Tall orders Although somewhat dwarfed by the largest "tall ship" in the world, the 386ft Russian Sedov, volunteers manning the stand from branches and guilds in the Tyne area were thrilled to sell over £2,000 worth of souvenirs during the week when 83 vessels, representing 12 nations, gathered before departure from Newcastle-upon-Tyne on the 347 mile race sponsored by Cutty Sark Whisky and organised by the Sail Training Association. A carnival atmosphere prevailed for the week and despite long, tiring days the volunteers on the stand thoroughly enjoyed themselves. A further £4,000 came in from events organised in connection with the race and at the end of the week, during which friendships were formed with the young crew of Sedov, there were few dry eyes when the ships set sail.

Gardens of delight Farnham branch were delighted to have the beautiful garden centre at Forest Lodge owned by Mr and Mrs Denys Head as the setting for their summer supper. The two hundred guests listened to the Basingstoke Silver Band and watched the Farnham Scottish Dances Society perform on the immaculate lawn. Souvenirs and raffle tickets were sold and a splendid £1,000 blossomed forth for branch funds.

Hayling Island branch received tremendous support from Hayling Horticultural Society, which celebrated its centenary in 1986. One of the special events to mark the occasion was the opening of 50 local gardens to the public at weekends throughout the summer.

No entrance fee was charged but an RNLI collecting box was placed in each garden. The owners also sold plants, teas and produce, all of which raised the impressive amount of £2,676. Sadly, one long standing annual event in the branch calendar, Kitty's coffee morning, held at the home of Mrs Kitty Gould, was recently staged for the last time. Mrs Gould, who has organised the event for 16 years, was presented with a painting by Commander Rex Phillips.

The 1986 coffee morning which made £450 helped to bring the branch's annual total to £12,000.

Beautiful sunshine and an immaculate garden proved to be a winning combination for Percy and Elizabeth Blunden of Lindfield. In July 1986 they opened up their West Sussex garden in aid of the Institution and at the end of the day were able to send £591.85 to the RNLI. Over 600 people wandered around the garden enjoying the colourful flower displays, enviously eyeing the perfect lawn, gazing wonderously at the prize-winning vegetables, and enjoying home-made teas.

Mr Blunden works extremely hard to ensure a near-perfect effect for his special 'lifeboat' days and does not sit back in the winter but gives talks on gardening, donating any fees to the RNLI.

On a beautiful August day, a fete was held in the grounds of Bossell House Hotel by Buckfastleigh branch. The town's mayor, Councillor R. Couch, and the deputy mayor, Mrs P. Henley, were present. The stalls included guess the weight of the chairman, face painting and St John Ambulance first aid make up. Visitors to the fete were entertained by the Buckfastleigh Blue Sapphire Majorettes. At the end of a highly successful day £240 was raised.

Carnival atmosphere When Police Community Officer Craig Dewar began to organise a carnival day in North Berwick he knew that it should be aimed at a cause that would receive the town's wholehearted support, so he chose the RNLI. Army and Air Force displays made up part of the day's programme as did a show of wrestling by Hercules the bear. The town's station branch and ladies' guild were very much involved, of course, particularly with branch honorary secretary Ronald Coates-Walker responsible for the very complicated task of coordinating events, and his wife Louise, guild president, and her merry band of helpers, selling vast quantities of souvenirs and also organising a fashion show which raised £1,500. A raffle brought in a further £1,800 and the total for the day was a remarkable £10,500 with money still trickling in.

A 16ft D class inflatable lifeboat was Bransgore and District guild's distinctive float in their local village carnival.

The guild has had a successful year with events such as Easter egg races, garden mornings, wine and cheese evenings and jumble sales helping to make up the £2,000 raised.

Glorious food Locally caught sewin (sea trout), salads, new potatoes and delicious desserts were on the menu at the annual luncheon organised by Carmarthen and Ferryside ladies' guild. The luncheon was held at the home of Mr and Mrs Peter Thomas at Carew Cheriton and raised £600.

It took just three hours for Mrs Beti Gilbert of Kensington branch to breakthrough the elusive £1,000 barrier. Mrs Gilbert held a coffee morning and luncheon at her home, serving coronation turkey and rice followed by a very tropical fresh fruit salad to the 55 people present. In all the event raised £1,100.

