Battle royal The peace of the Glasgow afternoon was shattered by the sound of rocket and gunfire and the waiting crowd watched with tense expectation. A variety of lifeboats stood by waiting for the call as the Russian battle fleet closed in on the British warships.

But there was no cause for alarm as the confrontation was only the Richmond Park Model Boat Club (Glasgow) staging another mock battle in support of the RNLI.

Since May 1987 the club has run many gala days in different locations, the highlight being the mock battle complete with rockets and submarines exploding and sinking, and in that time has raised more than £1,000 for the Institution's funds.

The model makers themselves are now locked in battle to complete the first model of Arun class lifeboat City of Glasgow III in the club.

Bowled over RAF Leuchars, who co-operate substantially with the RNLI on operational matters, co-operated substantially in fund raising matters when they organised a 24-hour marathon bowl at Leuchars, which raised a staggering £4,000 for the Institution.

Grampian TV presenter Kennedy Thomson started the 32 bowlers off to bowl over the 131,300 pins which they sent spinning for charity. The success of the marathon bowl meant that the participants won the RAF Ten Pin Bowling Association charity rose bowl.

A brush with the mayor A total of 260 paintings by children from local schools and youth organisations provided an interesting and colourful exhibition in Ainsdale. The pictures were entries in a competition organised by the Ainsdale branch, the theme of which was Grace Darling's heroic rescue.

The Mayoress of Sefton opened the exhibition and local artist Mr Philip Berrill judged the competition and presented the prizes to the ten winners.

The winning children in each age group received a cash prize and a visit to a lifeboat station, the second and third each received a Grace Darling mug.

A total of £196.86 was raised through the competition which brought an awareness of the RNLI to many children. There are now plans to display the paintings in a building society window in the town centre.Members of the 'Camerata Angus' orchestra abandoned their pit and took to the lifeboat to promote their concert at Montrose on 19 June.

The concert of popular classics, most with some connection with the sea, was in aid of the RNLI and raised a total of £575.

Pictured aboard the Montrose lifeboat are, from left to right, Coxswain Bill Cargill, orchestra conductor Ralph Jamieson, orchestra members Jennifer Howie and Rachel Eames, second coxswain Ron MacDonald, and orchestra members Jill Turboyne and Yvonne Gray Cold comfort The Sub-Aqua Club at the Army School of Electronic Engineering, Arborfield took part in a sponsored swim down the Thames from Mapledurham to Carversham Bridge, Reading early this year.

Despite the freezing conditions all completed the course and the event raised £800, divided equally between the RNLI and the cost of a new compressor.

Breaking away A jailbreak in aid of the Harwich lifeboat was organised by local Buffaloes. Several teams took part, each aiming to get as far away as possible in 24 hours and returning to Harwich the following day.

Harwich lifeboat crew won the event by reaching Thurso lifeboat station and returning within the required time. The event raised £1,500 for the new yellow Musto clothing for the Harwich crew.

Nuts about the lifeboat A microwave oven, a video recorder and two all-weather suits were presented to the crew of St Peter Port lifeboat by the Ladies of the Inner Wheel.

The money to buy this equipment, a total of £774, was raised at a 'Nuts in May' evening held at the Friquet Flower Centre.

Inner Wheel president Georgina Keen, a member of the RNLI's committee of management and the fund raising committee, chose the lifeboat as the charity to benefit.

The video recorder will be used to show training films to the crew, and all the equipment was received on behalf of the crew by coxswain Peter Bisson.AFTER hearing about the Grace Darling Appeal three young ladies of Whittington Primary School collected as many two pence pieces as possible to spell the words 'Grace Darling'.

They had such an overwhelming response from the 80 pupils that in two weeks £17 was collected, and they were also able to spell the words 'Appeal Fund'.

