Once an RNLI supporter, always a RNLI supporter! When Mrs J. B. Wilson, who had worked within the ranks of Colwyn Bay branch since 1965, settled with her family in Hong Kong she asked HQ if she could start a branch there. With the dedicated support of Mrs Helga McPhail, now honorary secretary, a branch was formed in September 1982 and a most successful launching party, for which 300 tickets were sold, was held at the Volunteer Officers Mess, Beaconsfield House, in December. Already a coffee morning, organised by Royal Navy wives, a social evening and a summer poolside party at HMS Tamar have been held.

Support has come from the Royal Hong Kong Police, shipping and other companies and the Sea Cadets, while the sale of souvenirs has been possible because consignments have been taken out free of charge by British Caledonian Airways. As well as founder, Mrs Wilson is social secretary. A sponsored swim and a day out in a 90ft sailing junk are in the future programme, while more than £2,000 has already been raised for the lifeboats. On June 5, a day of driving rain, hail, thunder and lighting in the south, Romsey branch was running a 'Sunday Wine' event in the grounds of The Frenches Farm by invitation of Mr and Mrs Trevor Harris. Despite the thunder it was a roaring success; there was a fly-casting competition, guessing the weight of a trout donated by the host, a raffle and souvenir stall. Food and wine, and guests when necessary, were kept under cover in the farmhouse and its outbuildings while Romsey Sea Cadets nobly looked after car parking in an adjoining field. The occasion was much enjoyed and resulted in more than £500 for the lifeboats.

Every three months the Reverend H.

Miles Leith of Elgin, Moray, goes on a strictly teetotal pub-crawl. Mr Leith, now retired from the Ministry of the Church of Scotland, makes the trip around pubs and hotels to empty the collecting boxes he has placed there. In three years he has not only collected £3,000 but has also helped to form branches at Hopeman, Burghead and Findhorn and Kinloss. His highest amount from one pub has been £64.

A booklet entitled Neills of Bangor which relates the fortunes of the famous coal importing and shipping family over the past 150 years, a sort of real life 'Onedin Line', is making money for Bangor branch, Northern Ireland. Its author Ian Wilson is generously donating proceeds from its sale—to date £378.96—to the RNLI. Dublin's annual spring sale in the Concourse Hall of the Royal Dublin Society this year brought in another record profit of £11,363. Meanwhile a visit from Sothebys to Lismore Castle, where people who had antique items to be valued paid a sum to the RNLI for each valuation, brought in a remarkable £2,927.

Hitchin and District branch was formed in November 1982 when the former ladies' guild merged with the new branch committee. Shoreline members in the area were invited to the social evening at Weston Park, by kind permission of Mr and Mrs John Pryor, at which the branch was launched.

About £300 was made during the evening and in the few months of the branch's existence more than £1,000 has already been collected. New members are welcome: please write to the honorary secretary, Howard Levinson, 2 Passingham Avenue, Hitchin.

Phillips the auctioneers attended an evening organised by Hampstead Garden Suburb branch to talk about antiques and to discuss interesting objects brought along by guests. There was cheese and wine on offer and 150 people came to contribute towards a profit of £460.

Hendon branch in North London, formed last autumn, raised more than £900 during its first flag week and collecting boxes throughout the area are adding to that sum. The honorary secretary, Mr S. J. Marginson of 73a The Broadway, Mill Hill, is appealing for people in the area to come forward to increase the branch's manpower. With just two weeks preparation time, Knaresborough ladies' guild put on a splendid lunchtime party last April at Goldsborough Hall, one time home of the late Princess Royal and soon to be converted into flats for the elderly.

Mrs Evelyn Walker, a committee member, obtained permission to use the Hall, recruited a flower club member to decorate it, asked a lady from Debenhams to demonstrate microwave ovens and organised the committee into making lasagne and shepherd's pies, salads and sweets. With 200 tickets sold, £627 was raised for the lifeboats.

Shoreham lifeboat society's house to house and flag day collection was made with the help of two Nautical Training Corps bands and £2,100 was raised as a result. More than £1,500 was made in a sponsored walk through driving rain and thunder over the Sussex Downs last May; seven NTC divisions brought in about £450 of this total while the Kingston Buic Brownies were responsible for a remarkable £425. A pram race organised in conjunction with the local Royal British Legion has made well over £1,000, half of which comes to the RNLI, with more sponsorship money still to be collected. During the summer Mr and Mrs H. J.

