Witham and District branch, Essex, held its 1982 house to house collection in July. When the box of one of its supporters, Mr B. Tebbutt of Coggershall, was opened it was found to contain £75.30; that amount was made up on one £10 note, two £5 notes, 17 £1 notes, several 50p pieces and the rest in smaller coins. Can anyone better that? .

When he was eight David Pearce visited William Osbornes yard, Littlehampton, which builds some of the Institution's lifeboats, and went aboard a lifeboat. In the following five years his interest has grown and he visits as many stations as he can when on holiday.

Recently, with his two friends Richard and Adam, he arranged an open afternoon in his parents' garden inviting friends to take part in games, a raffle, to buy cakes and to view a large Leggo layout. This event made £9.05 which he then sent off to RNLI HQ. The third Isle of Wight Midsummer Country Fair was held at Robin Hill Country Park on Sunday June 20, when more than 6,000 people were able to enjoy displays of country crafts and take part in competitions demanding country skills. Young gymnasts and musicians entertained the visitors, while for the very young the County Library ran a day of story telling and races.

Among the guests was Raymond Baxter, a member of the RNLI Committee of Management and chairman of the Public Relations Committee. Following this happy day, a cheque for £3,130 was presented to the Isle of Wight lifeboat board.

Wells Cathedral Junior School raised £750 by means of a sponsored swim last summer. Between them, members of the Junior School swam 1,320 lengths of the school swimming pool, a distance equivalent to the cross-Channel swim from Dover to Calais.

Friends and supporters of Tarvin branch were invited to partake in a Taste of Summer' in the lovely garden of committee member Mrs Nina Bartlett.

Guests were offered a wide selection of quiches and salad, followed by strawberries and cream, washed down with white wine. This very enjoyable evening raised £200 for the RNLI. With a committee of three, John McNally, inspired by an item in a recent issue of THE LIFEBOAT, organised a sponsored raft race at Portrush last May.

Although the actual race only lasted five minutes, weeks of preparation went into the event and a staggering £3,000 was raised.

West Mersea annual lifeboat fete, organised jointly by Mersea Island and District ladies' guild, the station branch, Shoreline members and other helpers, raised a record £2,000 this year. Local organizations gave wonderful support and on 'the day', Saturday July 24, the weather was kind. Admission was free and it was thought that this contributed to the overall success of the occasion. A Sea King helicopter from RAF Coltishall flew over and, for a charge of lOp, people were asked to guess its height and speed. The pilot radioed through the result and for the winning guess there was a prize of £5. Earlier in the summer, in June, the ladies' guild had raised £374 with another annual event, a seafood supper.

The small branch at Merthyr Tydfil in the Mid-Glamorgan valleys is having its most successful year to date, in spite of the loss of two of its most active founder members, Mrs Beatty Hopkins and Mrs Eleanor Francis. Not only has it doubled its flag day results but, as a result of a special Spring Fayre, it was able to send £350 to the Welsh lifeboat appeal.

There was a fine entry for Knowle Flower Club's competition for flower arrangements which was held this year to benefit the RNLI. Mrs Janet Smith was the judge who picked winners from classes entitled: Masquerade, My Secret Garden, The Magic of Dance, Mystery of Space, Mini-Magic, Magical Moments and Mystery Tour. The Mayoress of Solihull, Mrs Mollie Morrison, presented the prizes in the evening, the best in the show award going to Mrs Rose-Marie Tree of Knowle. Over £500 was raised for Knowle and Dorridge ladies' guild. Berkshire's Winnersh and District branch organised an antiques valuation event last June in conjunction with Radio 210. It was held at Winnersh Community Hall with '210' making a simultaneous outside broadcast and £93 was raised for the RNLl.

Merchant ships do not forget the RNLl. The latest of regular collections aboard ships of the Palm Line amounted to £125.38, and officers of the BP tanker British Esk collected £30 for the lifeboats while on service with the South Atlantic Task Force.

Penlee's 1982 annual sponsored walk brought in a remarkable total of £l,220.10'/2. Seven teams were competing for the cup which is awarded to the team which raises the most money and there were also a large number of independent walkers. The winning team for the third year in succession was from The Star Hotel in Penzance, which brought in £315 towards the total raised. Jean Waters set an all-time record for an individual when her sponsorship reached £101.47. A Martell evening organised by Ashtead branch last June raised £840.

After a cold buffet, brandy supplied by Martell was served with coffee, an RNLl film was shown and finally there was a first-class entertainment provided by singer and raconteuse Margaret Hunter. A generous supporter donated £100 towards wine and much goodwill was engendered.

