Raisers Car booty! Hundreds of people made money from filling their car boots with unwanted items and selling them at the sale organised by Henley branch, but the real winner was the Institution which received a staggering £3,500.

Many attics and garages had been turned out for the occasion and half the money raised was the result of sellers paying £6 each for their pitch, the rest coming from parking 2,000 cars and from an all-day demand for refreshments served by branch members and friends.

Although most car boot sales peter-out after lunch, the Henley branch sale has become so well established that it is now an all-day affair. Norman Daniel, one of the organisers, said 'It was the biggest and best boot sale we've ever held and we're more than £1,000 up on last year's total.' Ashore at Cranleigh The annual Cranleigh Show gave the local branch an opportunity to display the Shoreham D class inshore lifeboat, and Mechanic Jack Silverson was on hand to answer questions from visitors. From what was basically a public relations exercise on behalf of the Cranleigh and District branch to project themselves to the general public in the area, £281 was raised from the sale of souvenirs.

However, they did have enquiries as to where the lifeboat was kept in Cranleigh and that there should have been a notice on the stand with the time of high water - a request for a continuous recording of seagulls crying was resisted! Fete accompli On a typically English June afternoon the rain stopped just long enough to allow the village fete at Poslingford, Suffolk, to go ahead without damping the spirits or the summer clothes of those present.

The fete was declared open by Robin Middleton, retired crew member of New Brighton lifeboat.

Half the proceeds of the fete, £360, was donated to the Haverhill and District branch who themselves made an additional £89 from the sale of souvenirs and a' Pick a Nail' game.

No hitches at Hitchin For once Hitchin and District branch were blessed with good weather for their annual house-to-house collection and flag day, and despite a shortage of volunteers for both events, they were able to top £1,000.

Afternoon tea in Church House, Hitchin and the sale of a mouth-watering selection of cakes - which did not stay on the tables very long - raised approximately £171.

Boxing clever Jim Smith, Cramer's honorary secretary is cock-a-hoop with the amount collected in the station's three collecting boxes.

In twelve months the boxes attracted a staggering £6,244 - and needed frequent emptying! Jim has no secret recipe for success, he says the station just looks after them, and makes sure there is a small box handy near the souvenir sales to take the customer's small change.go the Brighton Radio navigation Twelve noon on a Saturday afternoon in July saw the start of Ponden Boat Users seventh 24-hour sponsored sail, this time with a difference. The sailing club was joined by Keighley Amateur Radio Society who were running a 'special event' radio station, also sponsored, using the call sign GB75OYC.

The Radio Society of Great Britain are celebrating their 75th year and so there were many other special event stations using the GB75 prefix and keen competition among radio hams to contact them.

Five dinghies, two canoes and a windsurf team started the event and had to contend with midges, rain, flat calm and boredom, not necessarily in that order.

The radio hams were hard at work and were in contact with people in a wide variety of places, ranging from Oakworth, two miles down the road, to Australia and Indonesia, taking in Russia, Italy and the Ukraine.

200 radio contacts were made in 20 separate countries and despite the poor weather the sailors managed a total of 204 laps.

The event is expected to raise well over £800, which will be divided equally between the Ocean Youth Club and the RNLI.

Two top three Chris Sutcliffe,acommittee member of West Wickham branch, and colleague, Mike Haywood, set out to climb the highest mountain in Scotland, England and Wales to raise funds for the RNLI.

They left London Heathrow by air to Scotland to climb Ben Nevis, then went on to Scafell Pike in the Lake District, followed by Snowdon in Wales - all in 48 hours.

The expedition would not have been possible without the support of Dan-Air for the flight to Inverness and Avis, who supplied a car for the remaining journeys between climbs and return by road to Heathrow.

The trip involved 11,000 feet of climbing by Chris and 840 miles of driving by Mike, and resulted in £571.40 being raised and donated to the Institution.Drawing to a close During the Autumn the suspense ended for the many thousands of supporters who had bought tickets in the Volvo draws, which had been run in seven of the RNLI's fund-raising regions.

