Maritime England A YEAR-LONG celebration of the sea is planned for Maritime England 1982 by the English Tourist Board. There may be as many as 2,000 special events put on in different parts of the country for the pleasure of visitors from home and overseas, a number in aid of the RNLI.

As a prelude to the year. Maritime England was launched on Trafalgar Day, October 21, at the Guildhall, London, by the Rt Hon William Whitelaw, MP, Home Secretary, and round-theworld- yachtswoman Clare Francis.

'Hislorv records that whatever the vicissitudes of the time, we know how to relax and balance responsibility and pleasure,' said Mr Whitelaw. 'Indeed, without recreation, our judgements might not be sound. Did Sir Francis Drake get it wrong?' In their hard work of fund raising the RNLI's branches and guilds know very well how to give pleasure and find enjoyment, and many are entering withenthusiasm into the spirit of the celebrations.

The first event, Operation Seafire, a chain of bonfires to be lit all round the English coast, was planned to take place in the first few minutes of the new year. Starting at Great Yarmouth, it was co-ordinated by the Coastguard and lifeboat people as well as people from a number of other organisations planned to help it on its way.

As RNLI HQ'S contribution to Maritime England, lifeboat supporters are invited to visit the Institution's head office and depot during three Lifeboat Open Days on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, July 22 to 24. The doors will be thrown wide from 10 am each morning until 6 pm on Thursday and Saturday and 8 pm on Friday. Modern lifeboats manned by lifeboatmen will be alongside the RNLI depot quay: there will be demonstrations of the launch and recovery of an Atlantic 21; and there will be film shows and somespecial displays. It is hoped that branches and guilds will organise parties to visit HQ during the open days.

Up in Yorkshire, from April 1 for six months, the Kodak RNLI exhibition of photographs Tn Danger's Hour' will be on display at Harewood House. This is the first time this fine exhibition will have been on show in the north of England.

Harewood is open from 11 am each day and the usual admission rates will apply with no extra charge for the exhibition. Details of special party rates can be obtained from Barbara Baker (Harewood 886225), Estate Office, Harewood, Leeds LS17 9LQ.

Any event in England during 1982 which is open to the public can be registered with the Tourist Board and will then receive mention and listing in Maritime England News. A number of events have already been listed: for instance, the special exhibitions planned by the RNLI Zetland Lifeboat Museum at Redcar and special events spread out right from January to December in support of Weston-super-Mare lifeboat station's centenary appeal.

There are too many events for all to be announced in THE LIFEBOAT, but perhaps just one more could be mentioned: on August 7 Axminster Girl Guides together with Seaton and Beer District branch are planning 'The Launching of a Thousand Lights' to commemorate the people rescued by the RNLI in Lyme Bay; a full afternoon and evening's programme at Axmouth will end with the launching down the River Axe on the evening ebb tide of a miniature candlelit 'boat' for each life saved.

Ennals Point Making another good RNLI start to the year, the first fictional television series to be based on a lifeboat village, 'Ennals Point', will be shown on BBC 2, beginning in January. The series, written by Alun Richards, was filmed atThe Mumbles lifeboat station in South Wales, and although the characters and the stories are fictional, under the technical guidance of Coxswain Derek Scott, BEM, a realistic lifeboat background has been achieved.

A discussion on the filming of the series between Alun Richards, Derek Scott and Ray Kipling, RNLI public relations officer, begins on page 20.

We wish them well . . .

December 31, 1981, was something of a watershed because it saw the retirement of an unusually large number of senior and long-serving members of the RNLI's staff.

John R. Atterton, MBE, has a record of service to the Institution unbroken except by the war years from the time he was appointed as a boy clerk in 1936, at the age of 17, until his retirement from his present post as deputy director.

He was first appointed as deputy to the secretary (later director and secretary) in 1969, and on the death of Captain Dixon in December 1978 he was appointed acting director until Rear Admiral W. J. Graham took over in August 1979. Mr Atterton will continue as a consultant to the Institution, also acting for the RNLI in its role as the permanent secretariat to the International Lifeboat Conference. His successor as deputy director is Lt-Cdr Brian Miles.

Symington Macdonald has been chief of the Institution's technical staff since his appointment in 1972, being responsible for the design, building, fitting out and maintenance of the RNLI's operational and relief fleets. His term ofoffice has seen the development of the 52ft Arun and the 50ft Thames fast afloat lifeboats and also the design and early development of the RNLI Medina, the Brede and the Fast Slipway boat. Mr Macdonald is being succeeded by Lt-Cdr H. E. Over.

Lt E. David Stogdon, MBE, joined the RNLI in 1952 as a divisional inspector of lifeboats. Then, after spending a few years as superintendent of the depot at Boreham Wood, in 1969 he became superintendent of the depot at Cowes, the base for D class inflatable lifeboats.