Palmer welcomed lifeboat supporters to two events in their homes, the first in Broadstone and the second on Round Island in Poole Harbour. A most successful coffee morning in Broadstone in June was followed one lovely July evening by a picnic supper in the beautiful surroundings of Round Island.

Mr and Mrs Palmer and their family helped to make sure that the picnic was an occasion the 200 guests would remember and the two events raised nearly £900 for Broadstone branch.

Nigel Craine of Island Sailing, Hayling Island, spends his summers in Greece chartering boats to holidaymakers.

The following list of misdemeanours is handed round on the first day of a holiday and the money collected in an 'honesty box' at the last night meal: Ye Ten Fynes for Misdemeanors . . .

Blockinge ye heads 50 drs Ye warpe around ye shafte 20 drs Sailings of ye vessel with ye fenders 20 drs a danglin' Ye anchor lite a shinin' after ten 20 drs o'clock of a mornin' Goinge agrounde 20 drs Skipper layte for meetinge 20 drs A losin' of an oare 20 drs A bouncin' of ye vessel off ye quay 50 drs A throwin' of ye tangled warpes ta 20 drs folk upon th' quay Failings to employe ye communica- 20 drs tion device All proceeds will be a goin' to ye RNL1 The first three trips (there are six more to come) brought in drachmas to the value of £78.73 sterling. While two teams threw darts for an hour, the remainder of Batford Methodist Church Youth Club, Harpenden, kept silent. The reason for this muted competition was that the children, aged between 11 to 14, were sponsored for the RNLI. One darts team scored 16,000 points, the other 14,000; everyone else maintained their silent order and a gratifying £70 was raised for Harpenden branch.

The second sponsored walk organised by Terry Byrne of Chester branch was a great success. All 25 walkers completed the 10-mile distance and at a reception in the Royal Naval Association Club, Chester, a resultant cheque for £601 was presented to David Jones, RO(NW).

A barn dance and supper held at Chipstead Sailing Club produced £904 for Sevenoaks and District branch. Mr and Mrs Charles Hutton and their team of hard working and enthusiastic friends produced a first-class four-course buffet supper and organised a vast tombola.

The dancing was led by Mr and Mrs West, who gave their services free and made sure everyone enjoyed themselves.

Sevenoaks honorary treasurer Geoffrey Walford and committee member Douglas Drew, represented the RNLI at the Heerema invitation pro-am celebrity golf competition at Leeds Castle in April; partnered by professional Phil Howard and celebrity Cliff Michelmore they finished joint third overall while, of the amateurs, Mr Walford came second and Mr Drew fourth. At the end of a splendid day's golf, with first-class entertainment by the hosts, £3,000 was donated to the RNLI.

Customers and staff of the Victory pub at Dartford, Kent, are ready to take part in any activity to raise money for the lifeboats: a sausage eating contest, for instance. One way and another they have raised £1,015 in two years.

Captain Graham Sommerfield, honorary secretary of Penarth lifeboat station, received a cheque for £200 from Mrs Christine Pinches, president of Penarth and District Chamber of Trade and Commerce. The money was half the proceeds of the Chamber's recent fashion show.

Keynsham branch, Avon, was started 15 years ago after one of the founder members, Edward Joll, had received help from the lifeboat service when his sailing dinghy lost a mast off Lyme Regis. Each year the total raised increases and last year it was £1,500.

Regular contributions come from five ladies, all over 65, living at Rock Hill caravan site, who meet together each Monday morning for a cup of tea and perhaps to exchange homemade fare; the money thus raised in six months of each year is given to the RNLI and in 1982 it amounted to £151. The RNLI has benefited considerably recently from crew members of Shell Oil tankers. Assistant Steward Michael Hayward and G2 Martin Jeavons may have frightened themselves with a sponsored parachute jump but they raised £150 towards equipping the new Brede lifeboat Merchant Navy. Meanwhile, the crew of Litiopa decided to give their massive pools syndicate win of £13.80 to the RNLI and aboard Alinda, just before the ship was sold to scrappers, the remaining items of the 'slop chest' were raffled off and more than £200 raised for the lifeboats.

