FOLLOWING the birth of a son to Their Royal Highnesses The Prince and Princess of Wales a letter of congratulations and good wishes was sent to Buckingham Palace by Rear Admiral W. J.

Graham, the director, on behalf of everybody connected with the RNLI.

The following reply was received: ' We were enormously touched to receive your very kind letter following the birth of our son and send you our warmest possible thanks. The reaction to the news has been overwhelming and thoroughly heartwarming and we are rapidlv discovering what it is to be proud parents!—CHARLES and DIANA.' Barmouth lifeboat station, which recently received the new 37ft 6in Rother class lifeboat which is to be named Princess of Wales, sent a separate telegram of congratulations and received an equally warm reply from the Prince and Princess.

Bill Knott Building On July 16 the Prime Minister, Mrs Margaret Thatcher, visited the headquarters of the RNLI in Poole to open the new fund-raising centre which was provided entirely by Mr William Knott, a retired Poole businessman. Mr Knott had approached the Institution with the offer of constructing the building on the depot site to allow expansion of fundraising activities and to enable staff previously accommodated in outside portable buildings to move into the main depot. The new Bill Knott Building provides office and storage space for many publicity and fund-raising aids, including flag day supplies, souvenirs, the printing department and design studio.

Southern District office is also now housed in the new building.

On their arrival, Mrs Thatcher and her husband, Mr Denis Thatcher, were received by the Duke of Atholl, chairman of the Institution. They were shown over the prototype 47ft Tyne class lifeboat and a new relief 52ft Arun, lying alongside the depot quay, before inspecting the Bill Knott Building.

Then came the opening ceremony.

In her speech Mrs Thatcher thanked the RNLI for 158 years of selfless service, remembering both the lifeboat crews and the fund raisers, with their complementary virtues of courage and generosity. The crews, she said, possessed the lonely virtue of courage, which each man had to find for himself—no one could give it to him; the fund raisers and those who, like Mr and Mrs Knott, gave back to society something of what life had given to them, displayed the lovely virtue of generosity.

At an informal reception inside the new building, following the opening ceremony and the unveiling of a commemorative plaque, Mrs Thatcher was presented with a miniature brass fisherman's anchor made in the depot by Mike Randall, while Mr Knott was given a presentation line throwing pistol and Mrs Knott a bouquet of flowers.

Following her visit. Mrs Thatcher wrote to Admiral Graham: 'To be able to open the Bill Knott Building was a real privilege and to meet so many of the people involved in keeping the lifeboat service operational was u real pleasure. My admiration for your work is unbounded: YOU hold an unparalleled place in the hearts of the people of our countrv.' Poole Open Days Thousands of people descended on RNLI headquarters in July to attend the first Open Days ever held at head office and depot. Visitors were able to see around the offices and workshops, view special displays and watch demonstrations of the launch and recovery of an Atlantic 21 lifeboat. Joint lifeboat/helicopter exercises were arranged between a Royal Navy helicopter and either Poole's 44ft Waveney lifeboat or the Atlantic 21, and lying alongside the depot quay throughout the three days were a 52ft Arun lifeboat, the prototype 47ft Tyne and Poole's Waveney.

The Institution is proud of its ability to run a modern litesaving organisation with minimal administrative overheads and the Open Days provided an opportunity to show lifeboat supporters and the general public that head office and depot play a vital part in keeping the lifeboat service at peak efficiency. It is proposed that the next Open Days will be in 1984. For a full report of this year's event, see page 128.

Norwegian Naming Ceremony The RNLI acts as the secretariat to the International Lifeboat Conference and keeps in close touch with lifeboat organisations overseas. Several RNLI stations have links with stations in Europe, particularly in France, Germany and The Netherlands, and on a number of occasions overseas lifeboats have come across the Channel or North Sea to be present at the naming ceremonies of our lifeboats. The Norwegian lifeboat Skomvaer II was present at the naming of Lerwick's 52ft Arun lifeboat Soldian in 1978, and before an Arun was stationed at Lerwick it was not at all unusual to see a Norwegian cruising lifeboat lying in the port's South Harbour with the RNLI lifeboat. It was fitting, therefore, that Soldian, as part of her extended passage back to station for crew training after a recent survey, should visit Stavanger in Norway for the naming ceremony of a new Norwegian lifeboat on August 23. The new lifeboat was named Olav V after His Majesty The King of Norway and the ceremony was performed by his daughter, HRH Crown Princess Sonja. Launch the lifeboat, Mr Mayor! Ken Holland, who is coxswain of Skegness lifeboat, bore another distinguished title as the town's Mayor for the past year and an article on his station appears on page 124. Meanwhile, Beaumaris lifeboat station, one of whose crew members, Stan Zalot, is also Mayor has recently been made an Honorary Burgess of the town; the honour has been given in recognition of its services to the local community.

In Yorkshire, two guild members from neighbouring lifeboat towns also held civic appointments in the past year.

In Scarborough, Councillor Mrs Liz Mackenzie, former treasurer of the ladies' guild and still a considerable supporter, became the first woman Mayor of Scarborough since local government reorganisation. In Filey, Mrs Wadsworth, the vice-chairman of the ladies' guild whose sons are also involved with Filey lifeboat, was Mayoress.

Further north, Magnus Shearer, honorary secretary of Lerwick lifeboat station, has just been appointed Lord Lieutenant of Shetland..