Despite being so far away, the RNLI's Hong Kong branch works tirelessly to raise funds for the Institution.

The committee members were thrilled, therefore, when HRH The Duke of Kent, the Institution's president, very graciously made time to receive them during a recent visit to Hong Kong. For over half an hour the Duke spoke to Mrs Helga McPhail, Mrs Paddy Wilson, John Wilson and Roger Draper, all founder members of the branch. The Duke of Kent signed two copies of the limited edition print of Penlee lifeboat Mabel Alice, drawn by Roger Draper and advertised in this issue. One of the branch's fund raising events was a midsummer night's pool party, held at HMS Tamar. Music was played by the Regimental Band, 1st Battalion, Cheshire Regiment. Later the Best O'British disco also kept dancers entertained. Drinks for the evening were donated by the Carlsberg Lager company. Fifty raffle prizes encouraged guests to buy tickets, the star prize being dinner for two on board the QE2, generously donated by Cunard. Michael Thomas QC, Attorney General of Hong Kong, showed great patience in drawing all 50 prize-winning tickets. At the end of a very successful party, over £2,500 had been raised.

Mrs Irene Rush ton, a committee member of Tottington guild, made soft toys and other items, raising £390 for branch funds. In addition, with the help of her husband, Mrs Rushton organised a dinner dance which raised £270. At another of the guild's events, an annual garden party at the home of Mr and Mrs Ratcliffe, Bury Soroptomists presented a cheque for £250 to Derek Hallworth, area organiser (North West).

Mr and Mrs Eric Hughes, landlords of the Live and Let Live Inn, Ipswich, and their three children are very lifeboat minded. Their two sons, Tom and Paul, together with daughter Bridget and her fiance, Michael Parker, organised a 24 hour sponsored darts marathon last June. The family were delighted to hand a cheque for £560 to an equally delighted Ipswich branch.

Caistor branch in Lincolnshire were also thrilled to receive a cheque for£700, the proceeds from another darts marathon. The darts team from the White Hart Inn, Caistor, tried to score a million and one as quickly as possible, which they managed to do in 29 hours 30 minutes and 47 seconds. Dave and Mary Clark, landlords of the White Hart, kept the team well supplied with food and coffee.

The twelfth International Bird Man Rally, organised by Bognor Regis Lions Club, raised £2,000 for the RNLI last August. 65,000 people watched the contestants, serious and comic, attempting to fly further than 50 metres from the pier to win the £10,000 prize.

The event was sponsored by Butlins who had taken out special insurance to cover themselves in case, for the first time, somebody did fly the distance.

That somebody turned out to be West Germany's Harold Zimmer who flew 57.8 metres.

Branches in the south east district were very active in the summer of last year and as a result, a few fund raising records have been beaten: Hythe branch was one of the busiest, organising coffee mornings, flag week, a ball at Lympne Castle, a race night, valuation day and a Trafalgar Day breakfast, all of which helped to raise a tremendous £9,300 for RNLI funds.

Broadstairs ladies' guild has been busy too. For nearly four months it ran a lifeboat shop which made £3,146 and other fund raising activities brought in a further £1,100. Broadstairs branch raised £2,714 and a new Shoreline club is flourishing with nearly 100 members.

The end of Chatham Dock Yard also looked to be the end of Chatham branch, but it has been recently recontinued on page 137formed and in its first house to house collection raised £1,016, more than trebling its previous best total in 49 years of existence.

Southborough branch added extra impetus to its flag week in 1984, raising over £1,159, a fifty per cent increase on the previous highest sum. Although only formed in 1982 Faversham branch is showing that it too knows how to raise money; £2,473 was the result of a very successful flag week, a Martell evening and a barbecue at Hollowshore.

In 1981 a new committee was formed in charge of fund raising for Sittingbourne and District branch. Since that time the branch's very enthusiastic members have amassed over £13,500.

