Model effort: this half size replica of the Great Yarmouth and Gorleston 44ft Waveney lifeboat Barham took eight months and several hundred man hours to complete and will be used to raise funds for the RNLI by being rented out to fetes and carnivals up and down the country.

The idea for the model was born from a series of meetings held by the crew to consider what they could do to enter Yarmouth carnival last year, although the project was not eventually completed until November, such was the dedication and attention to detail of the 24 lifeboat crew members of both the Waveney and Atlantic 21 boats, who took part.

RNLI headquarters at Poole provided a full set of plans for the modellers, who set to work in a domestic garage in April. This accommodation was quickly outgrown and the model moved to a warehouse, loaned by G. C. S. Wire Rope Services. Fund raising events were run during the spring and summer to meet the £3,000 cost of building the 22ft model, which is now insured for £12,000.

Work continued on the Barham until the very last minute before its official "launch", on dry land, in the car park of the Rumbold Arms, South/own, Yarmouth, venue for many of the fund-raising efforts.

The Mayor of Yarmouth, Mrs Brenda Mills, performed the launching ceremony, praising the lifeboatmen's efforts as a "marvellous achievement".

Organisations wanting to make use of the model for fund raising on behalf of the RNLI should contact the current secretary of the club, Mr]. W. R. Best, at 95 Lichfield Road, Southtown, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk NR31 OAB..