The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Right Reverend Professor James A. Whyte, paid a visit to Aberdeen lifeboat station on 7 February.

The Moderator was introduced to Captain Brian Atkinson, the station's honorary secretary.

John Christie, the lifeboat coxswain and crew members and officials of the station before taking a trip on the Arun BP Forties.

Captain Atkinson said: 'Reverend Professor Whyte's request to visit the lifeboat station during his short visit to Aberdeen has delighted everyone at the station, and we consider it an honour.' Aberdeen's lifeboat, BP Forties, was the second 54ft Arun to be built with a GRP hull and £100,000 of the cost of building her in 1976 was donated by British Petroleum.

(Photo courtesy Aberdeen Evening Express)Newspoint A year of records 1988 was once again a year of records for the RNLI, and, as this issue of THE LIFEBOAT appears shortly before the Institution's AGM in London, it is an apt time to reflect on some of the figures which will be presented to that meeting.

Most of the statistics speak for themselves: more than 4,200 lifeboat launches; nine Bronze medals for gallantry; more than £38m raised by the RNLI's voluntary workers; 14 new lifeboats over 10m ordered; 31 new lifeboats under 10m built; and two new lifeboat designs under development for the 1990s.

But the Institution is more than just statistics, as its band of willing supporters will testify, and once again the Institution offers its sincere thanks to all those who contributed to its successful work in 1988, and who will doubtless continue to help through 1989 and beyond.

Willing help Legacies are a very important part of the RNLI's income, and the Institution is very grateful for the many bequests, large and small, which it receives.

A new version of the RNLI's leaflet entitled 'Making a Will? Make it a Lifesaver' has been produced to help those who would like to help the Institution in this way, and a copy is enclosed with this issue of THE LIFEBOAT.

Further copies, and information and advice on any aspect of gifts and legacies, is readily available from RNLI headquarters at Poole.The scale of operations Work on the design and development of a new generation of fast afloat lifeboats forthe I990's look another step forward in early March 1989 when two 7ft long models, previously used for tank testing both in smooth water and simulated waves, were refitted for free-running trials to test further their behaviour at sea.

The radio-controlled models are fitted with sophisticated sensors which measure pitch, roll and acceleration at various points around the lifeboat and transmit the results ashore for analysis. Powered by small petrol engines the models can easily achieve the scale design speed of 25 knots.

Two hull forms are being evaluated, one with a round bilge hull and the other with a hard chine. Work is being concentrated on the design known as FAB III, which will be some 55ft long and succeed the Arun class from about 1992, but new computer techniques will enable the test results to be used in the development of the smaller FAB IV - which will be around 45ft to 46ft long.Committee of Management changes Following the death of the Duke of Northumberland during October 1988 the RNLI's Committee of Management appointed Mr David Acland as Treasurer at a meeting on 24 November 1988. Mr Acland first joined the committee in 1966, was appointed Deputy Treasurer in 1972 and a Vice President of the Institution in 1975. He has served as chairman of the Finance Committee since 1972 and is also a keen yachtsman.

The position of Deputy Treasurer has been left vacant until the Committee of Management's meeting in June 1989.

Dr Norman A. Godman, member of parliament for Greenock and Port Glasgow, was co-opted to the committee at the same meeting.

DrGodman is the opposition front bench spokesman on the fishing industry, and before becoming an MP he was a shipwright and lecturer. He has his origins in Hull.

The date of the Duke of Northumberland's death was given incorrectly in the Winter issue of The Lifeboat. The Duke died on 11 October 1988.

Red Cross awards for RNLI Bangladesh staff The British Red Cross has announced that it is to present a special Certificate of Commendation to the two RNLI staff members who helped with flood relief work in Bangladesh last September.

Richard Perks, Staff Officer (General Duties) at Poole headquarters, and Mike Brinton, Deputy Superintendent at Cowes Base, flew to Bangladesh to train local volunteers to use and maintain ten ex-RNLI inflatable lifeboats (see 'Dacca Navigator', THE LIFEBOAT, Winter 1988/9 issue).

The British Red Cross hopes to present the certificates at Poole in the near future.

Safe bet for Cleethorpes The crew of Cleethorpe's D class inflatable lifeboat rose to a different kind of challenge recently when they took part in an episode of the popular television programme'You Bet'.

Time is always of the essence in a lifeboat service, but this time it was a real race against the clock. The self imposed challenge they faced was to launch the lifeboat, retrieve a'casualty' from the sea and bring him back to the beach - all within three minutes, and under the watchful eye of the television cameras.

The high-speed rescue was filmed during September 1988 and shown on ITV's 'You Bet' on the evening of 4 February 1989.

The clock was started as the maroons were fired - signalling the arrival of the fullydressed crew and two helpers who rapidly hauled the lifeboat to the water's edge, started the engine and raced the quarter of a mile out to the 'survivor'.

Hauling him aboard, they turned for the shore at high speed as the clock ticked away the remaining seconds. The timing was tight, and excitement was running high as the D class sped through the finishing gate on the sands with just seconds to spare.

The clock was eventually stopped with just four seconds in hand, close, but still inside the crews' target.

The crew later took their boat to the studio to col lect their' You Bet' award from presenter Bruce Forsyth and in return presented him with a shield bearing the RNLI logo.

