Land's End tragedy—parents' appeal The parents of the four Buckinghamshire schoolboys who were drowned off Land's End in May have made an appeal to the public to help them buy a lifeboat. The parents have asked that the fund should be used in Cornwall as a practical memorial to the boys who lost their lives when they were swept into the sea in May.

The type of lifeboat to be provided and its location cannot be determined until the size of the fund is known. A special account has been opened at the Halifax Building Society, High Street, Slough.

New schools film Lifeboats to the Rescue is the RNLFs new schools film, reviewed on page 241.

The film was made without cost to the RNLI and resulted from the rescue of advertising executive Caroline le Bas by Yarmouth lifeboat, Isle of Wight. Miss le Bas, to show her gratitude to her rescuers, gathered a number of prizes for Yarmouth station's jubilee ball, one being the offer of the services of a film crew to make a video of the winner's boat. The station asked if the RNLI could use the prize and, thanks to the generosity of dozens of people in thefilm industry, many of them keen divers, water skiers and sailors, the project expanded into a 25-minute film.

Lifeboats to the Rescue is being used to help promote the RNLI in schools and a special worksheet about the film has been added to the RNLI Schools Pack.

The Queen Mother's birthday The following message was sent to The Queen Mother on her 85th birthday: 'The Committee of Management, lifeboat crews, supporters and staff of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution send loyal greetings and good wishes to their Patron, Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, on the joyful occasion of her birthday.' The reply received was: 'I am extremely touched by your good wishes on my birthday and send my very sincere thanks to you and all who joined in your message.' ELIZABETH R.

PATRON.Vice-Admiral Sir Peter Compston, KCB (above), a deputy chairman of the RNLI and well respected chairman of the fund-raising committee has recently retired from these positions; he becomes a vice-president of the RNLI. Mr Raymond Cory, CBE, has been appointed a deputy chairman of the Committee of Management in his place, and Captain John Leworthy, VRD, RNR, takes over from Admiral Compston as chairman of the fund raising committee.

Four new members have been elected to the Committee of Management:Dr R. Wilson Adam is the RNLI's senior medical referee and deputy chairman of the Institution's medical and survival committee. He was a general practitioner in Poole from 1946 to 1983. He is chairman of the Poole lifeboat station branch and was awarded the RNLI's gold badge for long and distinguished service in 1980. Mr John Harrison, MBE, FCA, was honorary secretary of Shoreham Harbour lifeboat station from 1956 to 1981 and is now honorary treasurer. Vice- Admiral R. R. Squires served in the Royal Navy for 40 years, mainly in submarines. He retired from the Navy in 1984 and his last two appointments were Flag Officer, Submarines and Flag Officer, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Mrs Richard Saunders joined the RNLI's Central London Committee in 1970, was vice chairman from 1974 to 1977 and chairman from 1978 to 1981. She is a member of the fund raising committee.

Banks staff raise £30,000 The Banks Staff Lifeboat Appeal, which started in November 1983, has raised £30,162 for the RNLI. In the autumn of 1983 a group of employees from various banks in Southampton met to devise a scheme to establish a Banks Staff lifeboat fund. Their appeal was made to each of their 350,000 bank colleagues to make a small donation to the fund with the aim of buying a new lifeboat for the RNLI. It is hoped that 1985/86 will see a further increase as more staff join in to establish the fund as a regular supporter of the RNLI.

From rock and tempest . . .

. . . fire and foe, as the hymn For Those in Peril says, protect us. Lifeboatmen at Blackpool helped to extinguish a fire on the north pier on June 1 when a crew member, who is also a fireman, had a fire hose lowered to him in the inflatable lifeboat. He was able to direct a jet of water to the underside of the pier decking, helping to contain the fire which would otherwise have spread dangerously. Just up the coast at Barrow, on June 29, the inflatable lifeboat was put on standby after a local radio ham had alerted Coxwain Robert Charnley to a garbled message from a child alone on a yacht who seemed to have burned herself. Lifeboatmen passed first aid advice to the child whose parents later wrote: 'I cannot thank you all enough. My daughter was fine later and slept better than any of us and it was due to the prompt action of your crew member who told her to bathe her eyes in cold water'. The parents also enclosed a donation.

Maud Smith and Ralph Glister Awards The Maud Smith Award for the most outstanding act of lifesaving by a lifeboatman during 1984 has been made to Thomas Cocking, coxswain of St Ives lifeboat, for the rescue, on January 3, of 14 men from a tug and a coaster. The Ralph Glister Award for the mostmeritorious service carried out in 1984 by the crew of a lifeboat under 10 metres in length goes to the crew of the Fleetwood D class inflatable lifeboat for the rescue, on March 23, of a man and his sailboard.NEWS POINT VERY HIGH WINDS—VERY HIGH FREQUENCY Last August was not only very wet, it was also very windy as Atlantic depression after Atlantic depression rolled in across the country. The weekend of August 9, 10 and 11 alone saw the launch of lifeboats from no fewer than 62 different lifeboat stations all around the British Isles, many of these lifeboats having to launch several times during the weekend. August is always a busy time for lifeboatmen, but particularly during such a summer, it is to yachtsmen that they have often to turn much of their attention.

However competent the crew, however well found their vessel, accidents (as those aboard Drum England in the Fastnet race will tell you) do happen. How many sailors found themselves, this summer, out in conditions just a little more violent than they had predicted? How many of those reassured themselves with the thought of a nearby lifeboat station, ready to answer their call if things went wrong? Most would have taken sensible precautions against an emergency but perhaps not all are aware of the value of a VHP radio on board. Many of the larger lifeboats are now fitted with VHP direction finders which enable them accurately to locate a vessel in distress transmitting on this frequency; this cuts out fruitless and sometimes fatal hours of searching. Carrying a VHP radio is a good way of helping lifeboatmen to help you.

There must also be, incidentally, a number of yachtsmen in times of stress who, in taking comfort in the knowledge that a lifeboat is at hand, also feel a twinge of guilt that they keep forgetting to sign up for Shoreline. In 1983 it was estimated by the Ship and Boat Builders' National Federation that there were some 780,000 pleasure boats and yachts in this country; there are 116,000 Shoreline members to date.

Shouldn't there be more?ANNUAL MEETINGS 1986 South Bank, London, Tuesday May 13 Annual General Meeting of Governors: 11.30 am in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Royal Festival Hall.

Annual Presentation of Awards: the afternoon meeting will be in the main auditorium, Royal Festival Hall.

Further details will be circulated with the winter edition of THE LIFEBOAT..