By the sea Alder cones, red geraniums, purple campanula, blue delphiniums and white blossoms are not things which immediately spring to mind when you are planning to build a lifeboat; but that is what was used by ladies taking part in Stourton-le-Steeple, Nottinghamshire's, "A day by the seaside" event which made £74.21 for the RNLl. Petals from all these flowers were pressed into a framework of wet clay by the team under the command of Mrs Jan Bennett, who is experienced in the art of well dressing. Thousands of petals were used to create a unique picture of a lifeboat. The event was rounded off by a thanksgiving service when villagers paid grateful and generous tribute to the crews of the Institution's lifeboats.

Talking shop Guests of the Beachfield Hotel, Penzance, have been extremely generous during the last summer. On Sunday evenings they have been given a talk on the RNLl by Penlee branch vice chairman, Dave Walsh. The guests responded to the talks by buying £1,000 worth of souvenirs. The hotel have also been doing their best to raise funds for the branch by holding a series of raffles.

For six weeks Mrs Grace Trevel, mother of the hotel proprietor Dave Trevel, supplied hand made teddy bears as raffle prizes. Grace made the teddies herself and the raffles raised £205.

Open days Unwelcome wind and rain cleared by the time the public came along to see what was going on at Littlestone lifeboat station's open day and fete and the eventual sunshine helped to make the day a great success. A wide variety of activities and displays were put on to give as wide appeal as possible. The careful planning certainly paid off as £1,832.37 was raised, £773 of which came from souvenir sales. The Pearly King of Dover, Mr Bill Bliss, overcame ill health to attend the day and do his bit to raise money for the station.

There was fun for all the family during Clacton's flag day last year. The station branch joined forces with the local Round Table to turn it into a day of fun with slides, a jumping castle, ducking stool (often with an intrepid crew member waiting to take the plunge) giant draughts, karate, basketball, dancing girls, a clown making up children's faces, a magician intriguing young and old, a vintage fire engine, exhibitions and displays. None of the entertainers charged a fee, nor did the public have to pay, but collecting boxes and money buckets were in abundance, and so was the money, for the day's collections, added to the house to house collections of the previous week, topped £2,700.

Band aid The sound of brass came to Totton, near Southampton in October 1986 when Woodfalls 'B' Band, one of the finest brass bands in Wessex gave a concert in aid of Totton branch funds. The band played to a packed and appreciative audience and Dave Williams, from BBC Radio Solent, acted as compere for the evening. Such was the enjoyment gained from the concert that those present were not andante in giving £104.30 for branch funds.

Marathon man . . .

. . . and woman! Mr and Mrs Alastair Shaw from Dorking in Surrey ran in the 1986 London marathon and collected, from various sources including sailing friends, £640.26. Mr Shaw works for the Trinity House lighthouse service and decided that the money should be donated to the RNLl.

Cruising along On the farewell cruise of the Fred.

Olsen liner MS Black Watch, a fayre was organised which raised £1,000 for the RNLl and other seamen's charities. The main prize of the fayre was a week's holiday in Blackpool, kindly donated by Mr and Mrs G. Lovall, retired funeral directors from St Annes. The holiday was won by Mrs Patricia Dale, who will also have the loan of a car for the week, a visit to the nearest lifeboat station, and lunch with the Mayor in his parlour. The Black Watch has always been a strong supporter of the RNLl and it is hoped the tradition will be continued on the newly converted liner. Black Prince, when she is re-launched in February 1987.

Buzzing around Fourteen days, 3,000 miles and 86 stops was the target set by seven boys from Bracondale School, Norwich, and their back-up team. The boys were making a whistle-stop bus tour of Great Britain stopping, very briefly in some cases, in as many places as they could. Queensway, the furniture chainsponsored the event and Silver Crescent Tours provided transport. The boys visited many Queensway stores and collected money for the RNLI during each of their stops. Nothing would deter the boys from finishing their journey even though heavy rain, gale force winds and early starts were all encountered.

11,000 coins were dropped into the boys' collecting boxes, which amounted to £768.

Well received The Worshipful Company of Shipwrights are donating some £10,000 to the RNLI during 1986 and £2,000 of this total is being specifically given to Harwich lifeboat station, where Company member Jim Davis is station committee president. The cheque was actually handed over by Jim Davis, who is also on the Company's charities committee, to Howard Bell, chairman and administration secretary of the station, aboard MV Dana Anglia at buffet lunch in October.

The appeal to fund Tenby's new lifeboat, RFA Sir Galahad, was given welcome boost when Ray Kipling, the RNLI's public relations officer, received a cheque for £23,500, the result of the successful Shropshire appeal. The money was handed over by Bernard Rowe, Shropshire appeal treasurer, at special dinner in September.

