• A new and expanded history of Penlee and Penzance branch entitled Penlee is just being produced and will appear before this spring journal is published. It is written by John Corin and Grahame Farr with a foreword by Mary Richards, mother of the late Coxswain Trevelyan Richards, and it is illustrated with about 100 photographs.

A review will appear in the next issue of the journal but in the meantime copies are available from Mr D. L. Johnson, Penlee station honorary secretary, 72/73 Market Jew Street, Penzance, Cornwall, TR18 2LF, price £2.75 plus 50p package and postage.—J.O.D.

• The last of David Butcher's trilogy of'oral histories. Living from the Sea (Tops'l Books, £6.75 cased, £4.75 limp), follows the pattern of his first two volumes where the author allows a fascinating collection of people to tell their stories in their own words. Large sections of the book are taken straight from taped interviews, giving colourful and fascinating accounts of the life of the fishing communities in and around Lowestoft. The author adds comments and background and the temptation to romanticise the past is put into context by the interviews which show just how hard life was for the families of the fishermen.

Intertwined with the early lifeboats in these parts were the beach companies, originally set up for salvage work and the running of independent lifeboats.

Moves by the RNLI to set up its own lifeboats were initially viewed with some suspicion but a working compromise was soon sorted out and the beach companies continued to run their own boats as well as supplying the RNLI crew. The book is full of old traditions, such as the annual smoking party in the beach company shed: 'We'd have over 100people in that shed . . . old Mitch the undertaker, he was a first class entertainer . . . Any beer that wuz left over, after six in the mornin', used to be shared out so much a man till that'd all gone'.

and the fishermen who would 'Chuck a few coppers over the side o' the boat t' buy some herrin'—nothin' come free, yuh see'.

This is not just nostalgia but an interesting archive of times gone by, as Rose Thrower, born in 1909, says: 'That wuz a happy village when I wuz a girl. Thass not the same now. I wun't ever wan t' go back'.

—R.K.

• Lifeboat!, by Margaret Dickinson (Robert Hale, £7.50), is a novel set in a fictitious holiday resort on the Lincolnshire coast over a Bank Holiday weekend. The strands of the story, perhaps rather slight in themselves, are woven together in such a way as to allow the author to depict, telescoped into a few days, the variety of calls which may be made on a lifeboat station. The coxswain and his crew answer a series of 'shouts', real and hoax, as, the weekend progressing, a storm builds up and passes through; for the reader, as incident follows incident, a picture gradually takes shape of the running of a lifeboat station.

The author has taken great trouble to make sure that her technical facts are accurate, whether she is writing about lifeboats, gliding or sailing. Coxswain/ Mechanic Ken Holland advised on lifeboat matters and the book is dedicated to the coxswain, crew and launchers of Skegness lifeboat, 'with the deepest admiration'.—J.O.D.

• The trouble with building up a fund of seamanship sailing your own small boat is that an emergency—be it fire, engine failure, man overboard or any other potentially dangerous situation— will very often have to be met without the help of previous experience. If the situation could have been envisaged beforehand and thought through the skipper would be in a much stronger position. The Trouble With Cruising by J. D. Sleightholme (Nautical Books, £5.95) sets out to give just that sort of help. From his own wealth of experience —more than 40 years of successful cruising—Des Sleightholme, editor of Yachting Monthly and one of the recipients of this year's RNLI public relations awards (see page 199), picks out a different sort of emergency for each chapter, describes incidents that happened to him and then looks for the lessons to be learnt. Just to read the introduction to this book is to have taken one step towards good seamanship, but read on . . .—J.O.D.

• Two useful guides have recently been published by the English Tourist Board. Activity and Hobby Holidays details over 500 hotels, colleges and country houses throughout the country offering year round package holidays with courses and instruction in pursuits as diverse as sub-aqua diving, brass rubbing, yoga, bellringing and many more. Most holidays cater for children accompanied by adults and can range from two days to a week or more. The guide, which includes prices in its comprehensive information,. is available, price £1.25 from newsagents, bookshops and tourist information centres.

For those whose pleasure lies in consuming calories rather than expending them English Food and Drink 1983 temptingly lists more than 500 restaurants, pubs and tearooms serving regional specialities from Dartmoor pasties to Colchester oysters. Recipes, maps and interesting facts about the traditions of English cooking as well as a calendar of food related events and customs are contained in the guide.

Costing just 95p, this guide is also available from newsagents, bookshops and tourist information centres.—H.D..