CHILDREN at Newbiggin Windsor First School raised £285 for the appeal through a variety of events. Some of the children were sponsored for sporting activities; the nursery held a jumble sale, biscuits and sweets were made and sold in the school, a cake decorated with a lighthouse, wreck and boat containing Grace and William Darling was raffled along with a box of home-made sweets, and a toy fair was held. The school hall and corridors were also decorated with the children's art and literature describing the rescue and the work of the RNLI.

Mr S Green, honorary secretary of Newbiggin lent the school a video and supplied information and some of the children visited the local lifeboat during the appeal, which was warmly supported by parents and friends of the school.

THE 1st Beamish (Co. Durham) Brownie Pack held a sponsored one hour silence, and the ten Brownies involved raised £62.50 towards the Grace Darling Appeal.

CHILDREN at Whitehorse Manor junior school also decided to raise money for the appeal on their Open Evening. Dur-ing the summer term the topic for Class 3M was "The Sea', and with the help of the RNLI's information pack for schools and learning about Grace Darling's heroic rescue, the children produced various work cards for display in the school, sold lifeboat stickers to the parents and raised £30. They also made a working lighthouse connected to a computer which was programmed to flash.

CLASS 7 at St Bernadette School, London SW12 helped the RNLI by collecting £130 from various sponsored activities. Forty children aged 8-11 also took part in a short production of the 'Grace Darling Story' which they performed at a schools' concert at the Purcell Room on London's South Bank in June.

FIVE little boys at St Mary's RC Primary School in Bognor Regis were so irripressed with the Grace Darling story that they decided to raise money for the appeal.

They made over 200 iced cakes and sold them to the other pupils. Spurred on by their success they made a large cake in the shape of a lifeboat and a lighthouse, and raffled it. The result of their labours was £24.33 for the appeal.Members and friends of the Forest Row Lifeboat Choir plan to raise £10,000 to fund a D class lifeboat in memory of their founder, Bill Mills, and their first conductor, George Ralph, who led the choir for more than 30 years.

So far the choir has raised more than half the targeted amount with pub pastimes such as darts, dominoes, crib, pool and a quiz. Pictured are members and friends of the choir.

(Photo East Grinstead Courier)Long running help At the age of 37 Danny Long from Saffron Walden found an interest in long distance walking and running and decided to channel his energies into fund raising for the RNLI.

In 1984 he entered the Saffron Walden branch 24-hour sponsored walk, repeated it in 1985 and in 1987 he successfully completed the London Marathon.

By the end of 1987 he had competed in one hundred events in three years, and over the last four years his foot-slogging efforts have raised approximately £500 for the Institution.

Marathon Pool A 48-hour pool marathon was held at the South Eastern Tavern, Ramsgate, and raised £370 for the Ramsgate branch.

Sick idea! Geoff Langlois from Abergavenny is a very poor sailor, and is always sea sick.

His friends were asked to sponsor him for every seasick-free mile he had on a trip from Dale in Dyfed to Falmouth - he raised £80!Peak of achievement John Harding, a sailing man from Winchester who endured the rigours of the Three Peaks Race last year had another 'go' this year and raised £4,500 for the RNLI.

The event is a tough mixture of yacht racing and mountain running, and takes in 350 miles of sailing from Wales to the Scottish Highlands, pausing to run up the three highest mountains in England, Scotland and Wales.

The offbeat event is organised each year by members of the Merioneth Yacht Club in North Wales, and entry is restricted to 35 boats, with each boat limited to five people - two of whom must be runners.

Starting at Barmouth the competitors sail to Caernarfon, two runners then race to the top of Mount Snowdon and back to the boat, a round trip of 23 miles. The boats then sail to Ravenglass in Cumbria, where the runners tackle Scafell Pike, a round trip of 34 miles, before starting a long sail through the Scottish Islands to Fort William, where the runners take on Ben Nevis and return to the finish of the event.