Two contrasting events made Newhaven branch £1,005 the richer; John Voakes organised a sheep dog trial Kingston, near Lewes, Sussex last August which raised £800. John Glover swam 100 lengths of Seahaven swimming pool as a 'thanks for being around' to the lifeboat crew after he had got into difficulties on his sailboard in Seaford Bay. Mr Glover's swim brought in further £205.

Storm Force surprise Ross Haggart and Jane Stewart, pupils of Kinloch Primary School, Carnoustie, were the lucky winners of draw to act as casualties for the day when Arbroath lifeboat went on exercise in Carnoustie Bay with a helicopter from RAF Leuchars and local coastguards.

The exercise was a thank you gesture to the very enthusiastic Storm Force group at the school. Ross and Jane were picked up by the inshore lifeboat and then transferred Arbroath's lifeboat, Shoreline. On land a coffee morning and street collection were being held, and the blustery day did little to dampen the enjoyment of the children or the spectators on the beach. It did not dampen their generosity either as over £300 was raised.

Oils well A bust of James 'Paraffin' Young, founding father and Scottish pioneer of the oil refining industry, has been presented to the Aberdeen Conference Centre by BP Petroleum Developments Ltd. Alongside the bust are leafletsdescribing Mr Young's pioneering work in the oil industry which will be sold at the centre in aid of the RNLI. BP generously sponsored the printing of the leaflets. At a short ceremony in October last year George Melville, general manager of the conference centre, presented a cheque for £50 to Rodney Addison, chairman of Aberdeen branch.

In the swim Keith Poole of Newport branch in Gwent was delighted to receive a cheque for £235.52 from Phillip Ellar and other members of a local sub-aqua group, at a lifeboat family gala held at the local leisure centre in July. During the evening a sponsored swim, a subaqua demonstration and an auction were held, and the enthusiasm of those present meant that it was no crawlto the excellent total of £1,350 made during the evening.

Cyprus was the exotic location for a 50 hour dive by members of the Dhekelia Garrison Sub Aqua Club, who were raising money for Swanage lifeboat station.

On his return to England Lance Corporal Bryan Booth handed a cheque for £1,500 to Ray Kipling, the RNLI's public relations officer.

The United Kingdom's highest loch, Lochan Buidhe, which is 3,600 feet up in the Cairngorms, was the place selected for a sponsored dive by members of Aberdeen University's sub-aqua club. The waters of the loch may have been cold, but the welcome the students were given at Aberdeen lifeboat station by Coxswain Norman Trewren and his crew when they arrived to present their £271.33 cheque was as warm as it could be.

Catherine Allday was, at 13 years old, the youngest participant in the castle to castle event organised by Falmouth Round Table as part of their appeal for the town's lifeboat station.

The race involved getting from St Mawes Castle to Pendennis Castle by your own chosen method. Some people sailed, others ran, or water skied or swam (both on the surface and underwater).

Catherine chose to swim the entire distance, about IVz miles which she completed in 56 minutes. Safety boats kept watch on her all the way but she encountered no problems and raised £25 in sponsorship. The castle to castle challenge raised £2,500 bringing the appeal total, at the halfway stage, to over £15,000.

Waterborne support During their annual August Bank Holiday weekend regatta, members of Watermouth Yacht Club were able to take part in a cruiser pennant race, and a fishing competition; the children had their own series of rowing competitions and nine-year-old Carolyn Ashcroft ran a 'guess the weight of the birthday cake' stall. Cream teas kept everybody's hunger at bay. A profit of £95.70 was made to which was added £92.58 in souvenir sales. During Ilfracombe's lifeboat week, club members collected £101.70 and two car boot sales made £40. All the money was donated to Ilfracombe branch.

Anniversary celebrations Isle of Wight Cowes guild celebrated their 70th anniversary in August and, not wishing to let the event go without some recognition, the guild organised a champagne reception on the lawn of the Royal Yacht Squadron. The celebrations were slightly dampened by a visit from Hurricane Charlie, but the visit made the guild members all the more aware of the conditions faced by lifeboat crews around the coast. At the end of the evening guild president Mrs Lena Bell and chairman Mrs Elizabeth Barrett were delighted to announce that the evening had raised £1,002, £200 of which had been donated by the ubiquitous and generous Richard Branson, who was in the town that week for the power boat racing.

