LOOKING BACK on this year's London Boat Show, held at Earls Court from January 5 to 15, there is no doubt that, for Shoreline, it was one of the most successful shows we have ever had. We can look back with pride! The Shoreline team, most of whom have loyally helped us man the RNLI stand for many years, recruited no less than 1,179 new members. This number is a new record and in real terms it is worth £21,000 to the RNLI in subscriptions and covenants. Such a magnificent result would not have been achieved without the unstinted hard work of our team of helpers. I thank every one of you. Your support and enthusiasm is an inspiration to us all.

It is not only new recruits who come to the RNLI stand at the Boat Show; many established members and Shoreline club supporters call on us in passing, perhaps to purchase insignia, and it is always a pleasure to welcome them and to have the opportunity of talking with them.

* * * 'Looking back' is perhaps the right theme for this letter because it will be my last as membership secretary. Due to re-organisation at head office, to make the best use of available staff, the position will no longer exist, so that all your problems will in future be dealt with by Mrs Linda Powell, who has been Shoreline membership supervisor for a number of years. General administration of Shoreline will be the responsibility of Ian Wallington, until recently regional organiser for the South East, who has now come into the Poole HQ as assistant appeals secretary. I myself am moving on to the new post of fund raising projects manager.

Over the years that I have been membership secretary it has been my pleasure to meet a great many of you and I should like to take this opportunity of thanking you all for your support and for the many kindnesses shown to me. In particular I should like to thank all those members through whose enthusiasm the Shoreline clubs have sprung up around the country; I wish them every success in the future.

As you know, in the recent past we have all be working very hard to attain the magic membership figure of 100,000. I am delighted to be able to announce in my final letter that we have actually achieved this immediate target.

Well done everyone for your tireless efforts in recruiting new members. The next magic figure at which we should aim, and which perhaps I can leave in your good hands, must be a quarter of a million! Maybe, as this is my last Shoreline letter, I will be forgiven for recalling some of the events of the past eight years. Do you remember those days of particular endeavour when we were working, principally by the enrolment of new members, to raise enough money to fund the 37ft 6in Rother lifeboat RNLB Shoreline? And her nam-ing by Shoreline member No 1, Sir Alec Rose, at Blyth lifeboat station in 1979? What a great occasion that was for all those Shoreline members who were able to be present, and for myself. A little over a year ago Shoreline was moved to Arbroath. Once again, Sir Alec and a number of other Shoreline members were present at her re-dedication.

That, too, was a wonderful day.

Another occasion which stands out in my memory is that November evening in 1978 when 300 people attended the meeting in the Guild Hall, Portsmouth, at which Shoreline Club No 1 was inaugurated. From what was indeed a voyage into uncharted waters we now have progressed to a number of Shoreline clubs scattered throughout the country, including new clubs at Broadstairs and at Dover, with the promise of several more to come; it is expected that the inaugural meetings of two new clubs, No 13 at Rochford and No 14 at Sheffield, will be held early in 1984. Clubs Nos 1 and 2, Portsmouth and Southampton, have, I am sorry to say, been disbanded, at least temporarily.

Club No 5, at Leeds, on the other hand, has been changed into a fundraising branch, to be known as Leeds Shoreline branch.

The honorary secretary of Shoreline Club No 12, Broadstairs, is Mr V.

Wraight of 2 Wings Close, Broadstairs, Kent (telephone: Thanet 62067). Mr Wraight will be delighted to hear from any Shoreline members in the area who would like to join in the club's activities.

The honorary secretary of Shoreline Club No 15, Dover, is Mrs D. Knowler, 41 Mayfield Avenue, Dover (telephone: Dover 213527). The Dover club is already 24 strong and Mrs Knowler will be very pleased to hear from any other Shoreline members interested in joining.

We wish both these new clubs many happy days.

Those are just a few of the highlights; there have been many more happy occasions, too numerous to mention.

Thank you for your support. I am proud to have been associated both with you and with the staff in the Shoreline office. To you, to them and to Ian Wallington, I send my best wishes for the future.—PETER HOLNESS, now fund raising project manager, RNLI, West Quay Road, Poole, Dorset BH15 1HZ.

On the last Shoreline page it was said that Shoreline Club No 4, Milton Keynes, entered a model lifeboat in the National Soap Box Derby masterminded by Blakesley Village. The Blakesley lifeboat, which won the novelty class in 1982, was in fact built and raced by Dave Smith. Although not a member of the RNLI, after the Soap Box Derby Dave Smith very kindly offered his soap box lifeboat to Shoreline Club No 4 as a visual aid for fund-raising events..