• THERE HAVE BEEN many lifeboat histories produced by Jeff Morris in recent years, all of which have been meticulously researched and illustrated.

The Story of the Hoylake and West Kirby Lifeboats is no exception. He traces the early years of the two stations, very early years indeed in Hoylake's case as the first private lifeboat was placed there in 1803.

Many noteworthy services and events up to the present day are recorded; one of the more unusual services being to the converted ship's lifeboat Oo-la-la of Egremont which was drifting towards East Hoyle Bank on October 17, 1937.

To attract attention to themselves the eight men on board made a distress signal by burning a pair of trousers. The signal was spotted by coastguards, Hoylake lifeboat, Oldham, was launched, the men were taken on board and Oo-la-la was towed to safety.

Not all the services carried out by the two stations have been so eccentric and their record of two silver and five bronze medals is testament to considerable achievement. Copies of the book can be obtained from Mr R. Jones, 6 Eaton Road, West Kirby, Wirral, Merseyside, price £1.25 including postage and packing.—S.J.G.

• Rogue Waves, compiled by Nicole Swengley (Adlard Coles, £5.95), is a collection of entertaining nautical stories contributed by well known personalities and with lively illustrations by "Zeus". Non sailors and old tars alike will enjoy this compilation made up from contributions by those who can, those who thought they could and those who definitely couldn't and still can't cope with boats.

Without this book you will never know the finer details of why Erin Pizzey had to be used as ballast in Chichester harbour or how the Duke of Northumberland helped to drain the Crinan Canal with a bowsprit. A third of the royalties on the book have been kindly donated to the RNLI.—G.P.

• Two hundred years of the bustle and turmoil of Hastings Old Town life is contained in Fishermen of Hastings— 200 years of the Hastings Fishing Community by Steve Peak (News Books, £5.95). The book brings vividly alive the warmth, vitality, tragedy, drama and courage in a community that traces its roots back to the Middle Ages. This glossy, soft-backed book is packed with black and white photographs, some of which have never been seen before. It includes a 20 page chapter about Hastings lifeboats, from their uncertain beginnings, and internal and external disputes, to the modern day.

Every service up to 1945 is described together with details of each lifeboat and coxswain; from the unfortunate Charles Picknell who, in 1859, was chased round the fishmarket by a hostile crowd, through the bravery of "Biddy" Stonham in 1904 and Ned Muggridge and Bill Hilder in 1943, to the rescues of Joe Martin, the current coxswain. Personal accounts by crew members and superb photographs make the story of Hastings lifeboats fascinating reading.

Three intriguing appendices complete this excellent book. A list of the fishing families and their nicknames, the Hastings boats since 1925 and a glossary of local words and expressions and their "translations". A bibliography and reference list are the final contribution to a tapestry of interest reflecting the changing times, not only of Hastings, but of many similar coastal towns around the country.—G.P.

• How to organise a fund raising event! Many of our fund raisers are experts in that field, but even experts need a helping hand once in a while with fresh ideas for events. Newly formed branches, perhaps a little unsure of the best way to plan a bazaar, beetle drive or carol singing session, will also find Group Fund Raising, A Handbook for Local Organisers by David Saint (Printforce, £3.95) very useful.

This book gets down to basics; what you want to achieve from your event, how to plan it, how to budget expenditure, arrange publicity for the event and handle legal problems which might crop up. As well as the basics there are over 100 ways of raising money listed to suit the largest and smallest of branches and guilds. Group Fund Raising can be obtained from Printforce, 6 Angle Hill Drive, Sutton, Surrey, SMI 3BX.— S.J.G.

• 'There is nothing in this book that you cannot read while a coat of varnish dries off, or the shape of a buoy becomes a bit clearer in the haze . . . " So Paul Heiney and Libby Purves introduce their co-written, The Sailing Weekend Book (Nautical Books, £12.50), an intriguing pot pourri of topics, the kind a sailor will contemplate during his less stressful moments.

As the authors say, it is a book which 'may never save your life' but which they hope 'will enhance it'.

The only common factor to the book's chapters is the sea; otherwise they show extraordinary diversity, each one being a self-contained nugget of enlightenment. Subjects range from the Michael Caine not-many-people-knowthat type of information about nautical superstition (lumps of coal from the high-tide line are a good thing to carry on board) and the truth or otherwise in old wives' dicta, (when the sea hog jumps, stand by your pumps), to the comparative practicalities of how to tell your razorbills from your guillemots.

Then there are the more narrative chapters; a cruise to western Ireland aboard Barnacle Goose in the writers' company in which many yachtsmen will be able to share the agony and ecstasy that goes with every such trip. And some delightful portraits are painted of 'ships that pass', like a Trinity House vessel, a coaster and a tugboat, all vessels about which many itinerant yachtsmen may have idly tried to imagine life on board.

The reviewer must confess to yearning sometimes to know who wrote which bit; married the Heiney/Purves unit may be, but when two authors are, through broadcasting, individually so familiar with their reader, it is frustrating not to know whether you should be picturing Paul or Libby standing on the heaving bridge of a dirty British coaster.

That should probably not matter and instead it might be better simply to enjoy the book for what it is; an appetising buffet of seafood for thought from which you can take as much or as little as you like—and always come back for more because it is not going to go off for quite a long time.—E.W-W.

• Lighthouses are fascinating places, their very existence on tiny outcrops of rock is a tribute to man's construction skills. View from the Sea by Richard Woodman, illustrated with paintings by David Smith, (Century Publishing, £12.95) is a marvellous journey around the coast of Great Britain, giving two unique views of Britain's lighthouses and light vessels. Richard Woodman has worked for Trinity House since 1967 and writes about the coastline from a seaman's point of view, with observations on the sea and weather.

David Smith gives the artist's view with magnificent illustrations, often executed in seemingly impossible conditions.

In the introduction to the book Richard Woodman describes the night of January 13, 1984 when there was a west-south-westerly force 8 to 9 gale, with long gusts of 50 to 55 knots; "all this was in the 'shelter' of an anchorage but it was grist to David's mill and I distracted my anxiety by watching him draw the effect of a 50 knot wind on these so-called 'sheltered' waters." View from the Sea is a superb book which would make an ideal present for anyone interested in lighthouses in particular or the sea in general.—S.J.G.

• Recently published: Handbook for Radio Operators (Lloyd's of London Press Ltd, £9.95) and Emergency Navigation (Ashford Press, £16.95)..