboats to the community throughout those ten years, which resulted in the rescuing of nearly 12,500 men, women and children, but also in the technological progress made in the design of the lifeboats themselves and in their equipment, and in the fact that the Institution's income, raised entirely by voluntary contribution and voluntary effort, had kept pace with the fast onset of the inflation from which the whole world had suffered.

So May 22 was a day for business and for the recognition of achievement.

And, as always, it was also a day, happy but all too short, for the reunion of friends from all parts of Great Britain and Ireland, and, indeed, from overseas as well.

* * * When the governors of the RNLI met for their annual general meeting in the Purcell Room at 11.30 am it was almost a 'full house', and in welcoming his fellow governors as their Chairman for the first time the Duke of Atholl remarked how encouraging it was that so many took such a keen interest in the work of the Institution. Apologies for absence, too numerous to be read out, had been received, but the Duke felt that there should be one exception: 'We have received an apology from Captain Wyndham-Quin, who you may remember was Chairman of the Institution in the early '60s. Today is his ninetieth birthday and he is celebrating it with a family party. I think that it would be your wish that we should send him a telegram of good wishes on that occasion.' When assenting applause had died down, the minutes of the last meeting were agreed as a correct record and signed before the Chairman presented his report.

'This is the first time that I have had the privilege of addressing you as your Chairman and I am in the happy position of being able to report that, due to the wise leadership of my predecessors, and in particular of Major-General Ralph Farrant, who as the immediate past Chairman has guided the affairs of the Institution through four testing years, the RNLI is today in good shape. It is also the first meeting of the Governors at which Rear Admiral Wilfred Graham has sat at this table as Director and Secretary of the Institution and I am sure you would like me to welcome him in your name.

'Admiral Graham and I have taken up our offices on the threshold of the 1980s, when the sights of the Institution must be set on the future. But first, perhaps, we should pause to take stock and review the progress made by the RNLI during the ten eventful years which made up the 1970s, starting, as they did, at a time of great sadness.' The Duke of Atholl recalled how, a little over ten years before, two major lifeboat disasters, at Longhope and Fraserburgh, had followed swiftly upon each other with the tragic loss of 13 lifeboatment; how, as a result, the Committee of Management had decided to double the speed of boat building with the aim of providing, by the end of 1980, a fleet which, with the exception of the largest cruising lifeboats, would be fully self righting; how it had been hoped that the special fund-raising events planned for 1974, the 'Year of the Lifeboat' celebrating the Institution's 150th anniversary, would go a long way towards financing this ambitious boat-building programme, but how in fact 1974 had seen the start of the massive world-wide inflation which has overshadowed recent years .. .

'Because of the financial situation, boat building had to be slowed down for a time, but so magnificent have been the efforts made by our fund raisers and so great has been the support of our friends that lifeboat construction is now once again going ahead at full speed and we have nearly achieved our original target.

It is now 1980; only 11 lifeboats without the required self-righting capability remain on station and all these should be replaced within the next two or three years.

The Committee of Management's policy of providing a self-righting fleet in the shortest possible time had indeed been fully justified: Since the Fraserburgh disaster in 1970, three lifeboats have been capsized while on service in storms of unusual ferocity, one off the east coast of Ireland on Christmas Eve, 1977, and two off the west coast of Scotland one wild night last November. All three boats righted successfully and in all only one lifeboatman lost his life. The three lifeboats were built to different designs and for each the righting capability was provided in a different way. It was the first time that any of these righting methods had been put to the test on service and it is a great credit to our designers and technicians that all three boats performed exactly as intended. There was only superficial damage to the boats and their gear and, apart from the one man who, sadly, was lost, only minor injuries were suffered by the crews, who were full of praise for the way their boats had performed.