Chelmarsh Sailing Club raised more than £600 for Stourbridge branch with sponsored sail. This very successful event was organised by Peter Masters, vice-commodore of the club, with the support of his commodore. The winning boat was a singlehanded YW Solo sailed by Colin Ward for the whole ten hours with no stops.

The gardens of Waystrode Manor in Cowden were kindly lent by Mr and Mrs P. T. Wright for Edenbridge and District branch to hold a special ploughman's lunch for the RNLl. Over 100 people came to enjoy the delightful surroundings and £500 was raised by the end of the dav. Entering a ten-mile mini-marathon proved to be a double-edged sword in fund-raising terms for Roy Morris. He is a regular customer at the Horse Shoe Inn, Llanyblodwel, near Oswestry, and his friends at the bar bet him that he could not give up drinking for the three weeks before the race. He won his bet, the bar's RNLl collecting bottle thus gaining £10. Roy then went on to raise £52.10 in sponsorship for Fleetwood lifeboat station by successfully completing the marathon.

Norman Clarke, RNLl honorary information officer, has spent a great deal of time over many years visiting schools in his area to tell them about the lifeboat service. Everwhere he goes he finds tremendous interest; he is bombarded with questions and it has become obvious that the children take their enthusiasm home. His work is essentially educational. No request for donations is made, but time and again the children's own generosity leads them to make a spontaneous effort to raise money for the lifeboats. Each year since 1977, for instance, Mr Clarke has been invited to visit Stoke-by-Nayland Middle School in Suffolk to give his presentation to the second year pupils.

Each year, after his visit, he has received not only many letters but also gifts of money raised by the children for the RNLI, usually by their own mini fair set up in the dinner break. In 1977 the amount received was £21, and in 1982 £75.61, the total in six years being £297.51. In May, Petts Wood branch held its fourth annual spring luncheon at the home of Michael and Heather Reynolds, chairman and honorary secretary of the branch. There was a cold buffet, beer, wine, a bring and buy stall and a very successful plant stall.

Coxswain Joe Martin of Hastings, an old friend, came up to give the event his support and an outstanding £565 was raised for Aldeburgh lifeboat station. Terry Byrne, a member of Chester branch committee, organised a ten-mile sponsored walk, which was undertaken by 40 walkers whose ages ranged from 14 to 50 plus. All finished the walk and £530 was raised for branch funds.

A successful but exhausting marathon snooker game was staged at the Arcadian Club in Gorleston when two 16 year olds, Adam Cooper and Patrick Hanson, decided to raise some money for the RNLI. They completed 53 Vi frames during the 24-hour non-stop contest and managed to keep going on a steady supply of sweets, chocolate and endless cups of tea and coffee. Mrs Thelma Dowding, chairman of Yarmouth and Gorleston ladies' guild, congratulated the two contestants at the end of their ordeal in the sure knowledge that they had raised £392 for her branch.

Dorking branch held a fish and wine luncheon at the home of Mr and Mrs P.

Spencer of Mickleham last July, followed by a talk by Coxswain Vic Marsh of Swanage. It was a fine day, so that the 175 guests were able to enjoy walking in their hosts' garden, overlooking Box Hill. £680 was raised, that amount including an anonymous donation of £32 from a lady whose dog finds golf balls and who has, over the years, given about £250 to the lifeboats as well as similar amounts to three other charities from the money raised on this 'treasure trove'.

Not many people who walked past Mrs Robin Terry at the Esher May Fair could resist stroking her chihuahua dog, Diosa. It sat in her handbag strategically close to her lifeboat collecting box and those who paid any attention to Diosa also paid into the RNLI funds.

She brought in £22.17'/2 in about an hour and a half.

Friends and acquaintances of Mrs Vera Stewart of Waldringfield, Suffolk, come to her whenever they want a new knitted article of clothing. She spends many a long hour plying her knitting needles and has recently been able to send £59 to Ipswich branch, the fruits of her last winter's labour. Mrs Stewart also collects for the RNLI on the beach at Waldringfield during Deben Regatta.