Another sponsored parachute jump: a group from Wiggins Teape raised £572.20 for Basingstoke branch by parachuting down. The jumpers were Michael Devorchik, the organiser, Adam Naylor, Darren Dean, David McRonald, Roseanne Oswell, Colin Brooks, Jim Halliday, Michael Duffy, Jane Wheeler, Nicki Barnard, Doug Stephen, Isabelle Norwell and Linda Moore. The verdict of one of them: to help the lifeboats made all those nervous hours of waiting worth while.

There is always a queue of at least 40 people waiting for the doors to open on the annual one and a half days sale organised by Bingley ladies' guild. The committee, under the founding chairman, Lady Binns, works very hard in setting up the sale and its efforts were rewarded this year by a profit of £1,000.

Harold Bennett, assistant honorary secretary of Swindon branch, received a telephone call one day from a Mr Hollister to say he had £309.25 for the branch. Mr Hollister turned out to be entertainments secretary of the Rendezvous Club which is associated with Swindon Town Football Club and which had adopted the RNLI, unbeknown to the branch, as its charity for 1982. Later that day he delivered the money and after a chat with Mr Bennett decided to run another event for the lifeboats. This was a successful 'race nite' which brought in a further £97.14. There are now over 500 members of New Milton and Barton-on-Sea branch; since the branch was formed in 1972 over £45,000 has been raised and last year's total was an impressive £7,000 which is from a total population of about 18,000. A very successful five-day sale at the Speckled Trout pub in New Milton, which netted £900, is an example of the active fund raising that goes on in the area. A memorable buffet supper was organised by Rugby branch and ladies' guild at Drewetts Countrywide Caterers, Butlers Leap, last April. Ronald and Anne Drewett generously lent the premises and provided the food and drink free of charge and the excellent result was more than £1,000 to the RNLI.

You had to pay £1, to the RNLI, to enter an X class yachting race organised by Tom Hunt, former secretary of Parkstone Yacht Club. The winner had the dubious honour of subscribing a further £2 to the RNLI and all the other entrants had to pay £1 for finishing, except the last boat whose skipper got his money back. Protests had to be accompanied by a £10 fee, non-returnable, and anyone trying to duck out of finishing would have been fined £10.

Perhaps it was poetic justice that Tom Hunt won his own race; £15 was raised for the lifeboats.

A team of board sailors from Rhosneigr Boatowners Association organised a round Anglesey sponsored board sailing event over three days in July. A team of seven intrepid board sailors, aged from 15 to 35 and led by Martyn Rees, covered some 75 miles in the three days. They were escorted by three of the association's safety boats and received valuable help from Trearddur Bay, Holyhead and Beaumaris lifeboat stations and from Holyhead Coastguard. More than £1,000 was raised of which £550.95 was given to the RNLI.

At a Racal Decca dinner during Southampton Boat Show last year, John Gunner, general sales manager (UK), backed up by the company's radar agents, undertook a sponsored slim to last from the last day of the Southampton show until the first day of the London Boat Show 1983. As a result, Mr Gunner was able to present to the RNLI at the London Boat Show a cheque for £500 (wrongly attributed to Racal Decca in the spring journal) and he later added another £34 to that total.

As their part in Rotary International British Isles' successful appeal for the Thames class lifeboat stationed at Dover, Banbury Rotary Club has allocated £1,000 from its charity trust fund to the RNLI. The amount was presented by Rotary president, Mr S. Maxwell, to John Stiff, honorary treasurer of Banbury RNLI branch, at a Rotary luncheon.

Angmering branch held its annual garden and sherry party in June in the grounds of Ecclesden Manor, the thirteenth century home of its late president, Mrs G. K. Andrew; a profit of £686 was made, an increase of 36 per cent over last year. The following month, lifeboat week brought in £347, another increase, and a further £91.86 was raised with a souvenir counter at an open day at Marsdale School, East Preston, which only has 36 very young pupils; the invitation to take part came through John Wootton, a Shoreline member whose wife is school principal.

Every year Guernsey lifeboat pays a visit to Alderney for its fund-raising cocktail party and fete. This year more than 200 tickets were sold at £1 each.