The big prize in each region was a brand new Volvo 340 car, kindly donated by Volvo's UK concessionaires, with several prizes for runners-up in many of the regions.

The first draw was for the North East region's prize, when on 28 September the Mayor of Harrogate, John Marshall, drew the winning ticket at the Harrogate premises of Volvo Concessionaires.

The winner was Mrs D. Limb, who is the wife of Skegness station's tractor driver.

The next three draws were held on 30 September, in the Welsh, Scottish and South East regions.

Councillor Bill Herbert, the Lord Mayor of Cardiff drew the Welsh region's winning ticket outside City Hall, to the delight of Mr. J. Johnston of Penrith in Cumbria who found himself the owner of the Volvo.

In the Scottish region Sir William Sutherland, Chief Constable of Lothian and Borders Police drew the winning ticket at the Edinburgh Sheraton on the same day. The ticket had been sold by the Trossach branch and belonged to Mr R. J. Bews of Clack mannnan.

Michael Beach, the coxswain of Newhaven lifeboat, drew the South East region's lucky winner at a Grace Darling anniversary cocktail evening which had been organised by Haywards Heath Branch at Bantridge Forest, Balcombe, Sussex. The evening raised a further £1,000 for the RNLI and the winning ticket belonged to Mr K. T. Colvin of Brentford, Middlesex.

Next in line was the South West region's car, and at the Regional Conference in Torbay on 11 October Councillor D. J.

Reid, the Mayor of Torbay delved into the Volvo's boot and picked the ticket of Mrs Lock from Plymstock in Devon. To everyone's delight the winner was present at the conference - and more than a little over-awed by her luck.

On October 13 it was the turn of the Eastern region when Peter Burwood, the coxswain of Harwich lifeboat picked the winning ticket at the regional office at Hadleigh. The winner here was Mrs A. Moffat of Harpenden, Hertfordshire.The final draw took place at Wimborne, Dorset on 14 October when Councillor Malcolm Angel, the Mayor of Wimborne, drew the winning ticket for the Southern region in the town square. The winner was Mr R. Peachey-Austing of Salisbury, Wiltshire.

The 1988 Volvo draws raised a total of £262,663 bringing the grand total of the draws in 1987 and 1988 to around half-a-million.

The benefits of last year's draw have already been seen in the form of the Tyne class lifeboat Voluntary Worker (see naming ceremony in this issue), and it is hoped that the second year's draws will result in another offshore lifeboat being added to the fleet.

9The amounts raised in the seven participating regions were: North East £39,000; Welsh £22,000; Scottish £40,000; South East £31,000; South West £53,024; Eastern £28,364; and Southern £49,275.Reserve radio Whitstable lifeboat station was presented with a mobile radio, thanks to generous members of the Chatham division of the Royal Naval Reserve.

Officers and ratings from HMS Wildfire raised the money to buy the £730 radio in a sponsored walk from Med way to Whitstable.

The walk was the idea of Chief Wren Pat Howes from Gillingham, and 12 members made the 25-mile trek.

Members of the Whitstable lifeboat crew visited Chatham earlier in the year to receive the cheque for the radio, but a party from HMS Wildfire later travelled to Whitstable to hand over the radio formally.

Fun at Fambridge The North Fambridge Yacht Club organised a Fun Day for members and guests and raised £289.75 for lifeboat funds.

The more energetic members participated in a cruiser race around the moorings, followed by a number of exhausting competitions involving carrying water in leaky tins, chasing balloons down the River Crouch and rowing dinghies across the tidal stream in relay. Those sensible enough to avoid the press-gang supplied teas in the clubhouse and manned a souvenir stall supplied by the local branch.

