Birmingham branch had a busy time last October. In one week an exhibition at the New Street Shopping Centre raised a magnificent £2,700. The branch's annual dinner and dance, held during the same week at the Botanical Gardens, and attended by the Lord Mayor, Councillor Bill Sowton, and RNLI deputy director, Lt Cdr Brian Miles, made profit of £496.03 with the help of Bill Bulpitt's tombola and Mrs Christine Pickstone's raffle. The week before Mr and Mrs Pickstone had run a coffee morning at their home which realised further £153.51. Twickenham and District branch's twenty-fourth annual ball, held in January, was attended by the Mayor and Mayoress of Richmond, Councillor and Mrs Harry Hall, and members of Littlehampton lifeboat crew, while later in the evening Lionel Jeffries, the branch president, and his wife arrived after completing a matinee and evening performance of Call Me Madam at the Prince of Wales Theatre. With 600 prizes donated by local traders and businesses for the tremendous tombola and raffle, and an auction of RNLI collectors' items, the final figure for the evening was more than £5,000.

Raffle ticket sales netted £161 at a pre-Christmas party organised by Mr and Mrs Manasseh Cannie of Moundsmere Nursing Home, Parkstone, for staff and friends. The proceeds were split between Wareham and District branch and a children's charity. On Christmas morning the Board Sailing Association in the Republic of Ireland, together with The Evening Herald, organised a sponsored event in Dun Laoghaire Harbour which it was hoped would raise £3,000; the figure, however, is already approaching £5,000! That amount includes a ten per cent bonus donated by The Evening Herald. The well-known restauranteur Sean Kinsella served hot punch to everyone taking part, in true Christmas spirit. And another Irish Christmas gesture: Galway Bay branch put up posters in all the six or seven pubs on Inishmore, one of the Aran islands, asking everyone to donate the price of a pint to the lifeboats: £450 was raised.

The sailing club at RAF Lossiemouth last July held a sponsored sail across the Moray and Cromarty Firths and back, a total of 62 nautical miles. The voyage, which involved three 15ft Albacore dinghies sailing to Alness one day and home again to Lossiemouth the next, was an arduous one with fog banks and choppy seas, but HM Coastguard were fully informed and there was the promise of a watchful eye from an RAF Sea King helicopter. It took 8V2 hours to get to Alness and 9V2 hours to get back, but it was worth it for the experience and for the £275 presented to Lossiemouth ladies' guild.

Distance from home often only seems to encourage some people's support of the RNLI. The British Community Association at Port Harcourt, Nigeria, was inspired to hold a party by two of its members Mr and Mrs A. Smith. They had ordered, through Chorleywood and Rickmansworth branch, a supply of RNLI souvenirs, all of which were sold, and with the help of raffle and tombola a phenomenal £3,315.50 was raised.

Whether it is getting thinner or fatter Mrs Grace Gazely has a way of raising money for the RNLI. She and her daughter both attempted a sponsored slim and her daughter, by losing some 22 pounds made £104, half of which went to the RNLI; Grace herself had much less to lose in the first place but slimmed off £5 worth. Then, every Christmas since 1975 Mrs Gazely has made a fattening cake, decorated with RNLI insignia, which is raffled by Mr and Mrs Bill Attrill and their two sons Richard and Steve, all of the Three Horseshoes, Burton Bradstock. This year the cake made a splendid £50, bringing the grand total up to £207.55.

The second annual Wicklow branch ball was held at the Cullenmore Hotel, Ashford, and the very successful and enjoyable evening raised £1,650.

Coventry ladies' guild was 20 years old last year and appropriately the anniversary luncheon was held in the town's medieyal Guildhall. Colonel J. H. Benn, who brought the guild into being back in 1963, proposed a toast and Coxswain Derek Scott of The Mumbles was the ladies' spell-binding guest speaker. It was a memorable occasion and they had plenty to celebrate.

The annual bazaar the previous Saturday had made a record £530 and in the financial year 1982-3 a best ever £3,717 was sent to headquarters.

In January and February last year, Cavalier Restaurants ran a voucher scheme whereby customers spending over a specified amount on a meal received a reduction on their bill or a voucher for Victoria Wine, while 50p was donated to the RNLI. A splendid £5,359, presented to Flamborough branch, was the ultimate result.

Sutton Coldfield ladies' guild was delighted to receive £400 from the boys of Bishop Vesey's Grammar School, the result of various projects for the RNLI during the autumn term. Last year this guild sent £5,854 to HQ.

ICS Computing (Ireland) Ltd, a member of the Nat West Bank Group, organised its third marathon charity relay run last October. A total distance of 405 miles was covered from Fair Head in Country Antrim to Mizen Head in County Cork. The RNLI's share of the proceeds, for the part of the course in the Republic of Ireland, was £1,850.

Mrs M. Steinwehe of Epsom and District branch organised a highly successful sherry morning and sale at her home last December, raising £2,110.

Although, tragically, he lost three of his eight-man crew in the disastrous 1979 Fastnet Race, Alan Bartlett, landlord of The Torrington Arms, North Finchley, is still a keen yachtsman and an even keener supporter of the RNLI.

He has raised no less than £300 in the collecting boxes on his bar counters and Finchley and Friern Barnet branch have presented him with a special plaque.

The branch raised more than £1,600 during its last flag week. The Texaco Fir Tree Filling Station at Rake, Liss, has started giving away Premier gold stamps to customers on sales. Many people are not bothered to collect them and a box has been put out for unwanted stamps for the benefit of the RNLI; during the first weekend nearly five books were filled, redeemable at £1 a book.

