North West passage Captain Patrick Roberts undertook a sponsored windsurf from Kirkcudbright, Scotland, to Ramsey on the Isle of Man.

The sail started at 1pm in light winds and sunshine, but the wind soon died completely.

The support team acompanying Captain Roberts in a powerful motor cruiser were concerned that he would not make the 6.30pm tide at Ramsey, but their fears proved needless as the wind increased to a steady Force 3 from the north west and a safe landing was made.

Captain Roberts has so far raised nearly £950 for the RNLI and local hospitals.

Chilly Dip Members of Rock Pool swimming club in Newcastle, County Down, raised £ 1,565 for Newcastle Branch by holding a sponsored 'dip' on Christmas Day 1988.

During their icy dip in the Irish Sea the swimmers were encouraged by Christmas carols relayed over loud speakers by members of the branch.

A welcome bowl of soup helped to revive them after their fine fund raising effort.

Cheers! A cheque for £3,500 was presented to the RNLI in Warrington recently, representing money raised by members of the British Beermat Collectors Society at their 28th annual meeting.

The money was raised by an auction of older and rarer beer mats and at stalls selling what members call 'breweryana' - sales promotion material such as bar towels and mirrors.

At the two-day meeting, nearly 250 tegestologists from all over Britain and Europe gathered to view and swap material.

Flying Frenchman While most of us were tucking into turkey and plum pudding on Christmas Day, Christian Kolich was running a marathon to raise funds for the Whittlesey branch. Christian, the landlord of the 'Three Horseshoes' in Turves, started from 'The Haycock' in Wansford at 0645 and ran 26 miles to his own pub in Turves, arriving just before midday.

It was his first marathon, and Christian raised a staggering £3,000 in sponsorship.Congratulations! The Grace Darling Anniversary Appeal (North East) ended with £96,607.86 being presented to the RNLI's director, Lt Cdr Brian Miles, by the chairman of the Appeal Committee, Mr Bill Weeks.

This amount, subsequently increased to £97,029, was the result of many efforts, including those organised by local people, schools, Women's Institutes and donations from thousands of people in the north east.

The appeal was to raise funds for a new lifeboat to be stationed at North Sunderland, to be called Grace Darling in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the rescue.

The final total for the national appeal is approximately £145,000.

Yettie support! The Yetties, one of England's most popular folk groups, are long standing supporters of the RNLI.

The group offers its services free to charity and last year was the star at a Summer Evening on Round Island, Poole, organised by the Sandbourne Lifeboat Committee which raised approximately £5,800.

For the last 16 years the Yetties have supported Lifeboat Week at Lyme Regis, helping to raise many thousands of pounds, and their attendance at an Elizabethan Banquet organised by Lyme Regis Ladies' Guild helped raise £1,250.

Two years ago The Yetties were presented with an RNLI shield in appreciation of their s'upport of the lifeboat service.

Share of the proceeds The enterprising Harpenden branch won a share of 'The Times' newspaper's Portfolio £8,000 weekly prize. Members of the branch accumulated 69 cards from newspaper scrap collections and received £727.27.

Mr Patrick Wood, branch chairman, said the win was an efficient way of boosting funds. It was their first win and a great boost to lifeboat funds.

Sponsored snorkel The fifth annual Bournemouth Bay sponsored snorkel, organised by Hum Sub-Aqua Club, raised £920 for the Institution.

Since 1984 the Club has presented more than £3,000 to the Wimborne branch, but in 1988 it decided to benefit one of the local stations directly. Swanage was chosen as being most involved with divers in the area and a cheque was presented to Vic Marsh, coxswain of Swanage lifeboat.

New funds for New Brighton MrD.M. Rayner, headfnaster of Scarisbrick Hall School, Ormskirk, accompanied by some of his young pupils, presented a cheque for £1,725 to the chairman of the New Brighton lifeboat station, Mr E.S. Lowe.

The money, raised by the children and staff, is going towards the building of a new boathouse for the station's Atlantic 21. An appeal has been established to raise £75,000 for the new boathouse which will replace the old prefabricated building. Merseyside Development Corporation have also donated £7,500.Antique lunch The 23rd annual luncheon of the Leicester Ladies' Guild was held at the Grand Hotel in Leicester. The guest speaker was Mr Tony Harrison and his topic was 'Antique Collecting - a Collector's Personal Experiences'. Mr Harrison brought pieces of antique porcelain, silver and pictures to show to the 220 guests at the luncheon.

Mr Harrison is a regular lecturer on the QE2 and the P&O Lines. His talk proved to be most popular and entertaining and the luncheon raised £677 for the guild.

Meadow marathon Hearty skippers and crews braved stormy weather to raise money for the lifeboat service in a mammoth sponsored sailing event.

Despite wet weather about 100 people from clubs around the Midlands turned up for the 24-hour sponsored sail organised by the Mid-Warwickshire Sailing Club and held on Welsh's Meadow Reservoir.