Sting in the tail Visitors to Calshot's successful sixth Southern Ski Show were amazed to find that not only did they have to pay to get in to the Show, but even worse they were invited to pay to get out! This enterprising idea was the brainchild of the Calshot Sports Association who provided the merry gang of volunteers that manned the gate and car park.

Becoming bored towards the end of the day, they picked on the RNLI as a worthy charity and approached those leaving the show for their loose change. Collecting boxes were soon full and an upturned traffic cone was pressed into service! By the time the stallholders had contributed the cone was full and over £200 had been collected. Calshot lifeboat station were the delighted recipients.

Sea dip! Even though she hates the water, Lynn Oliver, barmaid at the 'Hare and Hounds', Hawkenbury, agreed to be thrownoverboard for a sponsored fund raising stunt.

Andrew Faine, a crew member of the Dungeness lifeboat, jumped with her and, assisted by other members of the crew, he soon had her safely back on board. Money is still coming in from sponsors and it is hoped to raise at least £400.

Turning the Tables Clacton-on-Sea branch had a very successful flag day this year, with £3,700 being raised from the street collection, boxes in shops, offices, schools and churches and special events.

For the third year running Clacton Round Table supported the flag day. They arranged for the main shopping street to be closed to traffic and organised marching bands, judo displays, face painting, bouncy castle, balloon races, vintage car displays and a street organ, while the fire brigade displayed one of their engines.

Collecting boxes were supplemented with buckets borrowed from the Carnival Association and, apart from collecting the pennies, the branch had a central display of an inshore lifeboat while the ladies' guild manned a souvenir stall.

Mr P.A. Edwards, branch flag day organiser, said 'Perhaps other branches would consider approaching organisations to team up with, although in our case we were lucky, as the Round Table volunteered their services to us.' Derby's year The former Mayor of Derby, Nancy Wawman, was pleased to hand over a cheque for £14,000, the result of a year-long fund-raising campaign for the city's lifeboat appeal.Bulb aid For nine years Mr Leonard Temple of Sheringham has sold spring flowering bulbs in aid of chosen charities.

During this time he has raised a total of £7,500, and this year it was the Norwich Ladies' Guild who benefited to the tune of £928.

But the 78-year-old retired auctioneer has now decided he is too old to do it any more.

'It's a lot of work, and I've got a lot of other things on the go', said Mr Temple.

Far ranging 'Frobisher' Sea Rangers from Battersea, rowed their gig Lord Louis in the Company of Watermen and Lightermen's Great River Race - 17 miles down the Thames, on the peak of the tide from Twickenham to the Tower of London.

About 80 boats competed, representing many organisations which included the Royal Navy, River Police, Sea Cadets and Sea Scouts. 'Frobisher' completed the course in 2 hours 45 mins and won the Ladies' prize of £200, which they generously donated to the RNLI.Marathon run.

Frank Appleton, who ran the London Marathon to raise funds for Boroughbridge Ladies' Guild, later presented the guild with £800.

Frank's fiancee, Sandra Dale, is a member of the guild's committee, and it was she who helped with the sponsorship, collecting sponsors and gathering in the money after the run. Both Frank and Sandra are great lifeboat supporters, Frank having a nephew in the Whitby lifeboat crew.

Regular help During the year, 'regulars' at the Wrens Hotel, Leeds, have held various fund raising events for the RNLI, ranging from sponsored walks, to concerts, raffles and collections.

The total raised was £1,670, and the proceeds were presented to Filey lifeboat station to help towards the cost of new waterproof clothing and a new tractor radio.

Fayre play at Swanage Despite blustery winds Swanage Ladies' Guild Annual Fayre raised £3,000. The highlight was a Junior Town Crier competition, judged by Swanage's champion town crier Derrick Fincham, with the winners and runners- up receiving cups and certificates.