Despite arriving at Barmouth only hours before the start, caused by delays at the yard fitting her out, John's boat, a 35ft catamaran called Universal Alien, and her crew of sailors and runners finished fourth" after an action-packed four days, four hours and 50 minutes sailing and running.Cash float Twelve divers surfaced in the River Fowey and then floated on their backs from Lostwithiel down to Fowey in aid of the RNLI.

The 12 floaters, 11 of them members of Fowey Diving Club and one a guest from Birmingham Aqua Club, were accompanied by Roy Edwards, the Fowey club's diving officer. Roy had made the eightmile float previously, to confirm it was possible - but this time went by boat.

The sponsored float raised nearly £400 for Fowey lifeboat.

Jumbled up The 1988 Beaulieu Boat Jumble is an annual event attended by the Lymington branch. Many and varied bits of boat are sold and the event, which takes place in the grounds of Beaulieu Motor Museum, attracts a great many people from the boating world.

The jumble raises several thousand pounds each year and is a great boost to funds. This year the event raised £2,630 - and the branch is always grateful for any donated boat jumble in readiness for next year.

Fun Day The National Semiconductors Fun Day held at Greenock was well attended, with crowds of 15,000 flocking to Battery Park for a day of fun and games which included a donkey derby, a fire eater and unicyclists.

A Sea King helicopter put on a rescue display when it plucked a man from the water just off shore, and the fun went on into the night with a disco in a large marquee.Chairman of the Institution, the Duke of Atholl, opened the event and the gross takings by all participating charities was in the region of £21,500, resulting in £1,000 being realised by the Greenock branch.

A cheque for £5,000, which included £500 from Mr John Murchie's sponsored prison break, was presented to Sir Charles McGrigor, Convener of the Scottish Lifeboat Council, by the managing director of National Semiconductors at a ceremony held later.

Record Flag Day The annual Flag Day in the City of Nottingham raised a record sum of £2,674 with the valuable assistance of the local Calverton and Woodthorpe branches.

Starting young Eight-year-old Laura Hepburn completed a sponsored fun run organised by Robin Hood's Bay branch and raised £200 for lifeboat funds.

Sponsored sail The Spring Bank Holiday was once again the occasion for the six-hour sponsored race organised by Burghfield Sailing Club.

Thirty-one dinghies and sailboards took part, each entry being manned by two crews, who had to change over at least five times during the race. The day brought everything from near calm to torrential rain, thunder and lightning, and the club's efforts raised approximately £1,200 for the Mortimer and District branch.

Remarkable feet! Earlier this year Peter Webb was challenged by Colin Thompson of the 'Red Lion' pub in Twyford to walk the Ridgeway Path.

Peter and four friends walked the 90 miles of the path in five days, and raised £300 in sponsorship for the Buckingham branch.

Smarties to the rescue! A committee member of Portishead branch gave a talk and film show to the local Dinosaur Cub Pack, and the result was a 'Smarties to the Rescue' campaign.

Each boy was given a tube of Smarties which, when empty, had to be filled with pennies. Thirty boys were involved and with youthful enthusiasm and a toy sale £100 was soon collected.

The youngest recruit presented a cheque for this amount to Mrs Elsie Fair, president of the guild, and the pack was presented with a framed letter of thanks from the regional office at Bristol, and a set of posters to display in their headquarters.

Sponsored trundle Toddlers at the Hanham Methodist Church Sunday School learned about the first ever lifeboat, Noah's Ark, during their story sessions.

When they heard of the Grace Darling appeal they decided to hold a sponsored trundle to raise some money and, enjoying every minute, the children completed 20 laps of the church hall on push-along toys and bikes. They raised £88.05.Well dressed! Well dressing is a custom peculiar to Derbyshire, where villages 'dress' their wells and bless them for a continuous supply of water during the summer.

