Stirling Whorlow QBE Stirling Whorlow QBE, the secretary of the Institution for eight years from 1961 to 1969 died at his home in Spain on 2 October 1988.

One of his colleagues from the RNLI at the time writes: 'It is extremely unlikely that anyone who knew Stirling Whorlow would quarrel with the assertion that he was one of the kindest and most even tempered men it would be one's privilege to know.

'He was also the possessor of a dry but penetrating wit which he used sparingly, but with considerable effect. This was undoubtedly a valuable asset at difficult meetings. He joined the Institution in 1929as a clerk, and at the time of the Munich crisis enlisted in the County of London Yeomanry. He served in tanks in North Africa and was wounded in the campaign.

'On his return to civilian life he rejoined the RNLI, and made steady progress towards high office, becoming Assistant Secretary in 1953 and Secretary in 1961.

'In this he broke new ground, being the first Secretary to obtain the position from head office staff, previous appointments all having been from outside.

'As Secretary his prime concern was for the standing and success of the Institution, and this outweighed personal considerations.

'During his term of office there were a number of important events. These included the introduction of inflatable lifeboats and the formation of the Yachtsmen's Lifeboat Association, later renamed Shoreline.

'Before his retirement in 1969 he bought a flat in Altea, Spain, and it was here that he suffered his first major illness. He was flown home for treatment and made a good recovery, but other attacks followed and from that time his health was never really good.

'Latterly he spent most of his time in Spain, and as a result many of his friends were unable to see him during those last years, much to their regret.' EWM Paddling his own canoe Jeremy Tate, a crew member with the Brighton lifeboat, had a taste of a different type of boat when he took part in Operation Raleigh in July and August 1988.

The seven-week expedition took Jeremy and the other members of his international party on a 300-mile canoeing trip in Canada's remote North West Territories to carry out a variety of scientific projects.

Apart from cold, wet weather Jeremy experienced plagues of insects, a timber wolf chasing caribou through his camp and a capsize in the icy water of the river.

His canoe was swept over a ledge and capsized, and rescue took more than an hour. Hypothermia took on a real meaning for the lifeboat crewman, as it was nearly six hours before he was warm enough to continue.

The expedition was a success, and Jeremy summed it up by saying: 'The commitment to each other - not only in times of need like the capsize -just goes to prove that people from all over the world can work together.'On station The following lifeboats have taken up station and relief fleet duties: OVER 10 METRES Salcombe - Tyne 47-002 (ON 1130) The Baltic Exchange II on 30 August 1988.

Wick - Tyne 47-016 (ON 1121) Norman Salvesen on 16 September 1988.

UNDER 10 METRES Redcar - D373 on 29 June 1988 Pwllheli - D372 on 27 July 1988 Southend (Pier Head) - D368 on 2 August 1988 Whitby - D369 on 10 August 1988 Kippford - D370 on 11 August 1988 North Sunderland - D377 on 1 September 1988 Relief- D371 on 21 September 1988 Barmouth - D374 on 28 September 1988 Gorleston and Great Yarmouth - BS74 on 12 November 1988 Birds of a feather St Andrew's School in Halstead raised £25.20 for the RNLI, and the local Halstead Gazette was pleased to report their efforts.

The newspaper added: 'Children from all over the country were asked to think of ways to raise money to contribute to the Grey Starling Lifeboat Appeal.'One year on Tony Wells, who was saved from his small fishing boat by the Sheerness lifeboat Helen Turnbull during the hurricane-force winds of October 1987, paid special thanks to the lifeboat's crew on the first anniversary of the incident on 17 October 1988.

Coxswain Robin Castle was awarded a bronze medal for the service, and all the crew members received bronze medal service certificates.

Tony is now the caretaker of Allhallows Yacht Club on the Isle of Grain in Kent, and it was the then caretaker of the club who first raised the alarm. A special reception was held at the yacht club for the coxswain and crew, and also members of the coastguard and local police who were involved in the service.

Tony and his girlfriend Denise Cuddy provided food, drink and two special cakes in addition to presenting the coxswain and crew with a Crown Derby fruit bowl and engraved pint tankards.

'I wanted to give the men something that would last forever' he said, 'I still get terribly emotional when I think back to that night. I owe my life to those men, and no words can express my gratitude to them.' Tony and Denise also presented Robin Castle with a cheque for £230 for the station funds, which they had raised through a raffle.£55,000 from 43rd lottery Over the past two years Volvo Concessionaires has helped raise over £500,000 for lifeboat funds, and by way of acknowledging this splendid support, the Institution invited Mr Roger Boyce, director and general manager of Volvo's local dealership, Page Motors (Bournemouth), to draw the winning tickets for the 43rd national lottery at the Poole HQ.

Lord Stanley of Alderley, chairman of the fund raising committee, and Mr Anthony Oliver, head of fund raising, supervised the draw which raised approximately £55,000.

The prizewinners were: £2,000 - E.W. Doherty, Alton, Hants.

£1,000 - H.R. Douglas, Guildford, Surrey.

£500 - A.J. Sidnell, Swindon, Wilts.

£250 - Mrs N. Woodhead, Shipley, West Yorkshire.

£100 - Mrs E. Wright, Newcastle-upon-Tyne; P.J. Bentley, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk; J. Wales, Strathaven, Lanarkshire; G.J.

Bartlett, St Albans, Herts; Daniels. Crick, Northants; Mrs. M Allan, St Albans, Herts; H.W. Carter, Attleborough, Norfolk; H.J. King, Helpston, Peterborough.

£50 - A. Green, Marple, Stockport; Miss Williams, Littlehampton, Sussex; D. Bradley, Hutton, Avon; Mrs R. North, Huntingdon, Cambridge; J.R. Gilmour, Skene, Aberdeenshire; Mrs C.

Walker, Reading, Berkshire; M. Thornton, Solihull, West Midlands; Mrs P.V. Gillett, Tavistock, Devon.

Northern Ireland Several readers of THK LIFEBOAT have pointed out an error in an insert distributed with the Autumn issue of the magazine.

In saying that the RNLI has 202 stations around the coasts of 'Great Britain, the Channel Islands and the Republic of Ireland' an advertiser inadvertently omitted Northern Ireland, and we offer our apologies to those who were offended by the wording..