'Perhaps it is not out of place to remember that the service of our lifeboat crews and station personnel does not necessarily end when the lifeboat reaches harbour. After the two Scottish lifeboats had returned to station last November, repairs were put in hand at once and crew members, local people, coastal staff and equipment suppliers all worked together to ensure that both boats were back on full service in a remarkably short space of time.' That the two lifeboats, Barra Island and Islay, are based on islands, the Duke pointed out, made the task of getting them back on service quickly all the more difficult, and all the more praiseworthy. He then went on to recall the four new lifeboat designs which had been introduced during the 1970s: The Atlantic 21, the 52ft Arun, the 50ft Thames and the 37ft 6in Rother: 'All have proved themselves to be highly successful in their different spheres; indeed one of two of them have, if anything, exceeded our expectations.' Looking to the future, development work was going ahead on three new lifeboat designs: 'The first is the RNLI Medina, a rigid inflatable lifeboat similar in concept to the Atlantic 21 but a much larger boat, over 7 tons, powered by twin dies el engines instead of twin outboards. The first prototype started her trials in the autumn last year and she has already shown herself to be an exceptionally seaworthy boat of great promise. This boat is being named Mountbatten of Burma and is being funded by an appeal the details of which Earl Mountbatten had approved just before his assassination.

There has been such an enormous response to the appeal, both at home and overseas, that it has alreadyexceeded its original target of £100,000 and money is now being raised for a second lifeboat, to be named Countess Mountbatten of Burma.

'Another new lifeboat, a little smaller than the Medina, has also started her trials. She is the Brede, adapted from the Lochin 33, a well established production GRP hull which has been fitted out to meet the Institution's specifications.

'The third new design is for a fast slipway lifeboat which will, we hope, replace some of the slower lifeboats launched down slipways when they come to the end of their operational lives. Like the Medina, the fast slipway lifeboat is extending the bounds of small boat design, for in her will be reconciled two requirements which, up till now, have been regarded as irreconcilable: the requirement to retain those characteristics which make possible housing ashore and rescue work in shoal waters, and the requirement for higher speed. While she will still have the necessary shallow draught, long straight keel and protected propellers, the new fast slipway boat is expected to reach speeds of 15 to 18 knots, just about doubling the speed of traditional slipway boats.' The Duke of Atholl then explained how the initial work on this boat had been made possible by the provision of a line plan for a semi-planing hull by the National Maritime Institute and how the RNLI had been helped in its development work at the model stage both by the Institute and by British Hovercraft. The two full size prototypes were now to be built by Fairey Marine. He continued: 'Because there is a possible commercial application for this new design and because of its safety aspects, great interest has been taken in the progress of the fast slipway lifeboat by the Government's Ship and Marine Technology Requirements Board, known as the SMTRB, and it has been agreed that its development should be regarded as a joint project between the RNLI and the SMTRB from which both will benefit. An agreement has been entered into under which the SMTRB will contribute towards the cost of the two prototypes.

While these two prototypes will be the property of the RNLI, and no royalties will be paid by the Institution on future boats built to this design, the industrial property rights of the design will belong to the SMTRB.

Turning to the accounts, the Duke of Atholl pointed out that in 1979 the income of the Institution exceeded ten million pounds for the first time and was 24 per cent over that of the previous year.

'This fine result has allowed us not only to finance our day-to-day operations, but also to undertake a boatbuilding programme at almost double the level of two years ago.' Capital expenditure had increased by more than 35 per cent. While this increase was largely a reflection of the increase in boat building, there had also been heavy and unavoidable capital expenditure on shore works, such as the rebuilding of Tenby lifeboat house, and the Duke reiterated the hope expressed by Major-General Farrant at the 1979 AGM that donors would be found to meet the costs of work of this sort at lifeboat stations. He continued: In 1979 there was a small surplus of £337,698 of income over expenditure, which was transferred to the general fund. However, while this is a most commendable result, I have to point out that the fund now represents a reserve of only 14 weeks' expenditure compared with a reserve of 16 weeks' expenditure at the end of 1978, so that in spite of a very successful year there can be no room for complacency. The financial target for 1980 is 12 million pounds— that is one million for each month of the year. Looking back once again to 1970, the cost of running the lifeboat service in that year was just over two million pounds. If anyone had suggested then that in ten years we should need six times that figure even the stoutest of hearts might have quailed. However, the staunch resolve of our fund raisers has matched that of our lifeboat crews and the challenge of increasing costs has been met with mounting enthusiasm and great hard work. I cannot believe that even a target of 12 million pounds will daunt such valiant hearts.

