Duke of Kent to present awards The Institution's President, His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, will address the meeting of the annual presentation of awards ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall in May. He will also present bravery medals to lifeboatmen and awards to voluntary workers at the meeting which takes place at 3.00 pm on Tuesday May 13, 1986. The annual general meeting of governors will be held at 11.30 am on the same day in the nearby Queen Elizabeth Hall on the South Bank: Captain J. B. Leworthy VRDRNR Captain John Le worthy, a member of the Committee of Management who recently took over as chairman of the fund raising committee, died after a severe illness on Friday January 3,1986.

His obituary appears on page 308.

New Chief Coastguard Captain Peter Harris has been appointed Chief Coastguard following the retirement of Lieut Cdr Tim Fetherstone Dilke who has held the position since 1978. Captain Harris was regional controller at Falmouth MRCC before taking up his new appointment.

A day at the races The RNLI is to benefit from the Charity Race Day at Newbury on Friday May 16. Special rates are available for advance bookings, which must be made on a form available from the Appeals Office, RNLI, Poole.

American Scotch American millionaire J. P. Young has once again made a generous donation of Scotch whisky to lifeboat crews. Mr Young has made such a gift for several years and this year crews in the north west of England, Anglesey, the Isle of Man and the eastern counties will receive whisky.

Long-serving staff retire Staff Coxswain Tom Beattie, known and respected by lifeboat crews throughout the RNLI, retired at the end of 1985. He served on the Arbroath lifeboat for many years, two of them as coxswain, and then as staff coxswain for20 years. This position, of which there are five in the RNLI, took him to many lifeboat stations, either with lifeboats on passage, or to stand in when men were on holiday or ill. Lifeboatmen from all corners of the RNLI—County Wicklow, Devon, Anglesey, Lancashire, Tyne and Wear and all over Scotland—attended Tom's farewell party in Arbroath.

The Institution also said farewell to other long-serving staff members at the end of 1985. Norman Stripp, rescuerecords supervisor, retired after 38 years, Brian Davies, supervisor shoreworks, after 37 years and William Ross, machinery examiner, Scotland (North), after 29 years with the RNLI.

Others to retire at the end of 1985 were Sydney Gillingham, deputy regional organiser, south east, 12 years, Jean Richards, solutionist, Cowes base, 12 years, Joy Alford, accounts clerk, 11 years and Albert Stanness, hull overseer, 11 years.NEWS POINT MONEY MATTERS Nineteen eighty-five was a record year for the RNLI. Although final figures are still being calculated, it is already known that last year was the busiest ever with around 3,800 launches on service.

It was also a record breaking year for fund raising with the great efforts of branches and guilds being complemented by several large gifts and legacies. Looking to 1986, the target expenditure is over £23 million. This is roughly a 10 per cent increase on 1985 expenditure. Some of the Institution's costs run ahead of inflation.

There is also a heavy lifeboat building programme, with 14 lifeboats over 10 metres and even more under 10 metres on the building list at present, with a forecast of over fifty new boats in the next five years. It is also necessary to add money to the reserves to maintain their value in real terms; and this is no waste of funds raised, as the income from investments now meets the administration costs of the Institution.

Lifeboats are expensive. The equipment they carry is expensive.

The survey and maintenance programme is expensive. But the RNLI is determined, as well as getting value for money, to provide the best for lifeboat crews so that they can put to sea with confidence. £23 million is a very large figure which will be translated by the Institution's 200 lifeboat stations into an equally impressive figure of lives saved from certain death at sea..