The first ever half-marathon to be organised by Henley-on-Thames, run on Sunday October 9, 1983, was a huge success with some 950 runners taking part. The winner was 29-year-old John Leversedge who completed the 13.1 mile course in one hour 10 minutes and 39 seconds. The youngest to complete the course was 10-year-old Sally Hall of Camberley and the oldest competitor of all was 72-year-old Tony Pryor of Egham. Perhaps the most satisfied winner was the RNLI which collected more than £5,000 in sponsorship.

David Wilkie, the Olympic gold medallist, has raised £2,703 at Wallingford with one of his 'swimalongs' for junior schools. Another ardent lifeboat supporter, Terry Nicholson, landlord of the Chequers, runs fancy dress evenings with such titles as 'St Trinians Reunion'; they have brought in £82 for the RNLI in raffles.

Southend branch held its annual dinner for the crews of the town's two lifeboats at the Kursaal. The branch's president, the Mayor of Southend, Councillor David Garston, was there to welcome Rear Admiral W. J. Graham, RNLI director, and also members of HM Coastguard, helicopter crews from RAF Mansion and lifeboatmen from Sheerness. A tombola helped the evening towards £1,356 for the RNLI.

Peter Lacey, area organiser (North East), was handed a cheque for £800 by the ladies of Scalby and District guild at their annual Christmas luncheon. Since it began in 1981 the guild has gone from strength to strength and 1983 produced a record total of £1,916. For the past 25 years Dick Goodeve has organised an annual dance at Airesford and in that time has raised more than £8,000 for the RNLI. In appreciation of his loyal support two surprise presentations were made to him: from Mrs Dorothy Coombs of Medstead and District Old Time Dance Club, an engraved fruit bowl, and from Wendy Nelson, RO (Southern), an engraved drawing of a Waveney lifeboat.

A cheese and wine evening held at The Beaconsfield Arms, Gateshead, by the Royal Naval Association raised £211.37 for the RNLI. A pile of pennies made up £32.45 of this amount and local traders contributed 29 prizes for a raffle. A lot of hard work brought about a very enjoyable evening.

In 1955, the Chestnut Tree Cafe was first made available by its owner Mrs Marianne Clarke-Davies for the Lake District branch to hold a coffee morning.

She provided coffee and the free services of her staff, and continued to do so regularly from that time until, in 1982, she was forced to retire due to illness. The result of her generous support over the years has been a total of £3,568.78 for the RNLI.

The ladies' guild at Broadstairs has recently had great success selling RNLI souvenirs. At the town's Water Gala they took over £600 and at a Rotary function their stall grossed £220. The lifeboat pillar box on the jetty has been earning its keep as well with £155 collected in the course of 1983.

Sodbury and District branch got together with Heron Homes to organise a 15-mile sponsored run. Heron Homes not only provided prizes but its employees' team collected over £1,000 in sponsorship. Altogether 130 people took part and a sheaf of sponsor forms filled by one of the runners, Pam Carley, yielded a remarkable £372. The branch received help from friends, local businesses and civil authorities and the final result was £2,600 for RNLI funds. Coxswain Donald McKay of Wick lifeboat received a giant cheque for £1,500 from Margaret Urquhart, Helmsdale branch's beauty queen. The cheque represents the branch's fund raising result for the year, collected in and around Helmsdale.

Mrs Jo Bolton, with other members of Ventnor branch, organised a fashion show which raised an impressive £505.

As well as the show, there were stands displaying fashion jewellery, shoes, Christmas decorations and cosmetics.

The event was staged, free of charge, by Ladies Realm and Salon 442 of Ventnor, and Fiona Brothers, the speedboat champion and fastest woman on water, opened the show.

A draw for a US gallon of Martell brandy was organised throughout the summer by the ladies of the Isles of Scilly guild. The proceeds came to an impressive £472. In the winter journal it was reported that two members of the crew of Duet, which was sponsored for the RNLI in the 1983 Three Peaks Yacht Race, presented £1,255 to The Mumbles lifeboat station. Now news has come that the remaining three members of Duet's crew, John Ayrton, Charles Higgins and Tom Chitty, presented their sponsorship money, £2,100, to Hoylake lifeboat station.

Not content with one good-as-new shop each year, Wishaw ladies' guild now organises two, each of which brings in over £1,000. Their overall total last year was £5,113.

The annual bridge afternoon organised by Bournemouth ladies' guild brought in no less than £428. In addition a very generous donation of £1,000 was made by Miss Cooper-Dean. The guild's president, the Marchioness of Salisbury, presented the prizes. Jack Cadamy, chairman of Wells station branch, Norfolk, was delighted to be handed a cheque for £2,000 by Dorothy MacDonald, chairman of Wells ladies' guild, following a very successful year of fund-raising.

There can be no better place to have a Lancashire hot-pot than at a special hot-pot supper organised by Mrs Elsie Carefoot, honorary secretary of Longridge and District branch, Lancashire.

Held, by kind permission of Mrs Janet and Miss Margaret Simpson, at the Gibbon Bridge Hotel, a capacity crowd paid £2 a head to sample the traditional dish followed by apple pie and cream.

Entertainment was provided by Flange and Sprocket of Ribchester while a grand draw and souvenirs helped raise £734.43. With a spring folk dance ball, a house-to-house collection, and a competition in the Darts League, this country district once again exceeded £2,000 in its fund raising for the year..