With the aim of holding down administrative costs the RNLI was purchasing its own computer: 'For several years different departments have used the services of outside computer bureaux, but the time has now come to rationalise this development if the full benefits offered by modern technology in terms of both efficiency and economy are to be realised. The installation of an in-house computer is a sound business decision because it will mean that the fast increasing load of work can be carried with little, if any, increase in staff.

Although 1979 had been a good year in many ways, it had not been without its sadness, and the Duke of Atholl recalled the tragic loss of life in the Fastnet Race and how, with the death of Lord Saltoun at the age of 93, the RNLI had lost one of its most outstanding and devoted supporters.

Ending his address, the Chairman concluded: 'The 1970s, including 1979, at which we are particularly looking this morning, have been years of considerable success for the RNLI. In those years nearly 12,500 people have been rescued from the sea, 1,032 of them in 1979. Our lifeboats and lifeboat crews have come through some of the most gruelling conditions with triumph. You will hear more of the feats of some of these men this afternoon, but every lifeboat crew member around our coasts deserves, and enjoys, our respect and our admiration.

It is in this knowledge that we can go forward into the 1980s with confidence.

The report and accounts were agreed without further discussion.

Elections followed of the President, HRH The Duke of Kent; the Vice- Presidents; the Treasurer, the Duke of Northumberland, and the Deputy Treasurer, Mr David Acland; and members and ex-officio members of the Committee of Management. These elections were all agreed unanimously with a show of hands. Price, Waterhouse and Company were then elected auditors for the coming year.

Coming to any other business, Mr.

R. Leigh-Wood, a Vice-President, asked the present position regarding gifts made to the Institution under deeds of covenant following the new legislation arising from the budget, a question to which, at the request of the Chairman, Mr P. Hainsworth, on behalf of the RNLI's auditors, replied (a note on the 1980 Finance Act and its application to charities appears on page 85).

Mr P. R. Threlfall, Chairman, Wellington (Somerset) branch, then asked if, in view of the fairly large proportion of lifeboatmen who served over a considerable period of years without winning medals for gallantry, consideration could be given to some visible and tangible form of long service award being made which could be worn with pride on lifeboat occasions? The Chairman thanked Mr Threlfall for his suggestion which was noted by the Director.

There being no further business, the Chairman declared the meeting closed.

* * * Even before the governor's AGM had ended, other lifeboat people had started to gather and The Embankment, the foyer, the balcony and the restaurants were all fast becoming cheerful, informal meeting grounds.

Stalls, information centres and displays were being set up in the main foyer, special guests were being greeted and then, in what seemed like no time at all, everyone was moving up the stairs to fill the Royal Festival Hall ready for the start of the annual presentation of awards meeting at 3 o'clock.

The welcoming speech was made by the Chairman, the Duke of Atholl: 'When 1 addressed the governors of the Institution this morning I was able to report that not only the last year, but the last decade, had been highly successful for the RNLI. 1979, during which the lifeboats of the RNLI launched on service 2,608 times and rescued 1,032 lives, began with a period of storm and blizzard and at last year's annual meeting, gallantry awards, including the gold medal, were presented to lifeboatmen who performed outstanding services to merchant vessels during those storms.

Later this afternoon you will hear of a rescue by the Selsey lifeboat of 20 people from a disabled freighter in the same storms.

'That spell of ferocious weather proved that any vessel at sea, whether she be large or small, may find herself in difficulties and may need to call for lifeboat help.

'This truth was highlighted again in August when tragedy struck the Fastnet Race and 15 yachtsmen lost their lives.

An international fleet of more than 300 yachts was strung out across the 150-mile stretch of sea between Land's End and the Fastnet Rock off thesouth-west coast of Ireland when it was hit by storm force winds and huge, confused seas. A massive search and rescue operation was mounted, co-ordinated by Her Majesty's Coastguard in England and the Marine Rescue Co-ordination Centre, Shannon, in Ireland and involving helicopters, aeroplanes, warships, merchant and fishing vessels, the yachts themselves and 13 of our lifeboats from both sides of the approaches to the Irish Sea. The lifeboats, which were at sea for a total of 187 hours, rescued 60 people and towed in or escorted 20 yachts.