The Ravenscroft Singers, since 1976.

have raised a total of almost £19,500 for different charities. This group of young people spend their free time rehearsing and performing in various locations, mainly in Newcastle and Durham but sometimes in places as far away as Eastbourne. Since September last year they have been concentrating their efforts on the RNLI and have been able to hand over to Amble and Warkworth ladies' guild a grand sum of £2,200. In a scheme to offer support to Penlee, the children of Exmouth Lower School organised themselves into 15 groups, each with its own tutor, to plan diverse fund-raising activities. Among them were a mini jumble sale, cake sale, Coke sale, a jumbo paperback sale and competitions, sponsored records at Lower School disco, a lunchtime Beatles disco, a sponsored silence and a sponsored camp for boys who had not slept under canvas before. As well as the enjoyment that was derived from these pursuits, over £340.37 was raised; of this amount, £170.37 was given to Penlee branch and the rest was divided between a donation to Mousehole Primary and Infant School and the Mission to Deep Sea Fisherman at Newlyn.

Instead of holding a party to celebrate the re-opening of its re-designed furnishing showrooms, MFI of Wallisdown, Poole, gave £500 to Councillor Peter Coles for his special charity while he was a Mayor, the RNLI. During its flag week, Swindon branch raised a total of £1,880.54. which included £255.85 from souvenir sales and £72 from draw and lottery ticket sales.

The branch was allowed to have a stall for its souvenirs in a covered area called Brunei Plaza on the flag day itself and much appreciated help it received on that day from the Sea Cadets.

For the third year running Mr and Mrs G. J. Wilkes of Acaster Malbis have held a coffee morning at their home, a large caravan situated on the Mount Pleasant site. This year they succeeded in raising £191 for the lifeboats.

Thanks to Grose Garage in Kingsthorpe the Northampton ladies' guild was able to organise a grand petrol draw which brought in £1,025. The garage gave 100 gallons of petrol, 75 gallons for the first prize and 25 gallons for the second prize. The lucky winner, Malcolm Taylor, was delighted but relieved to hear that the prize was in voucher form as he wondered where he could put 75 gallons of petrol. Third prize was a dinner for two at Westone Hotel.

Three breweries helped to provide cheap drinks which were on offer at the Cliffe Tavern in Dover during a special evening for the RNLI. The evening ended with the auction of various items which has been donated by local firms and groups, fruit hampers, bottles of drink, chocolates and even cross-Channel tickets coming under the hammer.

Some items fetched remarkable prices: one Easter egg went for £10 and a cap which had been worn by Dover lifeboat's second coxswain fetched £40. At the end of it all the owner of the Tavern, Frank Westby, was able to hand over a cheque for £660 to Coxswain Tony Hawkins.

Cogan Hotel Sports and Social Club held a sponsored fancy dress threelegged pub race in aid of Penarth lifeboat station last spring for the second year running. The competitors donned all kinds of disguises, from Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum to Noddy and Big Ears, but it was two lifeboatmen, Crew Members P. W.

Edwards and R. E. Giles—dressed, strangely enough, as lifeboatmen—who won the race. The total money raised was £573, of which £270 was raised by the partnership of Miss Jo Joss and Mr Martin McCarthy, who, dressed as one clown, also won the fancy dress competition at the end of the event. John Dawes, late of London Welsh and capped 24 times for Wales, donated a Welsh Centenary International Rugby jersey to be raffled; it was won by Richard Polden, RNLI area organiser (Wales).

Solihull ladies' guild raised a fine £5,250 last year by means of bridge drives, coffee mornings and a Christmas fayre, together with its house to house collection and flag day.

Paisley branch, which has much support from yachtsmen, held its annual ball in the Normandy Hotel this year, raising £1,000, and then organised a fiddlers' rally which brought in a further £980 for branch funds. In just over two months Jan Akerman managed to reduce her weight from almost 12 stone to 9 stone 71b. She is barmaid at Ye Olde Whyte Harte in Hamble and it just so happens that the landlord, Colin Partridge, is chairman of the local RNLI branch. Everyone sponsored Jan and the 341b that she lost helped her to gain £541 for the lifeboats.

On July 31 Mr R. A. Booth, commodore of Boston Motor Yacht Club, held a barbecue in his garden in aid of the lifeboat service. In perfect weather, hot dogs were sold and numerous fundraising games were played. As an added attraction one of the members played his Hammond organ. At the end of a most enjoyable evening £302 had been raised to send to RNLI headquarters at Poole.

To mark Maritime England Year, East Grinstead branch is aiming to raise £20,000, the cost of an Atlantic 21 lifeboat. Great efforts are being made by individuals and groups throughout the town. Among other events, a raft race held on Wiremill Lake was sponsored by local groups and businesses.

Sponsored gale days, checked with the help of the London Weather Centre, raised over £650..