People come from miles around to see these beautiful tableaux and this year Grace Darling was chosen as the theme by Coal Aston Women's Institute, who organise the annual event. All the proceeds went to the RNLI and a cheque for £150 was presented to the Dronfield branch.n brief VICE-CHAIRMAN of Shepton Mallet branch, Fred Taylor, collected more than 20 per cent of the total £376 raised by a house-to-house collection in the area. He raised another £156 by organising a golf ; day at Mendip Golf Club, where he has been a green-keeper for 17 years.

SUPPORT for the Wallsend Ladies' Guild comes from a collection in 'The Canny Lad' - in Santa Ponsa, Mallorca.

£60 has been raised by games, donations and money for the use of counters available I from the bar. The owner of the pub, Mrs M.

Strefford, intends to do even better this year.

PATRICK McHUGH, a regular at the 'Chequers' in Chipping Norton, dearly loves his beer, but gave it up for Lent. He got his friends and co-drinkers to sponsor his '42 difficult days and nights', and as a result of his self-sacrifice the RNLI benefited by £73.61.

INSTEAD of providing mementoes of their Queen's Award for Export Achievement, Cleveland Potash gave £ 1,000 each to three charities, including the RNLI. They also support the Institution in many other ways, with a number of the Staithes lifeboat crew being employees of the company.

A SPAGHETTI-EATING Contest organised by the proprietors of 'The Bugle' in Yarmouth, Isle of Wight raised £250 for the Institution. The contestants had to eat as much spaghetti as possible - without a knife, fork or spoon! They were all sponsored, even Fred the dog, and a cheque was handed over to the West Wight Ladies' Guild.

DAVID Towns, a very fit 77 year old, swam 50 lengths of the Bramley Baths in Leeds in aid of the RNLI and as a result of his sponsored swim £429.90 was donated to the Leeds Ladies' Guild luncheon club.

THE Crawley branch, under the enthusiastic control of the chairman Reg Bray, raised nearly £10,000 last year. Almost half this figure was raised using Peeks of Bournemouth's Teddy Bears Picnic' and 'Win-a-Football' fund-raising games. Mr Bray and his band of helpers attend all the local fetes and carnivals during the summer.

A COFFEE morning held by Coventry Ladies' Guild and hosted by Mr and Mrs Norman Paget raised £600 for branch funds. Thirty prizes were donated to the raffle by friends and business contacts, and many stalls added to the proceeds. Those present included Mrs Willdigg, the 95-yearold president and founder of the guild, Mrs White, Lady Mayoress and patron of the guild, and Mr Richard Mann, regional organiser.Fund-raising drive The Duke of Atholl, Chairman of the Institution, captained a team of RNLI golfers against a team from the Cromer Royal Golf Club, and walked away with £1,150 for the RNLI.

After the game the captain of the Cromer club, Mr Barry Woodcock, presented the cheque to the Duke as part of the sponsorship raised by the golf club for its centenary year. The money will boost funds for the Cromer lifeboat.

The team included staff who had travelled from as far afield as Dorset and Yorkshire as well as local lifeboatmen such as former Cromer coxswain 'Tuna' Harrison and Sheringham crew member Chris Ayers.

Walking success Thirteen-year-old Gary Barlow handed over a cheque for £31.03 to Mrs D Smith, treasurer of Cleethorpes lifeboat, station after completing a sponsored 16-mile walk from Cleethorpes lifeboat station to Tetney Lock and back Gary, whose father is a helmsman of the D class lifeboat, is a member of Storm Force and helps with fund raising on flag days.

Standing up to be counted Norman Turner, a member of the Workington lifeboat crew, organised a 15-mile sponsored windsurf.

With help from the rest of the crew, the ladies' guild and several local firms he managed to raise £827.

Thames Board Mills donated the cost of a full set of a lifeboatman's outfit, which took the total raised to approximately £1,000.The Angmering, West Sussex, branch held its annual Garden Fete in June, in the grounds of Lord and Lady Delfont's Angmering House. Lady Delfont took over as president of the branch in September The amount of money raised has increased year by year, from £305 in 1980 to this year's record £1,512.

