LAST JULY, for the first time in its history and as one of its contributions to Maritime England Year, the Institution opened its head office and depot at Poole to the public. It was an entirely new departure which provided a unique opportunity for all those on whose support and generosity the RNLI depends to see behind the scenes of the lifeboat service and to visit the offices, works and stores which provide the essential back-up for both lifeboat stations and fund-raising branches and guilds.

In his welcoming speech at the opening ceremony Rear Admiral W. J.

Graham, director of the Institution, likened the RNLI to Neptune's trident.

There were, he said, the three prongs: the life boatmen; the fund raisers; and the full-time staff whose job it was to provide both the lifeboatmen and the fund-raisers with the tools they needed for their voluntary work which was of such vital importance to seafarers. All three prongs of the trident were necessary and all were interdependent.

For three days—Thursday, Friday and Saturday, July 22 to 24—the doors were thrown wide. No one had any idea beforehand how many people would come but, when the time arrived, the Institution was delighted with the overwhelming response of the public. Each morning, even before the official opening time, people were gathering in the HQ foyer and in the depot grounds.

Before long, coaches would be unloading their passengers and, throughout the day, with visitors coming and going, the car parks were full to overflowing..

On both Thursday and Friday there must have been between two and three thousand visitors and on Saturday that number must have been doubled. Some people stayed all day. Some came back for a second visit or even a third. There were lifeboat people from all over the country; there were residents of Poole and its neighbouring towns; there were holidaymakers. There were individual supporters and whole families, down to babies in arms. All were made most welcome by the staff, whose great pleasure it was not only to renew old friendships but often to make the acquaintance of crew members and supporters with whom they had corresponded but whom they had never before met.

The tide of people ebbed and flowed between HQ and depot. While some visitors were being taken on conducted tours round the HQ offices, calling in at the operations room, the rescue records department, the fund-raising and publicity areas and the design office, and being told of the functions of all the various departments on each floor, others were enjoying all that there was to see and do at the depot. There was, for instance, a 'nature trail' through the workshops and operational stores, with static displays to illustrate all the many facets of the work, including a special display showing the work of the RNLI Cowes depot; there was the new Bill Knott Building to visit, of particular interest to fund raisers; there was a Coastguard stand, the mock-up cabin used by the BBC for the TV series 'Ennal's Point' and the mobile training unit caravan. A line of tractors was, of course, a constant delight for small boys who quickly 'climbed aboard'.

Further on, down at the depot quay, there were the lifeboats themselves moored alongside: Poole's own 44ft Waveney, the first prototype 47ft Tyne fast slipway lifeboat, a new relief 52ft Arun, which was open to visitors, an Atlantic 21 rigid inflatable and a D class inflatable lifeboat. Every day there were a number of demonstrations of the launch and recovery of the Atlantic 21 when visitors were able to appreciate the skill and speed required by lifeboat crews and launchers when answering a distress call and see for themselves the exciting performance of these smaller lifeboats.

Each day a combined exercise was planned between one of the lifeboats with a Royal Navy helicopter from Portland. And here demonstration and reality were to meet. On the first day the exercise between Poole's 44ft Waveney and the helicopter had to be postponed until the helicopter returned from a rescue mission; on the second day the exercise, with the Atlantic 21 this time, took place as planned; on the third day it had to be abandoned altogether because the helicopter was taking part in an extensive mid Channel search for someone lost overboard from a ferry.

Operations and fund raising go hand in hand, so on Friday, down on the depot quay and next door to the lifeboats, the draw was made for the RNLI's eighteenth national lottery.

Franklyn James, the comedian and impersonator, came over from Bournemouth, where he was appearing at the Winter Gardens, to make the draw and the list of winners can be found on page 130. Guests for the occasion were the former Mayor and Mayoress of Poole, Councillor and Mrs Peter Coles. Councillor Coles had chosen the lifeboat service as the charity for his mayoral year, which ended in May; he gave every fund-raising enterprise his most active support, and the grand total of his appeal came to an amazing £17,000.

To bring the amount up to the round thousand, Mr and Mrs Coles had made their own generous contribution, becoming life governors of the RNLI.

After the lottery had been drawn, Vice-Admiral Sir Peter Compston, a deputy chairman of the Institution and chairman of the Fund Raising Committee, presented to Councillor Coles a framed certificate recording the Institution's thanks, and there was also a small gift for Mrs Coles.

Other guests who came to give the lifeboats their support on Friday included members of the cast of 'Annie', currently running in Bournemouth, and members of the Society of Poole Men, who arrived in the rig of ancient mariners to take part in a game of Uccers, the Naval game of deck ludo. Saturday was the day on which Lifeboat Enthusiasts made a point of attending and a room was set aside so that they could hold an informal meeting.

Throughout the three days there were continuous film or slide shows in the committee room, helping to relate the work of HQ and depot with work on the coast. There was a special display in the museum, a Shoreline stand where new members could enrol and old members obtain the various insignia, and souvenir stalls which were always besieged by customers. Refreshments were available (run independently by outside caterers) and, so that the many children should not be forgotten, wives of staff members made sure that there were always ice-creams available. Although not planned as a fund-raising event, a gross amount of £6,977 was taken from the various sales, and 33 people enrolled as new Shoreline members.

They were three happy days. The most frequent comment from visitors was that they had not realised how many and how varied were the activities undertaken at Poole HQ and depot.

From their remarks and from the letters received subsequently, they left the staff in no doubt that they had enjoyed their visit and found it of interest; in their turn, the staff had greatly enjoyed having so many lifeboat people with them. Such a success, in fact, was the event deemed that plans are already in hand for more Open Days in 1984. We shall look forward to seeing you then..