A tower of coins It took one year for the landlord of "The Shoulder of Mutton" in Binfield to build a two foot high tower of 2p and Ip coins, using beer as an adhesive and filling the hollow centre with lOp pieces.

He achieved quite a reputation for saying to his customers you don't want the change do von? and adding it to the tower in aid of the RNLI. Finally, seven members of Bracknell branch gathered to help knock over the tower of coins and count the money. A corner of the bar was cleared for shovelling the sticky coins on to scales for weighing and extracting the silver for a separate count. The total sum was £485 but whilst counting was in progress the pub organised a raffle and plate collection, which brought the total donation to £633. A framed picture of an Arun class lifeboat, with an engraved inscription of appreciation, was presented to the landlord by Bracknell branch chairman Major Ronnie Gates.

School support Pupils from Deben High School, Felixstowe, presented a cheque for £1,953 to Peter Burwood, coxswain of the Harwich lifeboat. The intensive fund raising by members of last year's fourth year, masterminded by head of year Phil Motion, included a clean-thebeach day, a sponsored spell, gardening and car cleaning.

Record breakers? A collecting box placed in the Mermaid Club, Wallasea yielded £198.26 when emptied by the Rochford branch.

A box at the Thornham Boat Club produced £204.99 for Emsworth branch.

And a box at the Village House Hotel, Findon Village surrendered £210.48 to Worthing branch.

During 1986 a collecting box in The Harbor Lites, Bridlington, was replaced by a large pedestal type box and to dale, thanks to Ihe hotel patrons, over £1,739 has been collecled by Bridlington branch.

Model fund raiser Since fealuring a photograph of Brian Sumner's model of the former Humber lifeboat City of Bradford IV in the winter 1986/87 journal, Brian has raised £650 for the Humber branch by displaying the model in local public houses and at various evenls. He has recently completed a model of the new Humber lifeboat Kenneth Thelwall with which he hopes to raise more money for the RNLI.

Lucky dip Twenty years on and still going strong. The Edinburgh Lifeboat Shop is gathering momentum so fast that in the second ten years since it opened the shop made a net profit of over £223,000, compared with £49,700 in Ihe firsl len years. And it all came from other people's unwanted possessions.

Forty hardworking and loyal ladies staff the shop in shifts, week in and week out, Mondays to Saturdays, throughoul Ihe year, eight of them having been wilh the shop since it first opened.

Walking in the rain When Colin Cheeseman recruited Ihe help of his fiancee Mary Barton and best friend Peter Catlee to undertake a sponsored walk from London to Hastings, none of Ihem could have forecast they would be allempting the 50 mile journey on one of the wettest weekends the south east has ever recorded! Thewalk took two days to complete, during which time it never stopped raining and the hot bath at Wadhurst (overnight stay) was very welcome. By the end of the marathon all three were exhausted but on their arrival at Hastings lifeboat stalion they were greeted by the crew who quickly organised hot drinks and sandwiches for the weary trio.

They raised approximately £400 which will go towards the National Keep Fit Organisation's lifeboat appeal.

Scientific sacrifice Whilst on a two-week cruise on the Royal Research Ship Challenger in the North Atlantic two scientists, Keith Goy and John Smithers, were persuaded to give up smoking with a donation to the RNLI of £10 from eachof the 12 other scientists if they succeeded.

They also agreed to a penalty of double the total if they failed but, not surprisingly, they succeeded and lifeboat funds benefited by £120.

Marathon runner Peter Jones raised a magnificent £869.92 for the Blaenau Ffestiniog branch when he ran in the London Marathon last year.

'Court' in the act Godalming branch appeared at The Crown Court last November and were awarded £700. The "court" in question is nowadays a car park, but once formed part of the courtyard of The Crown coaching inn and is known locally as The Crown Court. The branch uses the area to sell Christmas cards and souvenirs and their November haul brought the year's total raised at the venue to £2,500.

Slimming in cider country Mrs Christine Wadling of Totnes and daughter of the local cider maker, undertook a sponsored slim and raised £60 for lifeboat funds. The money was handed to the Dartmouth branch by the proprietors of The Old Inn, Totnes, Mr and Mrs Starley, who are faithful supporters of the RNLI.

Christmas Auction Hundreds of festive items, ranging from pots of marmalade, plain and decorated cakes, boxes of marzipan fruits and truffles, to bottles of sherry and wine, were auctioned by Knebworth branch in aid of the RNLI. The auction took place in the village hall at Knebworth and also included table centre pieces, mini-hampers and one large hamper containing over 40 items of vule-tide fare. All the food was homemade and most items were donated by branch members and supporters. The auction raised £650.

Border country fete The Borders branches and guilds lifeboat fete took place in the grounds of Bowhill, Selkirk, the home of the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch. The fete was the culmination of six months hard work by the committee chaired by Lady Polwarth, president of Hawick ladies' guild.

Stalls in one of the large marquees were staffed by members of the Borders branches and guilds and other attractions included the Selkirk Pipe Band, the Haddington Fiddlers, Kelso country dancers and a balloon race organised by members of the Rotary Club of Galashiels. The RNLI was represented by a breeches buoy rescue across the upper loch by Dunbar lifeboat crew andan inshore lifeboat. An Air/Sea rescue helicopter from RAF Boulmer made two circuits of Bowhill linked to a competition to "Guess the height and speed".