The cakes, jams and chutneys on the home produce stall sold briskly and there were the usual big demands at the raffle and tombola stalls. All in all £1,480 was made with a further £505.63 collected on the following flag day.

Six Yorkshire Moor farmers, Sid Ring, Andrew Willis, Eric Hardwick, Roy Melford, Richard King and Bill Balderson, were persuaded to lose a few inches for the RNLI and organised themselves into a sponsored slim. Their abstinence was rewarded when, at the end, they were able to hand over £620 to Thornton-le-Dale ladies' guild for Whitby lifeboat station.

Wolverhampton branch president, Tony Guy, held a Family Funday at his home one Saturday in June at which most branch members helped by manning stalls or selling raffle tickets and teas. The major attraction was the world famous West Midlands Police Pipe Band, who gave their services free, and the fine result of all the fun was £1,846.02 for the lifeboats.

A Christmas carol service, holding competitions, mini fairs and selling dolls and cakes were the highly successful methods employed to raise money by the 320 pupils of Hockley Primary School, Essex, when they adopted the RNLI as their charity for the year. At the year's end a grand total of £500 was presented to Rayleigh and District branch.

A proud father came into the RNLI South West Office one morning with a pile of money which, when counted, totalled £21.20. His 5-year-old daughter, Sarah Emmett of Farmborough, near Bath, inspired by a story read aloud by her teacher at school, had persuaded her parents to let her run a jumble sale in their garage. Friends and neighbours helped, and so this little fortune was raised.

A sub-section of Luton and District branch has been set up as a special interest group which organises talks on RNLI related topics. This does not deter them from fund-raising enterprises, however, and two of the group's members, Mr and Mrs Peter Brown, put on a very enjoyable cheese and wine party at their home, raising more than £100 for the RNLI.

Neil Blencowe completed Sandwell marathon on July 10, raising £259 for the newly-formed West Bromwich and Wednesbury branch. When he was still a teacher at Fairlop Junior School, Ilford, George Penney instigated fund-raising for the RNLI back in 1968. He is now retired but still takes an active part while another teacher, Kathleen Haydon, now organises a very successful sponsored swim each year. Since the school began its RNLI link, one way and another, £7,000 has been raised for the lifeboats.

Erdington branch, invited to have a souvenir stand at Bromford Lane Police Station open day, raised £100.58.

Sixty customers from the Ribblesdale Arms. Blackburn, agreed among themselves to walk the 23 miles to Lytham-St Anne's lifeboat station. The result of this burst of energy and of sponsorship was £1.000 which was received by Mrs Christine Jones, Lytham ladies' guild honorary secretary, and Mrs Kate Williams, honorary treasurer, at a handing over ceremony at the pub, where the licensee generously laid on free rum, gin and an excellent supper. Also present were the coxswain and crew member of Lytham-St Anne's lifeboat. Driffield ladies' guild holds two second-hand sales a year which all the time are growing in popularity. Last spring £450 was raised in just over an hour. A summer salad luncheon at Nafferton Grange, by invitation of Mr and Mrs A. J. Dewhirst, raised a further £700 for guild funds.

Mrs Olive Berrill, landlady of the Agricultural Inn, has been responsible for raising more than £1,000 for Braunton, Croyde and District branch, Devon, in the past two years. On several occasions she has attempted sponsored slims and every week she runs a raffle among her customers, who always find it difficult to resist her persuasion to buy a ticket! While Helmsman Eric Ward of St Ives was in London to receive two bronze medals at the annual meeting in May, he also received a cheque for £400 for RNLI funds from Mrs E. Thatcher, landlady of The Globe, Great Dover Street. The pub had raised the money from raffles, a dog which performed tricks and donations. Fine Art Auction February 1984 TO HELP mark the 160th anniversary of the founding of the RNLI on March 4, 1824, Pangbourne and District branch is organising an auction of fine arts at Christie's, London, in February 1984.

The auction is being arranged by Lord Alastair Gordon, president Pangbourne branch, past chairman of the Arts Club and a member of the British section of the International Association of Art Critics, and Mrs Wendy Bridgman, the fine art dealer who is also a director of the Arts Club.

The date and other details of the auction can be obtained after January 1, 1984, from the chairman of Pangbourne branch, Milverton, Whitchurch, Pangbourne.

Berkshire..