GUESTS OF HONOUR at the annual presentation of awards meeting at the Royal Festival Hall, London, on Tuesday May 15 in this the RNLI's 160th anniversary year was Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, a Patron of the Institution. The occasion was marked by a presentation unique in the RNLI's history when the Queen Mother accepted a new official colour.

The colour, made in silk by the Royal School of Needlework and donated by the Clothworkers' Foundation," will be used only for very special ceremonial occasions.

Among the awards presented by Her Majesty during the afternoon was honorary life governorship to cartoonist Carl Giles whose distinctive Christmas cards have raised more than £360,000 for the RNLI. The first Giles Christmas card appeared in 1969 and from 1972 he has drawn a special design for the lifeboats each year; during that time more than five million of his cards have been sold to lifeboat supporters.

The annual general meeting of the Institution's governors and the annual presentation of awards meeting are reported in full on page 48.

HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother also visited Jersey on Friday June 1, where she presented a centenary vellum to St Helier lifeboat station (see page 54).

N. Ireland, Orkney and Scotland During April and May His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent, President of the RNLI, called at five lifeboat stations. On Wednesday April 4 he visited Donaghadee lifeboat station, Northern Ireland, where he met the crew and their families and was taken out into the rough Irish Sea for a trip in the lifeboat, the 44ft Waveney Arthur and Blanche Harris.

Five weeks later, on Thursday May 10, His Royal Highness travelled north to Orkney. During the morning his first visit was to Longhope on the island of Hoy, where he laid a wreath at the memorial to the lifeboatmen who lost their lives in the disaster of 1969 and met their widows and members of their families; he also viewed the station's present 48ft 6in Solent lifeboat The David and Elizabeth King and E.B. On to Stromness where, at midday, the Duke visited the lifeboathouse and looked over the 52ft Barnett class lifeboat Archibald and Alexander M. Paterson.

After lunch he went on to Kirkwall, where the station's 70ft Clyde lifeboat Grace Paterson Ritchie lies afloat in the harbour; while at Kirkwall the Duke of Kent visited the yacht club where he presented the bronze medal to the coxswain, Captain William Sinclair, for the service to the fishing vessel Benachie last January (see page 43).

That evening His Royal Highness was the guest of honour at a musical soiree held on behalf of the lifeboat service at Blair Castle, home of the Duke of Atholl, chairman of the Institution. The next morning, Friday May 11, the Duke visited Arbroath lifeboat station, on the east coast of Scotland, and was shown over the station's 37ft 6in Rother lifeboat Shoreline.

Throughout the tour of lifeboat stations in Orkney and Scotland the Duke of Kent was accompanied by Captain Sir Charles McGrigor, convener of the Scottish Lifeboat Council, and Cdr Bruce Cairns, chief of operations; he was also accompanied in Orkney by Rear Admiral W. J. Graham, the director, and at Arbroath by the Duke of Athqll. His Royal Highness met lifeboatmen and their families, station officials and also members of the fundraising branches and guilds.

London Underwriters Her Royal Highness Princess Anne attended a reception given by the Institute of London Underwriters on June 8 in the Guildhall, London. To mark its centenary, the Institute has donated an Atlantic 21 rigid inflatable lifeboat to the RNLI and the Princess graciously accepted the lifeboat before attending the reception in the company of the Lord Mayor, Vice-Admiral Sir Peter Compston, a deputy chairman of the RNLI, and members of the Institute of London Underwriters.

160th anniversary The 160th anniversary of the founding of the RNLI, March 4, fell on a Sunday, and it was marked in a number of places by special church services or remembered in prayers. At Canvey Island more than 500 people attended an interdenominational service of thanksgiving and dedication at which Bernard Griffith, president and honor-ary secretary of the branch, read a message from the Duke of Kent; the service was attended by former Coxswain Peter Gilson of Southend and present members of Southend lifeboat crew and station branch, by local civic dignitaries and by representatives of no less than 38 other organisations.

In Plymouth the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress joined the coxswain and crew of the lifeboat and Plymouth fund raisers at a service in Mutley Baptist Church at which an RNLI standard was carried by Crew Member Tony Thompson-Neall.

The first lifeboat station at Brighton was established in 1824, the year the RNLI was founded. Brighton station branch marked its own 160th anniversary and that of the Institution with an official opening on Sunday March 4 of a new Portakabin which will be used as a store and crew changing room. The ceremony was performed by Richard Barclay, a member of the Committee of Management.

Distinguished visitors Vice-Admiral M. S. Holcomb, Commander- in-Chief US Naval Activities in Europe, paid an informal visit to RNLI headquarters and depot in Poole on February 29, and on May 25 a visit was made by Vice-Admiral Sir Peter Stanford, Vice Chief of the Naval Staff.

Dame Mary Donaldson, the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor of the City of London, attended the meeting of the Committee of Management on March 22 in her capacity as an ex-officio member of the Committee.

On April 14 the Lieutenant Governer of the Isle of Man, Sir Nigel Cecil, joined Coxswain Robert Corran and his crew on a training exercise in Douglas lifeboat, the 46ft 9in Watson R. A. Colby Cubbin No 1. His Excellency, who is patron of Douglas branch, had made a special request to go to sea in the lifeboat and later thanked the crew, commenting that it was pleasant to get a breath of fresh air and to be in such good company.

Major appeal Safeway Food Stores ran a highly successful charity month on behalf of the RNLI during April. The chain of over 100 stores throughout the country held a series of collections and fund-raising events to raise money towards a new 47ft Tyne class lifeboat. Methods used to raise the money ranged from a 9,000-mile drive from Southampton to San Francisco, a hot rod taken round the country and parachute jumps. A cheque for £153,819 was handed over by Mr T. E. Spratt, chairman and managing director of Safeway, to Vice- Admiral Sir Peter Compston, a deputy chairman of the RNLI, at Poole on June 6. Money is still coming in.

In thanking Mr Spratt who had expressed his pride that Safeway was able to make this substantial contribution, Admiral Compston said: 'Never in our experience has any organisation been able to raise so much money in such a short time. The sum raised will go towards the building of a lifeboat which will be called Safeway. What more appropriate name could there be?'.