How many branches have had a whole island put at their disposal for a picnic supper? Broadstone branch had such an honour when Mr and Mrs H. J.

Palmer kindly allowed them to use Round Island in Poole Harbour in July.

A beautiful setting and excellent food ensured that the evening was a success.

The supper, together with a coffee morning held at the home of Mrs Jane Bell and a very successful house to house collection, raised nearly £1,500 for the branch in the month of July.

On Saturday June 30, £395 was presented by Skidby and Little Weighton branch to Brian Stevenson, regional organiser NE. Of this amount, Skidby Millers AFC raised £255 with raffles and an Army assault course at the village gala; Peter Leveridge raised £86 in sponsorship for attacking the course and Mark Sadler, a young member of the branch, raised another £30. A visiting football team from Owston Ferry, South Yorkshire, who opposed Skidby Millers in a charity football match, added another £110 to the final total; 90 salad teas prepared by six members of the branch awaited footballers and spectators alike at The Black Horse Inn, Little Weighton, after the match.

Dr Margaret Hyde, who has a practice in Ontario, Canada, set up a small self service coffee and biscuit bar in her waiting room. In the first four months of operation, donations for coffee consumed amounted to $30 (about £17) which Dr Hyde sent to RNLI HQ at Poole.

Following a film show and a talk on the RNLI given by Mrs Zoe Verney of Winslow branch in January 1984, pupils of Bishop Wood Junior School in Tring spent £88.38 on souvenirs and since then have been enthusiastically raising money to buy protective clothing for lifeboatmen. In the last eight months £597.55 has been raised in the following ways: a Lenten bazaar organised and run by the children, sponsored walks, cycle rides, football shooting and a sponsored swim by six girls which raised £77. Coffee mornings have been run and half pennies collected.

To lose 1 ton 15 cwt was the goal of the 362 people taking part in Christchurch branch's sponsored slim. For 28 days in January and February 1984 they tried their hardest to lose weight and gain money for the RNLI. Mr M. Butler of Burton, Dorset, lost the most, 34 pounds altogether, and won a bargain break weekend for two as a result. The efforts of everyone who took part were well rewarded as £7,200 was raised for the RNLI in sponsorship.

During a recent exhibition of paintings by the former singer Elaine Longmore at the Civic Centre, Walsall, an oil painting of a cottage and garden was raffled in aid of the lifeboat service. The £203.77 made from ticket sales brought the income for Handsworth Wood ladies' guild for the first half of 1984 to £2,163.

Driffield ladies' guild's twice yearly secondhand sales are proving to be more and more popular. This year's spring sale raised £479.

During the 1984 Three Peaks Race which began on June 23, Mercantile Credit organised a raffle in aid of the RNLI and the RYA Seamanship Foundation; the total amount raised, £3,000, was divided equally between the two organisations. Mercantile Credit had provided the boat Mercantile Flyer, entered in the race by the 13th Romford Venture Scouts, and Ron Rumney, deputy manager of Mercantile Credit Marketing Department, who was one of the crew, made the draw at RNLI HQ, Poole, on July 9. The prizes were a week's flotilla sailing for two donated by Phoenix Travel, a longweekend in Rome for two donated by British Airways and a sailboard donated by Alfa Romeo GB.

Darts marathons and leagues are pointing the way to successful fund raising. For 12 years the Dymchurch ladies' darts league has raised money for the RNLI, the £1,500 raised in 1984 continued on page 101bringing the grand total to nearly £20,000; that represents a lot of dart throwing and tremendous support and enthusiasm on the part of the ladies in the league. The New Inn, Marfleet, in North Humberside, was the venue for a darts marathon which raised £185. The pub also has a mechanical collecting box which, when emptied was found to hold £50. Since March 1983 patrons of the New Inn have collected £334 for the RNLI and also donated £70 to Withernsea lifeboat station, the proceeds of a lifeboat push.

Pangbourne branch collected together 41 lots to be auctioned at Christies, South Kensington, in aid of the RNLI; there were watercolours, etchings and prints, mainly on maritime themes. Such famous artists as Sir Peter Scott and Sir Hugh Casson had contributed their work and so had such well known lifeboat people as Coxswain Matthew Lethbridge of St Mary's, Isles of Scilly. It took many months to prepare for this event and a fine £2,193 was raised.

A luncheon organised by Morley ladies' guild during the summer raised a splendid £445.

Since September last year Dorking branch has been very active; its house to house collection showed a 14 per cent increase on the previous year, raising £2,720; a fashion show raised £1,100; coffee mornings, film evenings, and raffles raised over £500 and the local Sondes Place Comprehensive School raised another £250 with a sponsored walk.

Rear Admiral W. J. Graham, director of the RNLI, was the guest of honour at a boxing evening at Gosforth Park Hotel, Tynemouth, in April this year. This annual event, organised by Tynemouth financial branch, raised £4,500. The evening also included dinner, a raffle and an auction.

Despite the fact that they are unable to play away fixtures Minehead lifeboat crew members regularly turn out a cricket eleven for a series of friendly matches. In June they challenged another group who cannot go far afield: the local doctors. Two crew members who are also general practitioners, Dr Philip Leech and Dr Bryan Stoner, deserted to the medical team, whose members also included Dr Leech's wife, Dr Nina Leech; even so, the medics only managed to knock up 118 runs in their allotted 20 overs in reply to a match-winning 149 from the lifeboatmen.