'The Fastnet Race proved that our co-ordinated search and rescue network, in which the RNLI works closely with the Coastguard, the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force and the search and rescue agencies in the Republic of Ireland, is one of the finest in the world. Some critics have suggested that one national body should take over all marine search and rescue. Others have said that helicopters should replace lifeboats.

Anybody who is professionally involved with sea rescue will tell them that the present system is extremely efficient.

Helicopters and lifeboats are complementary, and often it is when they are working in partnership that they achieve the best results.

'Each rescue vehicle has its advantages and of course there are jobs which each can do better than the other. But overall, marine accidents are being dealt with more efficiently than in the past by combining the talents of the various rescue services.' Remembering that the one factor which has remained constant throughout the 156 years of the Institution's history is the severity of the weather in which our lifeboats may be asked to put to sea, the Duke of Atholl spoke of last November's storms, gusting to severe storm force and hurricane, during which the Barra Island and Islay lifeboats both launched to help a Danish coaster whose cargo had shifted; both had been capsized by tremendous breaking seas, but both had righted immediately with no serious injury to either crew. The Chairman went on to speak of the boat-building programme in the 1970s and how, as a result, the RNLI now has a fleet composed almost entirely of lifeboats which have a selfrighting capability.

'/ regard this as the biggest achievement of the past ten years and would like to pay tribute to all our branches and guilds who, by working so hard to provide the funds, have made this important operation possible. I should also like to thank all our friends who, as individuals or as groups and assocations, have given us their invaluable support.

'If the 1970s were the self-righting years, I think we can look to the 1980s to be the speed years. We already have some fine fast lifeboats in our fleet—the Waveneys, Aruns and Atlantic 21s have all proved themselves repeatedly. Based on the success of these lifeboats we are now engaged in developing three new designs, two or which are exploring entirely new ideas and which, when they go on station, will represent considerable advances in small boat naval architecture.' Of the RNLI Medina, the Brede and the new fast slipway boat the Duke said: 'These new lifeboats are essential if we are to maintain and improve our efficiency as a service. I stress "improvement" because we want to take every opportunity of using modern technology to improve our service. The new lifeboats have more than twice the capability of the boats they are replacing so that while we will improve the cover provided we can achieve this with fewer boats.' All our work, the Chairman emphasised, has to be done in the face of rising costs.

'To take just one example, inflation has increased the cost of a new Arun lifeboat to over £300,000. Last year it cost ten million pounds to run the lifeboat service and our splendid fund raisers made sure that amount was raised with a safe margin of over £300,000. This year we shall need 12 million pounds. That is, I know, an enormous challenge, but I am confident that our fund raisers will rise to meet it as they always have in the past. All events, however large or however small, will contribute to the total . ..

'The RNLI has been described as the finest club in the country with members in every community . . . It is my belief that our system with thousands of dedicated men and women supporting our lifeboat crews is the best there is and that our independent voluntary status is something of which every member of the club can feel proud.

'We are privileged to have one of our club members here today as our guest speaker. Mr Edward Heath is well known not only as an eminent politician but also as an accomplished musician and yachtsman. He was the winner of the Sydney to Hobart Race in 1969, captain of Britain's winning team in the Admiral's Cup Race in 1971 and was one of the many yachtsmen in last year's Fastnet Race who made port safely without assistance. He has long been a supporter of the RNLI and it is my pleasure to introduce him this afternoon.

The Duke of Atholl then invited The Right Honourable Edward R. G.

Heath, PC MBE MP, to present the awards for gallantry. As Simon Hall was unable to be at the Festival Hall—he was sitting O level examinations on that day—the presentation of his medal was postponed.

Helmsman John Hodder, Lyme Regis: bar to his bronze medal Crew Member Colin Jones, Lyme Regis: bronze medal On August 13, 1979, Lyme Regis Atlantic 21 lifeboat with John Hodder at the helm saved the yacht White Kitten and rescued her crew of five in a south-westerly near gale which was to rise to storm force before the service was completed; the sea was very rough. The anchored yacht was dragging on to a lee shore. Three of herphotograph by courtesy of Peter Hadfield crew, two women and a five-year-old boy, were transferred to the lifeboat and taken to Lyme Regis and Crew Member Jones sailed the yacht to safety with two of her crew still on board. After landing the three survivors Helmsman Hodder returned to escort the yacht back to harbour.