Lord and Lady Delfont are pictured (left and centre) buying raffle tickets at the event.

Southend sail One of Southend's most popular sailing events, the Boatacs Trophy Race, attracted 24 cruising yachts for a 16-mile race starting off the end of Southend Pier. In a fresh north-easterly wind the course took them around the Thames Estuary and into the river Medway.

All the yachts finished the course, and donations from the yachtsmen taking part raised more than £80 for lifeboat funds.The fourth Mid Thames Model Boat Club RNLI weekend was held at the Child Beale Wildlife Park at Pangbourne near Reading, and raised more than £100 for RNLI funds.

The two-day regatta started with an open event on Saturday, with 20 competitors testing their skills by steering their boats around a course on the lake.

Sunday was a lifeboat-only regatta, with models judged in two classes for static and working models. The working lifeboats then took part in a competition on the water with marks for accuracy of navigation being added to the static marks to arrive at an overall winner.

The host club was able to hand over a cheque for £100 at the end of the regatta, with the contents of the collecting boxes still to be counted.Gone fishing Loch Laggan was the picturesque venue for Inverness and District Angling 's European Open Brown Trout Championship which attracted 800 competitors.

A total of 38 prizes were on offer, and the first prize of a Lada car, £400, a cup and a tregnum of whisky went to Inverness angler Robbie Urquhart who caught the heaviest brown trout at 91b.

A display of RNLI history was set up in the main marquee by Clem Watson, area organiser and chairman of the Buckie branch, Ian Rennie, and two off-duty Buckie crew members displayed a Y boat.

After a raffle prize draw a cheque for £2,000 was presented to Surgeon Rear Admiral I. H. Colley, a member of the RNLI Committee of Management.

Slim chance Mildred Gibson of the Sittingbourne branch was ordered by her doctor to lose weight. She went on a sponsored slim, lost 261b in eight weeks and raised £256.50 for RNLI funds.

Funds for fun Each year the Luton & District branch raises in the order of £5,000 for the RNLI through many fund raising events.

One such event, a Fun Competition, took place at Luton Whitbread Bowls Club when club members and friends from the Harlington Bowls Club raised £50 for lifeboat funds.

A model raffle Mrs Sonia Buxton, of Haywards Heath branch, accompanied by Malcolm Harvey, a crew member of Brighton's Atlantic 21 lifeboat, accepted a cheque for £200 from Mr Brian Cooper, chairman of the MMCB Radio Club.

The money was raised by raffles for which the 100 club members donated prizes.May Day magic Petts Wood and Grays branch received praise from local residents on the attractiveness of its stall at the Petts Wood May Day Fayre.

Helping to draw the crowds was a 9ft model of an Arun lifeboat and a shop window dummy dressed in full lifeboatman clothing.

The branch has raised more than £8,000 for the RNLI during the past year.

Island Spotting! Four members of Paisley branch, Andy Dryburgh, Cliff Evans, Lennie Smith and Jim Droy set off in a 30ft catamaran on a nine-day Hebridean Cruise and sponsored Island Spot.

Hoping to spot 100 islands they actually logged 120, and the branch benefited to the tune of £501.50.

Showing the way A fashion show organised by Motherwell branch raised approximately £790.

The show was presented by Mrs Lang of 'Le Mirage' and was introduced by Mr Clem Watson, the area organiser for Scotland North.

Roll 'em - for charity Mildred and Leslie Paine's hobby is film making, and to raise funds for charity they present film shows in their home, creating the cinema as it used to be - with news, travel, features, organ music, light refreshments and, of course, selling ice-creams.

Posters are displayed in the hall and a collection bowl enables the patrons to give what they wish.

From these efforts they have raised £200, shared between the RNLI and the heart unit of their local hospital.Radio Angels The Wellington public house in Ilfracombe has been a great friend of the local lifeboat over the years. Several hundred pounds have been raised by donations in the 'Lifeboat bottle' and by special events organised by the licensee, Mr Covill, and his customers.