In September Holsworthy branch held a wine and cheese evening. Entertainment was provided, free of charge, by a country and western duo, The Sundowners. Local BBC Radio Devon personality Douglas Mounce was compere for the evening. The event raised £446 and was much enjoyed by all who attended.

When asked to supply a complete set of Admiralty charts for a London shipbroker, staff at Shell were able to oblige with the charts of the recently scrapped tanker Acavus. Having declined payment and suggested instead the gentleman might like to donate money to the RNLI, Shell was very pleased to pass on £500 to the Institution.

To add to the Royal Fleet Auxiliary's fund to buy a lifeboat to commemorate RFA Sir Galahad, lost during the Falkland's campaign, the ship's company from RFA Olna donated £2,290 when the ship returned from four and a half months in the South Atlantic. The cheque was handed over by BBC Spotlight presenter Sue King to Captain Gordon Butterworth, president of the fund. Ian Keith, an executive officer in the Ministry of Defence, raised £1,101.42 in sponsorship money when he ran the London marathon in May last year. This money has also been donated to the Sir Galahad appeal.

In 1967 ex-lifeboat motor mechanic James Mitchell opened a museum in Portpatrick to sell souvenirs and maintain his links with the RNLI. In its first year the museum raised £700. In 1972 James Mitchell's daughter, Mrs Patsy Milligan, took over the running of the museum after his death. Since 1967 the museum has made about £50,000 profit and lifeboat week, first held in 1974, has made £10,000. Kings Lynn branch was also founded in 1967 and since that time the branch has raised over £23,000. One of the founding members, Mrs Eleanor Smith, is now in her eighties and is still a keen supporter of the RNLI.

Totton and District branch had a souvenir stand at the three day Netley Marsh steam engine rally. The canvas overhead cover, normally used to keep branch members dry, last year prevented them all from getting sunstroke.

At the end of the rally over £748 had been raised. The branch's 1984 house to house collection and flag day showed a 60 per cent increase on the 1983 total with £1,600 being collected.

At the 1984 Southampton boat show held in September, Vice-Admiral Sir Peter Compston, a deputy chairman of the RNLI, received a cheque for £7,000 from Tim Powell, chairman of the round Britain powerboat race organising committee. During the race, run in July, powerboat crews decided to use the event to raise money for the Institution and well over 1,000 individuals and companies responded to the appeal and sponsored boats. The crew of the Henderson for Doors powerboat raised theorganised its flag day throughout the Tenby and Saundersfoot areas and collected a tremendous £4,825; one of its collectors, Jack Thomas, chairman of Tenby management committee, travelled on the first boat to Caldy Island every day for the whole of lifeboat week and collected money from visitors to the Island. Tiring though the daily journey was, Mr Thomas was well rewarded with £747.31 in his collecting boxes. Islay's lifeboat week coincided with the station's 50th anniversary celebrations and included many special events, such as a Scottish country dance, fashion show, a concert, gala day and an anniversary ball. At the end of the week's celebrations, nearly £3,000 had been raised.

The Blue Bell Inn at Smallwood, Cheshire, is well inland but still manages to give great support to the Institution.

Over the last five years the inn has collected £500 which has been forwarded to Alsager guild, members of which recently visited the Blue Bell to give further encouragement to its landlords, Mr and Mrs Robert Slack.

A locally organised Songs of Praise is fast becoming an annual event at Charlestown Harbour, St Austell, with many people, locals and visitors alike, taking part with great enjoyment. It was the idea of St Austell branch committee member, Ron Kirkham, who, although not one himself, knew a Cornishman's love for singing. A collection made during last year's event amounted to £300 for the Institution.

To thank house to house collectors and other helpers of Hoylake ladies' guild, Mrs Mary Neal, president, invited them all to her house for a coffee morning on June 11, 1984. Rear Admiral W. J. Graham, director, was guest speaker, keeping the 80 ladies present well entertained with stories from his Naval past. During the last year Hoylake guild raised £4,728, of which £2,934 came from house to house collections.