Events in the main arena were a tug of war, and a display by a team of police dogs and their handlers from Lothian and Borders police. The highlight of the afternoon was provided by the Flag Officers' Scotland Royal Marine Band with His Grace the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry taking the salute.

A marvellous day, enjoyed by all, which raised £5,000 for lifeboat funds.

Generous support Three branches in the north and northeast of Scotland received £1,000 each from Conoco (UK) Limited. Lifeboats at Lerwick, Aberdeen and Peterhead benefited from the contributions which were accepted for all three branches by Mr Magnus Shearer, honorary secretary of the Lerwick branch. Presenting the cheques on board the Lerwick lifeboat Soldian, Mr Ron Rutherford, Conoco's Aberdeen-based northern operations manager, congratulated the RNLI on the work done by lifeboat crews and their local committees.

Prose, verse and song The Open Book, a group of five readers and two singers, presented 'A theme of the Ocean' evening for the Winslow branch and raised £321 for lifeboat funds. The group, who give their services free for charities, entertained their audience with prose, verse and song and it proved to be a very enjoyable evening.

Mail appeal The lifeboat appeal launched by the Hull Dailv Mail in its Humberside Tourist Guide last year, raised a maenificent £2,700.

Roaring forties! To celebrate his entry into the roaring forties, John Wootton of Guildford issued invitations to his birthday party with the proviso that instead of presents for himself he would rather the RNLI received donations. Together with his own generous donation a cheque for £1,050 was received with a big thank you to all his friends for their financial support of the lifeboat service.

A boost to recovery The news that Lewisham branch had raised £25.000 in 1987—setting an all time new branch record—perked up honorary secretary Freddy Swain so much that his discharge from hospital was brought forward. Mr Swain was recovering from an operation but nursing staff allowed him to toast the new record in orange juice! Sojourn in Norway Whilst living in Oslo. Mrs Eleanor Lowry of Colchester offered to assist the Norwegian lifeboat service (NSSR) in a voluntary capacity. The RNLI lenther one of its films and she visited a number of schools in and around Oslo where she presented the work of the RNLI and the NSSR, thus combining good information with English teaching. To show their appreciation NSSR presented Mrs Lowry with a diamond studded gold button, their highest award for publicity and fund raising work. She is also the only foreign national to receive such an award.

Reliable sources Members of Lyndhurst branch held a coffee morning for the presentation of a silver award to their president Lt J Holt RN. Since being re-formed in 1981 the branch has raised over £15,000 for the Institution.

Mike Bigland, honorary secretary of Knighton branch, was presented with a cheque for £250 from Mrs Sheila Roberts on behalf of the Golden Lion Darts team.

Despite poor weather and fewer visitors to the Isle of Wight during the 1986/87 season. West Wight ladies' guild sent a total of £12,900 to headquarters.

This was raised by various means and is part of the grand total of £99,000 raised in the same period by the Island's 12 branches and guilds.

The Swinton & Pendlebury branch held a grand Christmas fair last November and raised over £1,850.

Members of Cromer ladies' guild raised £7,300 during 1987, believed to be the best figure in the guild's 15-year history. At the guild's annual meeting, retired lifeboat mechanic Donny Abbs was presented with an engraved pewter tankard by chairman Mrs Daisy Spurgeon, for his services to the town's lifeboat and the guild.

Ray Bartlett is honorary treasurer of Camberley branch but his interest in lifeboats does not stop there. For the past three years he has been making models based on current type lifeboats which he sells for £2 each and has raised the sum of £500 for the Institution.

At the annual general meeting of Aldeburgh and District ladies' guild it was announced that owing to poor health Mrs Grace Agate QBE had decided to resign the chairmanship. She is the holder of both silver and gold service medals and it was largely due to her efforts that the guild has been built up to its present strength. After thanking Mrs Agate for her tireless and devoted work on behalf of the guild, branch chairman Vice Admiral Sir Charles Mills reported that the guild had raised over £32,000 during 1987.

Excitement rose when Royal Tunbridge Wells branch realised over £850 had been raised at a coffee morning organised at the house of Mr and Mrs Harris. This figure is believed to be the highest amount raised at such an event in Kent.

Souvenir shop A 'shop front' which blends in well with the original structure has been put into a largely unused part of the lifeboathouse at Great Yarmouth and Gorleston.

The souvenir shop opened last May and, with the assistance of Mr and Mrs Long and the ladies' guild, over £5,000 worth of souvenirs were sold.

This helped the guild to their record total for 1987 of £25,000.

Sailing After delivering a yacht to Greece for Island Sailing Flotillas of Thorney Island, the staff boat crew produced an RNLI collecting box to relieve Tony Readwin of his spare drachma. Tony was then told about the company's objective of providing a D class inflatable lifeboat. To encourage them in their endeavours he parted with his cherished Shoreline flag and was gratified to see it flying from the mast before he left for home the next day.

Silver jubilee To celebrate their 25th anniversary Staithes ladies' guild held a reception in the lifeboat house and crewroom. The lifeboat house was used to display an exhibition of photographs and memorabilia and the crewroom became a refreshment room where tea, coffee and wine were provided free for the visitors.

The event aroused a great deal of interest and a continuous stream of guests kept the ladies very busy hosting (Continued on page 28f )the occasion. Mrs Eva Hanson, the first chairwoman of the guild was present, as were other past chairwomen, guilds officers and members. The afternoon was a great success and although it was not intended as a fund raising event, donations and the sale of souvenirs raised £104 for guild funds. Since its inception the guild has raised over £35,000..