The most recent fund-raising event was a sponsored darts marathon by members of the ladies' darts team, called 'Charlie's Angels', which raised £70 for a pair of two-way radios to keep the head launcher and tractor driver in touch during launch and recovery operations.In brief IN JUNE all local rescue services in the Ramsgate area, and covered by the search and rescue helicopter at RAF Mansion, were invited to a barbecue at the camp. A raffle was organised in aid of the RNLI, and £250 was raised.

A CONCERT organised by Miss Burton at Addington Palace in support of the Croydon branch raised £507.

A LUNCH held by Cottingham Ladies' Guild celebrated 20 years of fund raising, totalling £48,000. At the first meeting in 1968 there were nine members, and in 1988 there are 92. Present at the lunch were the Mayor of Beverley, Mr Peter Lacey, the area organiser and 72 members.

An interim cheque for £1,000 was presented to Mr Lacey by the guild chairman, Mrs M. Clappinson.

AN EDUCATIONAL charity called 'Young Enterprise', which aims to help young people set up and run their own businesses while still at school, held its first national conference in Glasgow earlier this year. Each company attending brought sample of its products, which was sold for the benefit of two charities chosen by the youngsters. The RNLI was one of the chosen charities, and £80 was forwarded to the Scottish regional office.

A WINE and cheese party was held at the home of honorary life governor Sir Alec Rose. Some 100 guests gathered in support of the RNLI, and also to mark the 80th birthday of Sir Alec, who is president of the Havant branch. An iced cake, decorated with the outline of his yacht Lively Lady, the lifeboat Hampshire Rose and the RNLI house flag, was presented to a delighted Sir Alec.

MR R. BEVANS of Milford Haven was so grateful for the help he received from Angle lifeboat when his boat sprang a leak that he set about raising money by raffling one of the ships in bottles which he makes.

With his son Simon, and local skipper John Rogers, he raised £320 which was handed to the Angle lifeboat at the 'Victoria' public house in Milford Haven. The ship in bottle was won by Mr T Bevan who, coincidentally, was rescued recently by the Angle lifeboat when his boat capsized.

WARWICK HULME of Yatton, Avon, had a beard for 18 years, but when he joined Shoreline he decided to do something positive to raise funds for the Institution, as well as paying his subscription. He hit upon the idea of a sponsored shave, and the RNLI is now £100 better off.Pull for appeal A Tug O'War competition sponsored by BT (Marine) in aid of the Grace Darling Lifeboat Appeal raised £753. This sum included sponsorship money organised by the Southampton Lifeboat Board and takings from stalls run in a combined effort by the Southampton ladies' guild, Romsey branch and Shirley branch.

The winning team, the 'Cricketers Arms' from Stoneham, were presented with a trophy and medallions, and it is hoped that the trophy will be contested each year in an annual Tug O'War contest.

Going to the dogs The Shoreham Private Wharfingers Association held a benefit evening at the local Corals Greyhound Stadium and raised a total of £1,950 for the Shoreham Harbour lifeboat.

A fine spell The pupils of Chuter Ede Primary School, Baldenon, decided they wanted to make a contribution to the Grace Darling Appeal and headmaster, Mr J. Noden, suggested they take part in a sponsored spell-in. After two weeks of feverish activity the result was a splendid £780.

Checking In When staff at Barclay's bank Moorgate branch were asked to nominate a charity, they chose the RNLI - a proposal that eventually led to a cheque for £1,000 being presented to the Institution.

The money was raised by regular pay day standing order donations, supplemented by other fund-raising activities.All dolled up Brian Meharg and Kyle Marshall, both members of Bangor lifeboat crew, dressed up as maidens in distress so that the offshore rescue patrol could come to their assistance.

The frolics were part of Bangor Youth Expo, and raised £150 for the RNLI..