Pat Dewhurst, honorary secretary of Penwortham fund raising branch was asked to give this account of what lies behind the £4,OOU they bring in for the RNLI each year at a recent regional conference Readers who spend time on similar pursuits will experience pangs of fellow feeling. Others may find it an eye-opener.Pat Dewhurst, honorary secretary of Penwortham fund raising branch was asked to give this account of what lies behind the £4,OOU they bring in for the RNLI each year at a recent regional conference Readers who spend time on similar pursuits will experience pangs of fellow feeling. Others may find it an eye-opener.When I was asked to give this talk I was astounded to think that anyone would be the least bit interested in what the Secretary of the Penwortham branch gets up to, but here goes.

My name is Pat Dewhurst and I have been on the Penwortham Committee for nearly 20 years, having held the office of honorary secretary for the past 12 years. This does not mean that my efficiency deems me irreplaceable, but simply that no-one else will do the job! However we have a very hardworking committee of 13 at the moment which gives both the chairman and myself excellent support.

Penwortham is situated approximately 12 miles from Lytham, 18 miles from Blackpool and 22 miles from Fleetwood, and I personally believe that living near to the coast and the three lifeboat stations makes people aware of the dangers of the sea and the wonderful work carried out by the Institution— hence the wonderful support we get.

And so it's down to fund raising. I am sure that you have all wondered at times just where all the money comes from, week after week, month after month, year after year it comes rolling in, but trying to think of new ideas to raise money is not easy.

Money maker Our house-to-house collection, which we organise in May each year, is by far the best money-maker—almost £1,400 this year. Each of our committee members are given a number of roads to cover and hopefully they will recruit collectors to help them. This leaves approximately half the area untouched, which we try to cover en masse over a period of about four weeks.

The problem is trying to get collectors and of course we all dread the start of door knocking. But once out, particularly if it's a nice evening, it never seems so bad. We have found that collecting during the day is a complete waste of time as so many people are out. Almost everyone is quite happy to give but of course you do get the odd refusal and a fair share of laughs.

Two of our ladies were asked to accompany a gentleman upstairs to his bedsit. "Come upstairs, I've got something for you," he said. Two rather nervous collectors followed him and he turned out to be a bouncer in a nightclub and he had put all his tips in a drawer which he promptly emptied out and said "Take the lot." One I had recently was: "Would you like to help the lifeboats please? No, I would not. I've just been to a funeral." And another one: "No thank you, I don't go by sea—I always fly." We hold two coffee mornings each year in the local church hall and thesebring in approximately £700-£800. We have the usual stalls—general, cakes, tombola, raffle and souvenirs and just recently we have held a craft stall with hand-embroidered greetings cards, soft toys, etc, A bric-a-brac stall has also proved very popular.

Our annual jumble sale is usually held in September and we find this a very easy way of raising £100 plus. In fact only two weeks ago we made nearly £200 which was our best yet. When sorting through the jumble we keep the better items back for our market stall.

We are lucky enough to have a collectors' market on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Preston and it is quite amazing sometimes at the amount raised.

Penwortham has an annual gala day in June which we attend and we probably fit in another two garden fetes or the odd agricultural show in the summer months.

Children's help All the events mentioned so far are arranged regularly each year, but we do try to have something special whenever possible. We have organised several sponsored swims which have been wonderfully supported by the local schools.

You can always rely on children to bring in the money, although we do feel at the moment that there are so many sponsored events we shall have to give this a rest. One very successful venture was a charter train to London for the day.

This was a few years ago but was very popular at the time which was close to Christmas and we have been asked many times to repeat it.

Another excellent event was a Royal Doulton design survey. This involved no work at all by the committee. A hall is hired, invitations pushed through doors and we advertised it well locally —"You are cordially invited to attend etc." Briefly, what it entails is the public coming along to answer a questionnaire relating to a display of plates, and other items and this is all set up by Royal Doulton. For each questionnaire completed the sum of 50p is donated to the RNLI. We also served refreshments. It was lovely to be able to invite people to attend a function free of charge without having to sell tickets.

Our name is on Royal Doulton's list at the moment and we are hoping to be included in the next survey in our area, which will be our third time.

Auctions, as I am sure you are all aware, are very very popular but I do think that you need to plan about a year ahead to enable enough decent items to be collected. It must also be remembered that if items offurniture are offered there is the problem of transporting them to the place of auction. One year we had to turn down several larger items as we did not have suitable transport. We have usually found that a local auctioneer will give his services free.

Antiques Road Show We are presently trying to organise an Antiques Road Show with Sotheby's of Chester. Depending on the area and the facilities available, they will send four or five of their experts along. The public are invited to bring along three items for valuation and a charge of £1 is made, six items £2, etc. If refreshments are sold and a steady stream of customers turn up, say from 10 am to 4 pm, this can be quite a profitable event and also most enjoyable.

No charge is made by Sotheby's. I can see you all asking what they get out of it? Well, of course, they are looking for business and hopefully a few special items will be left with them to be sold in their auction rooms. Anyone who wishes to leave items for auction may do so and a receipt will be issued.

Disasters All this sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? Well, believe me, we have had our disasters. One such event was a saucepan demonstration when, apart from the committee, only three members of the public turned up. The demonstrator burned the pie she was making, which stuck to the pan she was trying to convince us was non-stick! We then had to eat the pie! Another disappointment was at Fairhaven Lake on Lytham lifeboat day when, after preparing 500 bread rolls and hot dog sausages, we were told by the nearby cafe proprietor that we were not allowed to sell food as we were ruining her trade. Thank goodness for freezers, as each committee member took a supply of hot dogs home! On another occasion, again Lytham lifeboat day, in appalling weather, we were practically blown into the sea, caravan and all, and had to retreat indoors to the lifeboat store for shelter.

There were a few complaints from various branches about not having enough room or one branch had a better spot than another, the usual moans when we experience a typical British summer.

Ironically, it was this very afternoon in really dreadful weather conditions, that the Lytham lifeboat was called out to a yachtsman (which proved a very difficult rescue) and as we watched it go there was no more moaning, it suddenly did not matter how wet we all were. It was all so rewarding to be part of the Institution and its very special breed of men..