Sixty years ago Littleborough ladies' guild was formed and over the years they have raised money from coffee mornings, bring and buy sales, and flag week collections. To celebrate their diamond anniversary the ladies organised a lifeboat week at Hollingworth Lake Country Park. A souvenir stall and displays were supplied by North West regional office and the ladies distributed leaflets to visitors to the park. Local schools took part in a painting competition and the winning pictures were put on show. During the week £300 was donated by visitors and this brought the amount raised by the guild for the year to £2,591.

School days Pupils of Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School are generous to a fault.

They held a series of fund raising events for the RNLI which included sponsored walks, swims, cycle and horse rides, knit-ins, reading and dog walking. They also collected one penny pieces in Smartie tubes, shone shoes, washed cars, ran a 'beat the goalie' competition and made straight donations. The result of all this frenzied activity was £1,000 which was handed over to Holmes Chapel branch.

Down to earth Two members of the Emsworth Slipper Sailing Club, Sheila Hindmarsh and Jackie Oilier, together with the club's steward, Derek Jones, made a sponsored parachute jump at the parachute centre, Biggin Hill, last September. As Jackie Oilier is the daughter-in-law of the Dungeness lifeboat station honorary secretary, it was natural that the proceeds of the jump, £500, should be donated to the RNLI.

Holiday job Although Mandy Parsons is confined to a wheelchair and lives in Reading, nothing will stop her from taking part in the lifeboat week collections at Instow, Devon. Based in her parents' holiday cottage, Mandy has been giving help during flag week since she was 14 years old and since 1976 has personally collected £500.

Jolly Roger Brownies from the 1st Cox Green Brownie Pack were disguised as pirates when they took part in a May fayre. The theme for their stall was the sea and it was decorated with sea shells and seaweed brought back from Devon by their assistant Brownie Guider Mrs Gill Lovell. The stall contained hidden treasure and a treasure map. One Brownie was dressed as a mermaid for a 'guess the name of the mermaid' contest and there was duck fishing and a cake stall run by two parents. The Brownies chose to donate the £100 made at thefayre to the RNLI because most of the pack members had been to lifeboat stations when visiting the seaside.

Reliable sources The Whitburn, West Lothian, branch of the Probus Club for businessmen was only formed in 1986 and in their first year of fund raising, for which the RNLI was the beneficiary, they were able to raise £940.12.

Squire Light and Sound, a shop which sells and hires audio equipment for discos, is run by Mr M. Hay wood and Mr J. Petts in Manchester. At their request a collecting box was put in their shop and since the beginining of 1983 £1,157.75 has been dropped into it.

When it was emptied recently by the North West regional office it was found to contain a staggering £243.38.

Faringdon, Oxfordshire, seems a long way from the sea, but this did not deter the regulars of the Fox and Hounds pub in Littleworth, near Faringdon, from raising £1,000 for the Institution. Geoff and Audrey Billinge took over the pub in 1978 and readily agreed to have a collecting box in the bar, supplied by Faringdon branch. Then Mr and Mrs Billinge began to hold Christmas raffles, sell car draw tickets and Christmas cards. Frank Ide, coxswain of Poole lifeboat and Crew Member Dave Coles went to the Fox and Hounds in July last year to present a shield, the second one awarded to the pub, to Geoff and Audrey Billinge for their efforts.

A coffee morning, held at the home of Mrs Margaret Bell Kirkgate, was so well attended that the overflow of people had to be accommodated out of doors; luckily it was a bright and sunny day. Members of Cockermouth ladies' guild had a hectic, but enjoyable two hours serving their guests, and were well rewarded for their efforts by the £365 that was raised.This beautiful bookplate, designed by artist Angela Evans, was placed inside the books donated by their authors for a book auction organised by Stephen Wood of Leeds branch. Mr Wood spent 18 months writing to authors and their publishers asking them to donate signed copies of their books for the auction which took place at the Phillips saleroom in Leeds last May. Altogether, 240 books were on sale including contributions from HRH Prince Philip, Lord Stockton and Jeffrey Archer.

Many of the volumes donated were first editions. The highest price paid was £330 for a copy of Tread and Rise - Tread and Fall a selection of poems by William Redgrave, who donated the book shortly before his death. The book was No 15 of a limited edition of 20, all illustrated, by hand, by the author. The five volumes of Lawrence Durrell's Avignon Quintet were sold for £120. Several authors generously sent donations along with their books, and the total amount raised came to £2,408.99..