Duphar Laboratories sponsored each run scored and every wicket taken, rounding up its cheque to £100.

Following their splendid efforts in a sponsored walk organised by Kensington branch which raised £2,000, eleven children were taken for a day to Littlehampton lifeboat station by members ofthe branch as a thank you for their help and support. Some of the children had never seen a lifeboat before and all of them had a very happy day.

Strawberry teas are popular fund raising events during the summer and the efforts of several guilds have certainly borne fruit: Mrs Joyce Taylor of Calverton ladies' guild held a strawberry and champagne morning in her garden at Woodborough which raised £555. Petts Wood branch, Kent, held a strawberry fayre which raised £357 in three hours; committee members and friends picked the strawberries and provided the scones, cakes and soft drinks. Five members of Mudeford ladies' guild who have been friends since their school days and who have worked together for the RNLI for some years, organised a strawberry tea which, together with souvenir sales, bring and continued on page 103Special fund raising evenings like Teddy Boy Night, Village Idiot Night and Aussie Night have put the Jolly Sailor pub in Poole on course for raising the money to pay for a new inflatable lifeboat. So far they have collected about £3,700 and besides the special evenings, goings on like a pancake eating contest, raffling a painting by Joel Kirk, frequent shoe shines, and a domino league have all contributed towards the total.buy, flower stalls and a raffle, raised a phenomenal £5,274. The friends are Mrs B. A. Andrews, Mrs J. Sims, Mrs J. Macdonald, Mrs J. Harrison and Mrs G. Grogan.

To celebrate the RNLI's 160th anniversary a one day exhibition was staged in the gymnasium at HM Prison Grendon, near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.

It was organised by Michael Storm, the prison's hospital principal officer who is also vice-chairman of Bicester and District branch, and inmates of the prison had assembled 480 lifeboat photographs, some of them historic, to make up a most impressive display. John Gilbert, chairman of Luton branch and a member of the Lifeboat Enthusiasts' Society, took to the prison model lifeboats he had made to add to the show. A total of £110 was raised from pledged donations from staff and inmates, many of whom donated 50p to £1 out of their £2 to £3 earnings.

For the third year running the Slade Green Community Association at Erith, Kent, has organised a charity dance in aid of the RNLI. This year's dance, held in May, raised £250 bringing the total amount raised to £1,000.

Coventry branch recently received a £1,000 cheque from Dunlop (Coventry) Employees Charity Fund. The money will pay for equipment to be carried on board a lifeboat.

Tower Pier in the City of London is one of the busiest piers on the Thames used by thousands of passengers taking trips on the river. An RNLI pedestal box on display in a prominent position was recently knocked into the water by a high-spirited tourist. The box surfaced and floated long enough to be recovered, drained and once more put in position. When the box was emptied it contained £35. The floating pound, perhaps? A concert by the Mevagissey male voice choir in celebration of the RNLI's 160th anniversary was held on March 4 in Salisbury Art Centre. The concert was a great success and raised £305.50 for Salisbury branch.

By way of a change from cheese and wine, Dunfermline ladies' guild last spring organised a sherry and shortbread reception followed by a floral art demonstration given by Mrs Vera Fergusson, a well known figure in the floral art world. The event was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone attending, and, with the sale of tickets and a raffle of the flowers, £245 was raised.

Norman Daniells, a hairdresser from Henley and a committee member of Henley branch, lost a staggering two stones in weight in only two weeks; he collected £540 in sponsorship from customers and friends.

Twenty boys from William Penn School, Dulwich, took part in a rather unusual marathon in July. Starting from the school at 9.30 am and using London Transport travelcards the boys had to visit as many of London's 70 McDonald's restaurants as they could, returning to the school by 3.30 pm. The boys had to collect restaurant managers' signatures as proof of their visits; the further from the school the boys went, the more the signatures were worth.

After a hectic dash around London the boys collected enough signatures to be worth £56.60 which was sent to the RNLI's Lambeth office.

The King George V public house at Brompton, near Gillingham, Kent, was the venue for the raffle of an oil painting depicting an Oakley class lifeboat, painted by local artist Jamie Matthews and commissioned by Ernie Harrell. The raffle raised £60 in one evening. The landlord, Mr Rimvydas Andruskevicius, an ex Merchant Navy man, has now collected over £350 for the RNLI.

An extremely profitable spring draw was organised by Lough borough and District branch. All prizes were donated by local businesses and £1,210 was made as a result of ticket sales. The draw was made at the Waterside Inn, Mount Sorrel.

Snow Wight and the Seven Sailors was the pantomime staged for one evening by Emsworth Slipper Sailing Club.

Thoroughly enjoyed by the audience, it was nevertheless enjoyed even more by the actors. Make do and mend costumes kept costs low and this allowed a profit of £100 to be made for the RNLI.

Troon ladies' guild organised a highly successful cheese and wine evening in April this year. Included in the evening's events was an antiques competition organised by the auctioneers, Phillips.

First prize of a painting of Troon lifeboat entering harbour was won by Mr Soons. This competition, together with a raffle whose prizes were donated by local businesses, brought the total amount raised during the evening to £1,000.

After their success last year with a performance of the can-can, the dancing group Donald and His Ducklings, alias the Aberystwyth lifeboat crew, decided to try their hand, or perhaps feet, at a rendering of the dance of the cygnets from Swan Lake. From reports it was perhaps more like the ducklings dabble on the duck pond, but their efforts were amply rewarded as £145 was raised for the RNLI..