During the Stamps and Hobbies Exhibition held at HM Prison Dartmoor over August Bank Holiday weekend last summer, a cheque for £1,500 was presented by the deputy governor, Tony Murphy, to Dave Garrett, the honorary secretary of Appledore station branch; it was the second such generous gift to be made to Appledore in the year by the staff and inmates of Dartmoor Prison who are combining in a voluntary scheme to sort stamps and make them up into packets to be sold to help the RNLI. All used British or foreign stamps which can be sent will be 'grist to the mill' for this imaginative scheme; they should be addressed to Senior Officer Les Blake, HM Prison Dartmoor, Princetown, Yelverton, Devon PL20.

During the summer TV Times, in conjunction with Central Television, ran the competition: TV Times Star Family Challenge. Young members from 20 show business families competed against each other in a series of sporting disciplines; swimming, car driving, uni-cycle riding and racing the clock over a commando-type assault course. Points gained were turned into pounds for the charity of the family's choice. Fourteen-year-old John Wilson, son of former world darts champion, Jocky Wilson, competed on behalf of the RNLI and made £180.

Olympic class rowing was recently organised by Carlo and Adrian Genziani, landlords of The Mariners public house, Frensham. All was not quite what it seemed, however, because the rowing was on a video cassette; the event was the British gold medal winning performance in the coxed four race. Altogether 25 Olympic oarsmen and women attended the lunchtime showing which raised £150 for Farnham branch. Adrian Genziani himself competed in Los Angeles in the coxed pair rowing event. Farnham branch also benefited from another nautical race, this time the round Britain powerboatrace. Paul Rutherford, navigator on the Puffa Duvet Clothing entry, was sponsored throughout the race. More than 370 people sponsored Paul; it was a mammoth task contacting them all but the hard work was well rewarded when £750 was collected.

By calling on all local branches and guilds, Birmingham branch was able to have six collectors on duty at the city shopping centre every day for a week from Sam to 6pm. The branch was able to put on the display by kind permission of the centre's owners, Norwich Union, and featured an Atlantic 21 and D class lifeboat. At the end of the week a magnificent total of £2,661 had been collected.

Pupils from Abbots Farm Middle School, Rugby, took part in a competition to design a charity collecting box.

The boys and girls made a marvellous RNLI collecting box, complete with lifeboathouse, slipway and a lifeboat which is launched as the money drops in to the box. The school's entry was among the top prize winners and received £20 in prize money.

One of the many windsurfing schools and clubs which gave tremendous support to Tim Batstone during his sponsored windsurf around Britain in aid of the RNLI, was B. I. S. Mercers ParkWindsurfing Club in Redhill, Surrey.

The club raised over £1,400 which earned them top prize in a national competition between clubs. At a special presentation evening, held at Lancelyn Country Club in September, Tim Batstone handed over the club's prize, a giant bottle of Charles Heidsieck champagne.

The club's chairman, Ian Russell, was one of the top five individual fund raisers in the country and won himself a sailboard.

For three successive years Sarah, (aged 15) and Julia Mellors (12) have organised a fete in aid of the RNLI at Trimley St Martin near Felixstowe. This year's fete raised £392 and in total all three have raised £937.90.

Although they are fairly small events, the beetle drives organised by Mrs Joyce Pither, a Croydon branch member, and her husband, are proving to be very popular and successful fund raising events. Six such drives have been organised so far, bringing in a total of £421, and more are planned for the future.

Mrs Mildred Gugula, honorary secretary of Wood Green branch, organised a small Michaelmas supper party at herhome in September last year. Twentyfive people attended the party and £62.85 profit was made.

To ensure good takings and good relations with its collecting box holders, Yateley branch has thought of two ideas. A competition is run between public houses with collecting boxes to see who can raise the most, and at Christmas time, each box holder is sent a Christmas card thanking them for their support.