The televised challenge gave wide publicity to the RNLI's work, emphasising the speed of response achieved by the crews.

AGM Guest of honour Guest of honour at this year's annual presentation of awards at the Royal Festival Hall will be the Countess Mountbatten of Burma.

The ceremony takes place on Tuesday 16 May 1989 at the Festival Hall, London, (starting at 1430) where Countess Mountbatten will present bravery awards to lifeboatmen and other awards to long-serving voluntary workers.

Stop thief The RNLI's Scottish office in Edinburgh has been the victim of a spate of mean break-ins, two within three days of each other in December 1988 and another in February 1989.

On the first occasion a silver medal, awarded for a shoreboat service to the SS Dinington in 1906, and about £150 in cash was stolen. The medal is of no great value for its silver content, but is of great historical interest.

Despite pleas in the local press the medal has still not been recovered, so should anyone be offered a silver medal in suspicious circumstances the Scottish office would be pleased to hear about it.Carrying on the good work The 70ft Clyde class Grace Paterson Ritchie, pictured shortly after building in 1965 against a snowy River Clyde backdrop. She is now further north as part of the Icelandic Life Saving Association's fleet. (Photo courtesy A. T. Kelly and Co) One of the three 70ft Clyde class lifeboats withdrawn from RNLI service last summer will continue the lifesaving role for which she was built.

Although there is no longer an operational need for the large cruising lifeboats in UK waters the Icelandic service decided that one of the large, steel lifeboats would be well suited to its particular requirements and bought the 24-year-old former Kirkwall lifeboat Grace Paterson Ritchie when the boat and her two sister ships were put up for sale by tender.

Grace Paterson Ritchie, formerly 70- 002, sailed for Iceland in March, where she was due to take up duty at Reykjavik to be used for lifesaving and training purposes.

The National Lifesaving Association of Iceland was founded 60 years ago and its first lifeboat was provided by the RNLI.

Close links have been maintained between the two lifeboat services since then.

Commenting on the sale Lt Cdr Brian Miles, director of the RNLI, said: 'I am delighted that Grace Paterson Ritchie will continue to be used in the role for which she was built. I hope that she continues to give as good service to our long-standing friends in Iceland as she has at Kirkwall.' The two other former Clyde class lifeboats have also been sold. City of Bristol, formerly 70-003 and stationed at Clovelly, has been bought for use as a fisheries protection vessel in the south-east of England and Charles H. Barrett (Civil Service No. 35), formerly 70-001 in the relief fleet, is expected to be based on the West Coast of Scotland.Showing the way at Earls Court Although the number of visitors to the London Boat Show in January was 10 per cent down on the previous year the RNLI stand raised more money than ever before, with the total proceeds edging over the £65,000 mark.

Building work at Earls Court meant that the space available for exhibits was reduced considerably, squeezing all exhibitors and preventing the organisers from donating a space large enough to show a lifeboat.

Instead a photographic display showed visitors all aspects of a lifeboat service, from the call-out, through the search to the final rescue.

A special touch-screen computer display, loaned for the occasion by AIM, also proved a big attraction. The system contained information on the Institution's stations, lifeboats and services, all of which could be found by 'zooming in'on a section of map simply by touching the screen.

The excellent position of the RNLI stand, on the main gangway, helped the enthusiastic fundraisers from the North, South and Central London branches sell more than £12,600-worth of souvenirs (up almost 70 per cent on the previous year), with the tireless helpers' lottery ticket sales (£8,003) and collecting box receipts (£5,674) also up on 1988.

The two pensioners from the Royal Hospital at Chelsea, Sergeant George Wolfe and Sergeant Robert Moy excelled themselves with their collecting boxes. Their familiar red coats seemed to be everywhere, and by the end of the show they had accounted for more than £4,000 of the collecting box total between them.

Over and above the £65,000 taken at the stand several large donations were also madeto the RNLI at the show, with Volvo handing over a cheque for £350,000 (the proceeds of the seven regional car lotteries), The Royal Bank of Scotland presenting £90,000 (the proceeds to date of their Access card affinity marketing scheme), a team of Royal Marines presenting well over £4,000 (the sponsorship proceeds of their high-speed circumnavigation), the Covergroupadding£ 10,000 from a Nescafe promotion and Kimberly Clarke contributing another £ 10,000 from a Kleenex tissue promotion.

The Institution was also able to take the opportunity of thanking some of those who had helped the RNLl's publicity during the year.

The chairman of the Public Relations Committee, Raymond Baxter, presented the Institution's public relations awards to ITV's 'Highway' programme for its extensive coverage of lifeboat stations, Messrs E. P.

Barrus for their help in publicising the work of inflatable lifeboats, Tom Me Sweeney of Ireland's RTE television and radio for his work over the years in publicising the RNLI in Ireland, The Star newspaper in Sheffield for the coverage it gave to the Sheffield lifeboat appeal and London's LBC radio for its lifeboat appeal.

Lifeboatmen from Swanage, Dover, Newhaven, Walmer, Walton and Yarmouth stations helped man the stand throughout the show, and those on the stand were pleased to meet representatives from at least 23 stations who called to 'make their number'.

Once again the show could not have succeeded without the untiring efforts of all the voluntary workers and crews, and the RNLI expresses its sincere thanks to everyone who worked so hard - and those who contributed..