Since then he has been the moving spirit behind the development of the outstandingly successful Atlantic 21 rigid inflatable lifeboat and her larger sister, the RNLI Medina. The new superintendent of depot, Cowes, is Cdr P. F.

Gladwin, but Lt Stogdon will remain a consultant for the development of the Medina.

Lt-Cdr L. Andrew Forbes also joined the Institution as a divisional inspector of lifeboats, in 1963. Since 1972 he has been the staff officer particularly concerned with future planning for the dis-position of lifeboats around the coast and he will continue as a consultant.

Cdr Paul C. Chapman joined the Institution in 1970 as a district organising secretary, first in South London, then in the South East, but from 1973, working in conjunction with Professor W. Flexner, he has been instrumental in setting up the RNLI's very successful computer analysis of rescue records (CARR). The new manager of CARR will be Stuart H.

Nourse, but Cdr Chapman will continue to act as a consultant.

Cdr E. F. 'Ted' Pritchard has been concerned with HO back-up to fund raising throughout Great Britain and Ireland and with central appeals ever since he joined the Institution in 1970 and he has been appeals secretary since 1975.

Among other successful fund-raising projects he has introduced have been the RNLI national lotteries which have already brought in more than £350,000 for the lifeboats. His successor is Anthony Oliver.

Miss E. Mary Lloyd-Jones, the Institution's present longest-serving organising secretary, was among those retiring in December. She joined the Institution as organising secretary (Scotland) in 1958 and in the intervening years has become the much-loved friend of fund raisers all over Scotland.

Two other district organising secretaries have also retired: Cdr Peter D.

Sturdee, QBE, who, after joining the Institution on the operational side in 1969 and then organising the International Lifeboat Exhibition at Plymouth during the RNLI's 150th anniversary year, became organising secretary (South West) in 1975; and Lt-Cdr Basil C. Hutchinson who joined the Institution as the assistant district organising secretary (West Midlands) in 1968 to become the district's organising secretary in 1973.

The new organising secretary for Scotland taking up his appointment in January is Ken Thirlwell, coming from the North East. The new regional organisers are: North East, Brian Fitch; South West, Andrew Young; Midlands, Richard Mann; and South, Mrs Wendy Nelson, who is taking over from Anthony Oliver.Welsh National Seafarers' Service At the Welsh National Seafarers' Service at Llandaff Cathedral on Wednesday October 14, 1981. the Institution was represented by both lifeboatmen and by fund raisers. The RNLI standard was carried by Crew Member Craig Marshall from Atlantic College, St Donat's Castle, and he was accompanied by Mrs Patricia Richards, chairman of Llantwit Major branch, and Mrs Patricia Colston, the branch honorary secretary, both of whom were awarded the RNLI's silver badge this year.

Festival of Remembrance The RNLI was represented at the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday November 7 by Coxswain Matthew Lethbridge, BEM, of St Mary's, Isles of Scilly. Coxswain Lethbridge had served in the RAF Air Sea Rescue Service during the Second World War. Since 1946 he has served in St Mary's lifeboat, becoming coxswain in 1956, and he has been awarded three silver medals for gallantry. The Festival was attended by Captain John Leworthy.

a member of the Committee of Management, and Raymond Baxter, chairman of the RNLI's Public Relations Committee, was the commentator for the evening's BBC 1 transmission.

Men of the Year Luncheon Coxswain/Mechanic Charles Bowry who, as coxswain of Sheerness lifeboat, was awarded the silver medal for the service to Mi Amiga on March 19. 1980, was a guest at the Men of the Year Luncheon on November 11, 1981. Charles Bowry is now Coxswain/Mechanic of Portpatrick lifeboat.ANNUAL MEETINGS 1982 THE RNLI'S annual meetings for 1982 will take place on Tuesday May 11. The annual general meeting of the governors of the Institution will be held at 11.30 am in the National Film Theatre, which is close to the Royal Festival Hall, and the annual presentation of awards will take place at 3 pm in the main auditorium of the Royal Festival Hall itself.

At the annual general meeting last year it was agreed that instead of circulating advice of the AGM to governors by post, as had been normal practice in the past, in future advance notice of the meetings should be printed in the autumn issue of THE LIFEBOAT and application forms should be sent out to all governors with the winter issue of the journal. The change in procedure is being made in order to save the cost of envelopes and postage for the circular, the postal cost for which alone has nowrisen to more than £1,000 each year. All governors, therefore, will receive an application form for both the morning and afternoon meetings with this journal.

If you are a governor wishing to attend the AGM and if by any chance the form is not tucked into your journal please write to the Director, RNLI, West Quay Road, Poole, Dorset BH15 1HZ, stating your requirements.

Branches and guilds will receive information about how to apply for tickets for the annual presentation of awards on the afternoon of May 11 from their district organising secretaries in the usual way. If any other supporters of the lifeboat service would like to attend the afternoon presentation of awards meeting, they should write to the Director at the address given in the previous paragraph..