School lunches A luncheon was held at Barnard Castle School, Co Durham, and 125 people were served with a meal prepared and provided by nine committee members of the Teesdale Ladies' Guild. With a raffle and souvenir stall a grand total of £1,027 was realised.High achievers The outstanding effort of this year's very successful Lifeboat Week at Portpatrick was the sponsored parachute jump masterminded by second coxswain Alan 'Mac' McQueen.

Ten of the crew took part, jumping from 2,500ft into the sea - all of them jumping for the first time. Crew member Colin Atkinson's wife Julie, also bravely volunteered to jump.

Portpatrick Lifeboat Week has been held since 1977, and has now developed to such an extent that several events take place each day. Pipe bands, bonny baby competition, dog training club demonstration, children's fancy dress parade, and a greasy pole contest were just a few of the diverse events of this year's week.

This year was the second that the recentlyfounded Portpatrick ladies' guild has taken over a lot of the work involved, including the important aspect of counting the money, which totalled £8,600.

The co-operation between the guild and the crew, led by Coxswain/Mechanic Robert Erskine, is tremendous with many of the men taking their holidays during lifeboat week so they can help out.

In brief A BUSY summer for Aldeburgh and District ladies' guild enabled them to raise more than £6,000. Lady Cave kindly opened her gardens for a supper party, which raised approximately £500, a street fair raised more than £2,200 and the Marmalade Club of Thorpeness held a dance which contributed a further £2,250. A sunny day for the annual lifeboat day and flag day raised another £ 1,090.

THE ANNUAL bazaar organised by Barton on Humber branch was opened by Steve Massam of BBC Radio Humberside and proved very profitable, with just over £ 1,000 being raised for lifeboat funds.

REGULARS at the Old Brig Inn Hotel in Beattock, Scotland, held a sponsored marathon darts session. After playing all day they raised £337.50 for the Moffat and Beattock branch. The branch, which is one of the furthest places from the sea in Scotland, has been going strong for over 30 years and this year has raised over £2,500 for lifeboat funds.

MIKE Bicks, Dr John Jones-Morris, David Taylor, Chas Warren and Ian Tutton, all members of Madoc Yacht Club, Porthmadog, took part in a sponsored row from Porthmadog Harbour to the Fairway Buoy and back, a distance of 7 nautical miles. Their efforts at the oars resulted in a cheque for £ 1,000 being presented to Mr Gwilym Evans, honorary secretary of Criccieth lifeboat station.

YOUNG members of Rotaract Stirling collected £900 by organising various activities, including a 27-hour table football event. A cheque for this amount was presented to Mrs Julia Paterson, president of Stirling branch, by Mr Alan Pratt, president of Rotaract Stirling and Mr Gordon Brewster, past president.

CAMPBELL Barclay and Hugh Moir undertook a sponsored water ski to Maryport and back from Kippford, raising £475 for Kippford and District Ladies' Guild.

V sFit and helping The Hampshire Keep Fit Association is celebrating after raising £2,037 for the RNLI lifeboat appeal with its charity work in the past year.

Members were thanked for their hard work at the association's annual meeting in Petersfield.

Ladies' Keep Fit Appeal The total amount raised by the year-long national Ladies' Keep Fit Appeal was £144,286.

Meeting the challenge At a ceremony at St Abbs lifeboat station, Mrs June Gascoigne of Dudley, Cramlington, handed over the sum of £584 she had collected as sponsorship money for her efforts in 'The Great North Challenge'.

The event involved walking 11 miles, cycling 13 miles and completing a half marathon. The money was presented to Mr E. Greene, honorary treasurer of St Abbs branch, and, by way of a thank you, June was taken on a lifeboat exercise.

Two halves Two regulars at the 'Fir Tree' public house in Farnborough, Hampshire, had half their beards shaved off in an effort to raise money for the RNLI.