Coxswain Thomas Henry 'Harry' Jones, Hoylake: bronze medal On September 20, 1979, the 37ft Oakley relief lifeboat The Will and Fanny Kirby, on temporary duty at Hoylake, launched to go to the help of the catamaran Truganini anchored in shallow water on a lee shore in a westerly storm and a very rough sea; the waves around the casualty were confused and broken and about 15 feet high. The lifeboat was taken alongside and two crew members transferred to the catamaran with great difficulty. As it was too hazardous to try to take off her crew of three, Truganini was taken in tow and brought to safety.

Simon Hall, Robin Hood's Bay: bronze medal On June 10, 1979, 16-year-old Simon Hall rowed out single-handed in an eight foot dinghy into the rough, confused seas under a high sea wall to rescue a youth who had jumped overboard from a home-made raft which was starting to break up. Simon brought the boy safely to a moored fishing boat.

Coxswain Michael Grant, Selsey: silver medal On January 10, 1979, the 48ft 6in Oakley lifeboat Charles Henry rescued the crew of 20 from the Panamanian cargo vessel Cape Coast in a violent southerly storm and a very rough sea.

Coxswain Michael Grant manoeuvred the lifeboat in to the starboard quarter of the cargo vessel three times to take off her entire crew. Cape Coast was rolling and pitching heavily and on several occasions large seas picked up the lifeboat and drove her hard against the casualty's plating.Coxswain Trevor England, Padstow: bar to his silver medal On December 15, 1979, The 48ft 6in Oakley lifeboat James and Catherine Macfarlane stood by the Greek freighter Skopelos Sky which was listing in a westerly hurricane and seas so high that the lifeboat, although no more than a quarter of a mile offshore, was lost to view of watchers on the cliffs for many seconds at a time. Coxswain Trevor England succeeded in taking her alongside the casualty five times but the freighter's crew could not be taken off; so the lifeboat stood by while helicopters lifted off the survivors, the last man being lifted clear just before the freighter was driven hard on rocks.

Throughout this nine-hour service the coxswain provided the only communications link for the Coastguard and helicopters with Skopelos Sky. Rehousing the lifeboat was a long and arduous operation, the shore helpers on the slipway often being up to their necks in water.

Coxswain Kenneth Voice, Shoreham Harbour: silver medal On January 21, 1980, Shoreham lifeboat, the 42ft Watson Dorothy and Philip Constant, rescued 26 people including two women and two children from the Greek cargo vessel Athina B which was in difficulties on a lee shore in winds rising to storm force 10 and violent seas; she finally grounded on Brighton Beach. In all, the casualty had to be closed four times to take off the survivors and on the last approach, although the lifeboat was rising and falling 12 to 15 feet in the surf, Coxswain Kenneth Voice skilfully held her alongside while 10 men jumped to safety.

The last man jumped into the sea and only prompt action by coxswain and crew saved him from being crushed between the two vessels. The lifeboat returned to Shoreham with survivors three times and great skill was needed to navigate, with drogue streamed, into the harbour entrance.

After making the presentations for gallantry, Mr Heath rose to move the Resolution: That this meeting fully recognising the important services of the Royal National Life-boat Institution in its national work of lifesaving, desires to record its hearty appreciation of the gallantry of the coxswains and crews of the Institution's lifeboats, and its deep obligation to the local committees, honorary secretaries and honorary treasurers of all station branches; to all other voluntary committees and supporters and to the honorary officers and thousands of voluntary members of the financial branches and the ladies' lifeboat guilds in the work of raising funds to maintain the service.' 'Mr Chairman, Your Worships, Ladies and Gentlemen. I am delighted to be invited to be present here at this annual occasion of the presentation of awards for gallantry. It is customary, of course, for politicians to say that they are pleased to be invited—it becomes more necessary to say it as time goes past— and they then go on to say that they are honoured by being asked. But what greater honour could anyone have than to be asked to present the awards for gallantry to the six men who have appeared before you this afternoon, when we have heard the accounts of the work they did to earn those awards? Not, of course, forgetting the young man who is unfortunately detained by his academic excercises this afternoon.