The Institution was £935.25 better off after a cheque for that amount was presented to Rear Admiral W. J. Graham, director, outside Clovelly lifeboat station. Daniel Campbell-Garnett, who presented the cheque, along with 29 others canoed for sponsorship from Hartland to Lundy and then on to Clovelly. They camped overnight on Lundy and paddled the 16 miles back to Clovelly the following day.

A series of lectures on small boat radar may not immediately spring to mind as a fund raising event, but such a series, organised by the RYA and Mars Marine Systems, raised £629.63, the money coming from the sale of tickets for the lectures.

At the National Inland Waterways Rally, held over a weekend in August 1984, Coventry ladies' guild was generously given a free stand by the organisers.

Over 700 boats attended the rally; there were long boats and narrow boats and barge owners in 1890 period costumes.

More than 10,000 visitors were attracted each day. Through the sale of lottery tickets, souvenirs and white elephant items, the guild raised £920 over the three days of the rally.

Small though the seaside town of Huns tan ton may be, its fund raising results belie the town's size. A coffee morning held in June last year at the home of guild chairman Mrs R. D.

Clark raised over £500 in just an hour and a half. The flag day raised £839.72 with a further £717.79 coming from souvenirs. In all, the guild raised about £12,000 in the last financial year.

A garden party, held annually at the same house for nearly 20 years, which has even survived a change of ownership of the house, was organised by Croston branch. The property is now owned by the parents of Bill Beaumont, former captain of England and British Lions rugby teams, and Bill Beaumont himself was present this year.

By selling nearly new clothes from her stall in the courtyard of the Angel Inn, Bungay, Dinky Payne was able to raise £1,000 for the Cromer lifeboat appeal. The money was made in just three and a half weeks and the result is all the more remarkable because Dinky was also able to give £1,000 cheques to the Disabled Association and the League of Friends. Bungay branch itself, by a special effort, raised £500 for the Cromer appeal and both cheques were received, with obvious gratitude, by Jim Smith, Cromer's station honorary secretary.

As a special way of saying thank you to the collectors who helped raise £1,866 during Hull's flag day, a trip to Humber lifeboat station was organised.

Two of the visitors to the station were Mrs Fullerton and her grand-daughter Lisa Jewell who collected over £104 on lifeboat day.

Bob Crosse, a regular visitor to the Cross Inn, Tisbury, had half his beard shaved off and had to live with only the other half for a week. At the end of seven days he was able to announce he had raised £32 for the RNLI through sponsorship.

Mrs Edie Barker, a bicycling grandmother from Burnham, and her cycling companion, 19-year-old Julie Ponder, raised £350 on a sponsored ride round the Dengie Hundred. The journey took the two women from Burnham to Bradwell, then on to Maldon, where the sponsor forms were signed at the police station, before returning to Burnham.

The money was divided equally between Burnham Day Centre and the local RNLI branch.

A sponsored water ski marathon over 26.5 miles was held in near perfect conditions in Aberdovey river estuary on July 7, 1984. Each of a number of teams was sponsored and when all the money was collected in, just over £2,000 had been raised. A cheque was presented to Searson Thompson, president of Aberdovey guild, by Mike Brannigan, promotor of the event.

As part of Redcar carnival week last August, the Zetland museum, the main exhibit of which is the Zetland, the oldest surviving lifeboat, held an open day with guided tours for visitors and tea facilities. It turned out to be a very busy day with 540 people visiting the museum and £150 being raised.

A rejuvenated Teignmouth branch, increased its flag week total from £183 in 1983 to £905 in 1984. A wide variety of functions helped the branch to send £6,000 to RNLI headquarters during its last financial year.

Heworth ladies' guild held a cheese and wine and meat demonstration evening at St William's College, York, in September 1984 and raised over £440.

The evening included a demonstration of cutting and cooking meat by Richard Hudson, whose family business in Heworth village celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1984. J. W. Hudson, Butchers, also donated a whole lamb to the Yorkshire Evening Press to raise funds for the local newspaper week lifeboat appeal..