YE OLDE WHYTE HARTE, Hamble, has for a number of years supported the RNLI, culminating in a total of £1,500 being raised in 1979. Each year new ideas have been thought of to raise money and last year during opening hours and amid much hilarity a sponsored row across the Channel was first suggested.

Despite the cynics the idea gained momentum and in January the first meeting was held to discuss details. A committee was formed and the nucleus of the rowers themselves established.

Whitsun, the spring bank holiday weekend, May 23 to 26 (neap tides), was chosen for the row, the proceeds from which were to be put towards the Mountbatten of Burma lifeboat appeal.

A four-oared gig was very generously lent, and after the row donated to the RNLI, by the School of Navigation at Warsash. She needed re-caulking and some other work, but finally proved ideal. With safety of prime importance, she was repainted Dayglo orange and was equipped with a radar reflector, navigation lights, compass and two-way radio.

A suitable escort boat, a motor fishing vessel, Yarmouth Seaman, was found in the River Hamble and nobly lent by her owner and skipper Jim Thornton, who with his first mate, Jackie (caterer and chief chef) proved to be indispensable assets.Sponsorship from commercial organisations was sought and it was decided to run a raffle in conjunction with the row. Publicity was arranged and kindly donated by national yachting and boating magazines. Articles appeared in the local press and the row was featured on both BBC and Southern Television.

Training, including a couple of rows to Cowes, began in February with the crews members being divided into four separate teams of four rowers, plus four coxswains. The usual degree of friendly rivalry resulted, one team being nicknamed 'the geriatrics'.

Captain Hans Hamilton, a well known figure in Hamble, took overall charge of the trip itself and altogether more than 30 people, including a doctor, galley workers and rota organisers as well as the rowers and coxswains, assembled on Yarmouth Seaman in Cherbourg harbour on Friday, May 23.

Yarmouth Seaman left Cherbourg in the early hours of Saturday morning with about force 4 blowing from the north east. The fishing boat rolled considerably and changeovers between the gig and the escort boat, always considered to be a prospective problem, were not pleasant in the rough conditions.

Moreover, the rowers found their two-hour spells hard work.

However, after about eight hours the wind dropped completely and the sea became as calm as a mill pond, which is how the weather stayed for the duration of the row. With the sun out and shirts off, spirits rose. The interminable hours of rowing were enlivened by the passage through the shipping lanes, when Yarmouth Seaman kept a close watch, and by an intrigued and generous yachtsman coming alongside with a tenner.

Our extraordinary luck with the weather resulted in our reaching The Needles about five hours ahead of schedule and therefore with an adverse tide, but by keeping well in to the shore counter currents enabled us to reach Yarmouth Pier at about 0100 on Sunday morning.

Not wishing to arrive early for our triumphant homecoming, just before opening time on Sunday, we moored up for a few hours' sleep. The welcome was tremendous when we finally arrived, with numerous local boats out to meet us, all sounding their horns, a band playing and champagne as we landed on the hard at Hamble before making our way up the High Street to a welcoming party at the Whyte Harte.

More than £5,000 had been raised for the Mountbatten of Burma appeal..