'You have heard the accounts of the tremendous jobs they did, and many of you can visualise the circumstances; some of you have perhaps been in similar circumstances; and some of us who sailed in the Fastnet also experienced the same thing. And so on your behalf I want to offer our warmest congratulations to the recipients of the awards for gallantry, and to thank them and their crews for services they have rendered to those who go down to the sea in ships. There is no way by which we can really repay them for what they do, all we can do is to acknowledge that we understand it, and we are deeply grateful to them.

' You, Mr Chairman, said in your opening words that I had long been a member of this Institution. That is true. I was in fact born between lifeboats, if I may use that expression, those of Margate and Ramsgate, and on our small jetty in Broadstairs there was a ship's lifeboat from the Lusitania, just to remind us of what does happen from time to time to even the largest of ships. Every time I went down to the cliffs as a boy, throughout all my boyhood until the time I went to university, I looked across to the Goodwins and on occasions saw them in their most fearsome conditions; and I heard the maroons go and dashedon a bicycle to Ramsgate Harbour to see what was going on. So the lifeboat service has really been part of the background of my life from my very earliest boyhood days. But then, of course, in recent years I have experienced this at perhaps rather closer quarters, as a sailor on Morning Cloud. And I am always glad to think how good our relations are with those who man our lifeboats.

'It is characteristic, is it not, of the British and Irish that a service which is absolutely vital to all those who are on the sea should be manned entirely by a voluntary organisation: financed by a voluntary organisation; technically advised by a voluntary organisation; in fact absolutely run by a voluntary organisation.

This is one of the best aspects of our way of life and I think it is one of which we should be, perhaps, inordinately proud.

We have heard this afternoon that the total revenue for last year was £10 million and that this year, 1980, it will have to be £12 million. That is a vast sum to raise and you here this afternoon are, to such a large extent, responsible with your helpers all over the country, for raising that sum of money. Well, you have an even more formidable task in front of you for the current year.

'Of course I frequently come to this hall in another capacity. It is my habit to come in quietly by the artists' entrance, not because 1 am an artist but because it is a short cut, and I am greeted there byone of those knowing servants of the hall and he looks at me and he shakes his head gloomily or he shakes it up and down. And when he shakes it up and down he says to me "There's a lot of money in the hall tonight, Sir". / hope you feel there's a lot of money in the hall this afternoon! And that you are going to be capable of raising this tremendous sum which is required for our great voluntary Institution.

'And so I would like to thank all of you for the work which you do; many are to receive acknowledgement of that work a little later this afternoon. I know how intensive it is; you never spare yourselves.

I have, still living in Seaview in the Isle of Wight an aunt and uncle, one over 90 and one just approaching 90, who have devoted their voluntary service all their lives to this Institution and are still persuading people to contribute to it, so I know exactly how much is involved and how grateful we are to you for what you have done.

'Mention has been made in the beginning of your speech and in the reports, Mr Chairman, of the tragedy of the Fastnet Race last year. It was, of course, the first occasion on which anything tike this had been experienced in the whole history of ocean racing—we had been a very safe sport until last year's Fastnet. And it is true that the conditions were extraordinary as your report describes them—a gale, a storm and then gusting to hurricane force— and the result was that 15 lives were lost from those in the race and four from a boat which was accompanying us. The work which the lifeboats did on that occasion was absolutely magnificent, and the co-ordination between them and the other rescue services could not have been bettered. I must also add tribute to that remarkable Dutch frigate, whose skipper rolled her over in order to be able to lift people off our small racing boats.

There in the storm, hearing continuously on the radio what was going on, we marvelled that such rescue operations could be carried out. There can be no tribute high enough to those in the lifeboat service who were responsible for saving 60 lives and bringing 20 boats into safety.

'We felt that we, for the first time, had experienced while racing the extraordinary conditions which our lifeboatmen face very often indeed, and, as we have heard, those who have been recipients of gallantry awards have faced in the past year. For us it was an initial experience; for them, it is part of their everyday voluntary occupation.