Colin Howard and Chris Ball, aided and abetted by the landlord, John Palmer, pub regulars and work colleagues, managed to raise over £500 in seven days, proving that things done by half measures do sometimes bring results.The other half Alan Myrtle of Bicester and three friends at the Peyton Arms public house in Stoke Lyne agreed to spend four days over the bank holiday with half a beard. As the bank holiday approached the other three shaved off their beards completely, leaving Alan as the only one with half a beard for the holiday weekend.

Regulars at the pub chipped in and his sponsorship brought in the sum of £150 for lifeboat funds.

Hare today ...

During the short time Vic and Sally Roberts kept 'The Hare and Hounds' in Eynesbury they collected almost £ 1,000 for the Gamlingay, Sandy and District branch.

After moving back to their home town of Rhyl they were presented with a specially printed honorary life membership card of the branch, suitably inscribed and signed by the president and all members of the branch.

Tractors galore! Paul Thompson, a member of Leeds Shoreline branch, has been showing his collection of over 200 model tractors at many events over the past five years, and has raised over £500 for the RNLI.

Paul's collection has been built up over many years, some items are from his childhood, and they were recently displayed at Harrogate following the Trans Pennine run of Historic Vintage Vehicles.Quick on the draw Tunbridge Wells & District branch took part in the Maidstone River Festival and, through their inspired efforts, sold more than £700- worth of Volvo raffle tickets.

Headed north As a result of a 300-mile sponsored walk round the north of Scotland by Donald MacSween, Stornoway branch has benefited by £2,562.75.A Festival, a marathon ... and plastic ducks The RNLI was well represented at the Glasgow Garden Festival thanks to the Drambuie Liqueur Co, and their brand manager, Mr Maxwell Niven, a Shoreline member.

Displays involving the Helensburgh Atlantic 21 lifeboat and an air/sea rescue helicopter were presented monthly during the course of the Festival, at which a Watson class lifeboat was also exhibited, and in August the festival was combined with the final stage of the Cross Scotland Dinghy Marathon and the subsequent fun event.

Organised by Linlithgow Union Canal Society, the 48 entrants in the marathon - all of whom had been invited to seek sponsors for their gruelling event - successfully completed the course, and were then let loose to chase 1,000 plastic ducks released into the marina...

Raymond Baxter (chairman of the RNLI's Public Relations Committee) held everyone's attention with an excellent commentary for a vast throng of people lining the banks of the River Clyde, which was also the stage for an impressive display by boat and helicopter.

In a lighter vein his impromptu comments in the chase of the plastic ducks kept the audience amused and entertained.

So far sponsorship of the event has brought in approximately £6,000 for the Institution's funds.In the swim Pupils from the junior section of Shirenewton Primary School raised £500 from their sponsored swim at Chepstow Leisure Centre.

Three of the pupils, Claire Lynch, Daniel Phillips and Richard Selby presented the cheque to Mrs Mary Price, vice chairman of the Chepstow branch. The children were inspired to raising such a magnificent sum after doing project work on Grace Darling.

Good sports! To raise funds for the RNLI and another charity, Tom Trimby and Clive Tuxford, who live in the Colchester area, announced their intention to visit 60 towns and villages in one day, driving their classic Morgan sports car.

Dressed as Noddy and Big Ears respectively the two motorists attracted much attention as they set about their task, and, having completed the trip were able to present £375 to Colchester District branch.

Having a ball The annual May Ball organised by the St Agnes ladies' guild was held in a marquee erected on land owned by Dr H. Whitworth.

750 guests danced and made merry until 4 o'clock the next morning and a full English breakfast was served at lam! A draw for six bottles of champagne and a tombola stall all helped towards the £2,400 raised for lifeboat funds.

Lifeboat Day in St Agnes also proved very successful with £2,100 being raised. Beautiful weather made an ideal backdrop for a freefall parachute display and there were rescue and helicopter displays, boat rides, pony rides, sandcastle competitions, souvenir stalls and raffles.Darlings of Broadstone Members of Broadstone branch raised £463 during their Grace Darling Appeal Week..