Storm Force Storm Force, the new RNLI membership scheme for everybody under 16, was launched at the London Boat Show on January 2 by Erkan Mustafa who plays Roland Browning and Simone Nylander who plays Janet St Clair of BBC Television's Grange Hill.

Already hundreds of children have joined—or been enrolled by their parents or grandparents. Several clubs have become group members and are planning fund raising projects. So many letters are being received from young members that it has been decided to print prize-winning star and runners-up letters in subsequent Storm Force newsletters.

Richard Baker at Awards Presentation The well-known broadcaster, Richard Baker, OBE RD, will be guest speaker at the Annual Presentation of Awards ceremony which takes place in the Royal Festival Hall at the new time of 2.30 pm on Tuesday May 21, 1985.

The AGM of the RNLI takes place at 11.30 am on the morning of May 21 in the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Hydrographer appointment Rear Admiral R. Morris has succeeded Rear Admiral Sir David Haslam as Hydrographer of the Navy and will serve as an ex-officio member of the RNLI Committee of Management.

Readers from Eire, please note All the prices quoted in THE LIFEBOAT, both in advertisements and editorial, are pound sterling. It is important therefore, due to the difference in value between the British pound and the Irish punt, that all payments should be made in sterling, or its equivalent current value in Irish punts.

Cup of kindness Once again, the generous American, Mr J. P. Young from San Francisco, distributed bottles of White Horse whisky to RNLI lifeboatmen in December.

It is his way of showing admiration for their work and last Christmas it was the turn of lifeboat crews from the Scot-land North Division to benefit. It scarcely needs saying just how well the gift went down in that part of the world.

THE LIFEBOAT editor retires Joan Davies, who has just retired after 11 years with the RNLI, was only the third editor of THE LIFEBOAT during the last sixty years. The other two were Charles Vince and Patrick Howarth, who points out that before Charles Vince's appointment as publicity secretary in 1931, THE LIFEBOAT was really Joan Davies.

only a compilation made by members of staff under the general direction of the Secretary of the Institution.

The high standards set by Joan have been acknowledged by many readers, and also by Paul Titterington of Friary Press, the printers of THE LIFEBOAT, who wrote, on her retirement: 'Joan is one of those very rare people who knew exactly what both the printer and the reader required. Her dedication to the job was paramount, and the presentation of copy was always of the highest order.' Patrick Howarth writes: 'THE LIFEBOAT has always contained material of interest because of the very nature of the service whose doings it reports. But it was only under Joan Davies's editorship that it became a magazine of evident high quality and absorbing general interest.

'She is one of the most modest people it has been my pleasure to know and one with the least concern for material rewards.

I hope it will give her some satisfaction in her retirement to feel, as she has every right to feel, that she was the outstanding editor of a magazine whose history goes back 133 years.' Other retirements The end of 1984 saw the departure of the following long-serving members of staff: George Maton who, after 37 years ofservice, retired as technical services controller; Harold Dowle who retired as chief draughtsman/machinery after 20 years' service; Trevor Evans who spent 17 years with the Institution and retired as overseer/inshore lifeboats at Cowes Base and James Simpson who retired, after ten years' service, as electronics engineer.Free wheelers The lifeboat at Walton is moored afloat off the end of the pier, about three-quarters of a mile from the boathouse.

When the crew are called out, they have to collect their gear and run along the pier with lifejacket straps flying in the wind. The Walton and Frinton ladies' guild, ever inventive, came up with the answer; postman's bicycles. With its wide tyres and large carrier on the front, this special bicycle would be ideal for the kilometre dash.

So the guild wrote to the Post Office asking if they could buy some secondhand bicycles. The reply was: 'We have considered the nature of this request and, bearing in mind the importance of the work carried out by the RNLI, I am pleased to inform you that these items will be given free of charge'. First class service.

Round the World—by lifeboat David Cowper, the first person to have sailed around the world singlehanded both ways via Cape Horn, abandoned sail last year to attempt the first single-handed circumnavigation under power. He chose the former Dungeness Watson class lifeboat, Mabel E. Holland, for his trip and, leaving Plymouth on April 16, 1984, set off for the Azores. The longest single leg of the trip was 4,650 miles from Panama to Tahiti, for which he had to carry 1,000 gallons of fuel. Bad weather was encountered on this leg, but the lifeboat behaved well apart from problems with propeller shaft seals. Mr Cowper reached Australia by August, spent Christmas Day on passage between St Helena and Ascension Island, and finally arrived back in Plymouth to the welcome of cannon fire from the Royal Western Yacht Club on February 2, 1985.Anniversaries The 150th anniversary of the Berwickupon- Tweed station was celebrated by a thanksgiving service on February 3 at Tweedmouth Parish Church, attended by Captain T. A. C. Keay, a member of the Committee of Management. Mayor Andrew Easton was present along with Sheriff of Berwick, The Reverend Arthur Wiltshire; local MP, Alan Beith; representatives from HM Coastguard, HM Customs, the Ambulance Service, Police, neighbouring lifeboat stations and the Royal Order of Buffaloes who funded the present Berwick lifeboat.

The thanksgiving was followed by a service of re-dedication at the boathouse.

The centenary of the Dunmore East station was celebrated on November 24 with a commemorative service at Killea Parish Church, attended by Ronald Delaney, a member of the Committee of Management. A marble plaque was presented by the ladies' guild to the station branch and it was accepted by Coxswain John Walsh.

On Station The following lifeboats have taken up station duty: Padstow, Cornwall: 47ft Tyne class lifeboat ON 1094 (47-003), James Burrough, December 28, 1984.

Southwold, Suffolk: Atlantic 21 rigid inflatable lifeboat B562, The Quiver, January 12, 1985.

Pools, Dorset: 20ft Boston Whaler Outrage A513, January, 21, 1985.

Lochinver, Sutherland: 48ft 6in Solent class lifeboat ON 1007 (48-004), George Urie Scott (previously stationed at Rosslare), February 13, 1985.

Arranmore, Co Donegal: 52ft Barnett class lifeboat ON 924, Archibald and Alexander M. Paterson (previously stationed at Stromness), March 1, 1985..