'Many people have asked, ought a race like the Fastnet go on, or go on in its present form? I am quite convinced that it should, but it will also be necessary for those who are responsible for the race, the Royal Ocean Racing Club, whose tie I am wearing this afternoon, to ensure that the race regulations which we observe are satisfactory. We know that we must always respect the sea in all its different moods. I listened to one of the citations this afternoon about the dangers of a lee shore. What was worrying me going up to the Fastnet Rock, and we were one of the boats up front, was that we had a south-westerly driving us on to the Irish Coast, and I think in all of the Fastnets in which I have sailed up until last year, some six of them, we had always hit the Irish Coast before going south-westerly, down towards the Rock and then round the lighthouse; so I was deeply worried that we were going to be driven by a south-westerly gale on to that Irish shore. It was with immense relief that only a few minutes before we went round the Rock we saw it directly ahead of us and the loom on the cloud which was only just above our mast.

'We got round the Rock and then two hours later we were hit by the full force of the hurricane gusts and we realised exactly what these circumstances are like. We were fortunate; we were only knocked down once. My crew is still arguing as to whether we were knocked down to 110 degrees or 130 degrees; I said that when they had spent the winter arguing that out we would start sailing again this summer! But we righted immediately, and let me add here how delighted I was to hear you say, Mr Chairman, how almost complete now is the programme for self-righting lifeboats throughout the Institution. It is of the utmost importance. . . .

'There is one thing, however, we have to recognise in all these things: the gallant actions with great danger to the lives of those concerned, the citations for which we have heard today, were carried out in order to help those whose work it is to transport our goods on the sea. We are using the sea for recreation and for racing. Our attitude must therefore be to recognise that if we are foolish, or incompetent, or inadequate, then we are putting other peoples' lives at risk because of our own inefficiency. And however readily they respond, the responsibility is on us to ensure that the conditions we observe are of the highest in safety and in equipment and in the organisation of our sport.

'So I would like to congratulate again those who have played such a noble part in the past year, and to thank all of you, and all the voluntary workers, for what you have done, not only in the past year but, I know, over many, many years, to ensure the financial stability of the Royal National Life-boat Institution. And to thank you, Mr Chairman, and all your officers and your committees for the work they do in giving leadership to all the voluntary workers spread up and down the country. Yours is the most worthwhile task that anybody could have, and may you always have the greatest satisfaction in carrying it through.' The Duke of Atholl then invited Mr Heath to make the presentations to voluntary workers. Since the last annual presentation of awards meeting the Committee of Management had awarded four honorary life governorships and 22 gold badges to voluntary workers for long and distinguished service.

All but one of the recipients, Mrs A. Will, were present to receive their awards.

Honorary Life Governor Mrs E. A. Harris, MBE A branch member of Connah's Quay and Shotton branch from 1931 and honorary secretary from 1941 to 1951.

Honorary secretary of Hawarden branch from 1951 to 1973, chairman from 1973 to 1979 and president since 1979; awarded record of thanks in 1952, gold badge in 1959 and bar to gold badge in 1970.

Dr F. Severne Mackenna President ofTarbert branch since 1969.

Dr Mackenna has represented Scotland on the Fund Raising Committee, serves on the Scottish Lifeboat Council and lectures on behalf of the Institution all over Scotland.

N. O. Mabe Honorary treasurer of Fishguard station branch from 1935 to 1953 and honorary secretary and treasurer from 1953 to 1979; awarded binoculars in 1964 and gold badge in 1978.

G. T. Paine, MBE DL JP Chairman ofDungeness station branch since 1931; awarded gold badge in 1963 and bar to gold badge in 1976.

Gold Badge J. E. Chalcraft Honorary treasurer and secretary of Henley-on-Thames branch from 1949 to 1975, honorary treasurer from 1975 to 1976 and president and honorary treasurer since 1976; awarded silver badge in I960.

Mrs J. M. Allam Souvenir shop assistant of Westonsuper- Mare station branch from 1951 to 1966 and liaison officer, shore helper and souvenir shop organiser since 1966; awarded silver badge in 1974.

¥. Bell-Scott, MBE Vice-chairman of Birmingham social committee and then chairman from 1955 to 1974. Chairman of Birmingham branch from 1974 to 1978 and president since 1978; awarded silver badge in 1971.

continued on page 96.