The event raised £820 and the club, which organises the sponsored sails for Leamington Branch, have raised a grand total of £4,123.69 since 1983.

Fin and dandy! Seventeen members of the Duchy Divers, Truro, took pan in a sponsored 'fin' from Devoran Quay to 'The Pandora Inn' and raised £384 for the RNLI.

Roger Hough, landlord of the inn, together with his wife Helen, organised other fun events and made the cheque up to £1,000.

Roger is a formercrew memberof the Penlee lifeboat.Polruan is helped by Cornwall's rustling palms 'Headland', a cliff garden in Polruan, Cornwall, is open every Thursday afternoon in June, July, August and September in aid of the RNLI, and last year nearly £1,000 was handed over to Polruan Branch by the owner, Mr John Hill.

The one-and-a-quarter acre garden, rising from sea level to over 100ft, gives marvellous views along the south Cornwall coast, with a glimpse of the Lizard on a clear day.

Plants and trees must be able to withstand salt-laden gales but the south facing path is lined with sub-tropical plants and palm trees rustle in the breeze - well worth the 50p entrance fee!In brief THE CREW of the Irish sea yacht Starga:er organised an RNLI film show, disco and buffet for Knutsford and District branch and raised an impressive £348 for branch funds. Many of the crew were from Knutsford and the evening was a great success.

A GREAT start to the New Year was made by Hitchin and District branch, with £ 1.000 being donated 10 lifeboat funds. Among the fund raising events was a 'Punch, Pies and Carols' evening held in the Tithe Barn at Great Offley House, by kind permission of Mr and Mrs John Perkins, which raised £430.

The Hitchin Thursday Whist Club donated £32, representing the proceeds from raffles held at its meetings and Mrs Beryl Church donated £227, the result of selling Christmas cards, calendars and other souvenirs in her shop.

MEMBERS of Biddenden, Headcorn and District branch have received their biggesi single donation ever - a cheque for £3,500 - raised at Headcom Horse Show lasi summer.

Since its inception in December 1985 the branch has raised £18,805.

A CHRISTMAS bazaar organised by Bearsted and Thurnnam branch raised a total of £298.32. One of many loyal supporters who gave their time and talents was Mrs Gladys Church who worked throughout the year knitting scarecrow families and raised £60 selling them. This was the third such bazaar held in Weavering Village Hall and the total donated is now just over £ 1.000.

JUST BEFORE Christmas last year a party of 30 scouts and parents of the Bushey and Oxhey Scout District went carol singing in Trafalgar Square, London, to raise money for the RNLI. In just one hour they raised a magnificent £180.89.All Wight on the night Warwick baker Bruce Symes and his fellow Warwick Sailing Club member, policeman Mike Baumber, circumnavigated the Isle of Wight in Mike's Skipper dinghy last summer, and raised £540 for lifeboat funds.

'We thought a sail around the island would besomethingofachallenge,'saidMike. 'As it worked out it was really most enjoyable.

After two hours in thick fog we made the Needles from Keyhaven, then the sun came out and the breeze gradually died away! We sailed and rowed and made Castle Haven for a meal and short sleep.

'The hot, clear weather kept the wind away and a short tow was accepted on Sunday afternoon to get us to Bembridge in time to catch the tide up Spithead. Sunday night was spent on the beach in Fishborne.

'Monday was better sailing and good progress was made back to Keyhaven, tired but happy!' A cheque was handed over by Mike and Bruce to the Warwick Ladies' Guild in support of their D class lifeboat appeal.

Rallying round A combined effort by the Midland Rover Owners Club and Ledbury Ladies' Guild at a Special Caravan Rally and Competitive Safari at Leys Farm, Ledbury, raised £459.20 for lifeboat funds.

Ladies from the guild ran a souvenir stall and drivers in the Safari event gave spectators a ride around the course at £1 a lap.

The cheque was presented to Peter Williams, area organiser for Wales, by Major Hervey-Bathurst OBE, president of the MROC, and Mr Peter Oakden, chairman.An evening of religious humour proved highly entertaining and also raised £2,000 for the RNLI.

The event was organised by Rabbi Jonathan Remain of Maidenhead Synagogue (front centre), who spent an evening telling religious jokes, along with local Anglican and Catholic ministers. They were sponsored for each joke told, and managed to cram in 300. A sample joke runs: 'Father, I can't help thinking how beautiful I am. Is that a sin? No, my child, a mistake'.

A previous fund raising event for the RNLI by the Rabbi had been a sponsored non-sermon.A sunflower growing competition in the Falkland Islands last year by the PS A Fly ing Penguin Club raised a total of £980. Pictured (right) is the winner Mrs Caroline Miazza with Lady Fieldhouse.

The club is now organising a Great Pump- kin Growing Competition, and 25 young seedlings were sold at £1 each to various units around the camp. It is up to the individual unit to nurture its plant to produce the biggest pumpkin! The pumpkins are sponsored per pound weight.The Ramsgate connection Mrs Nellie Verrion of Eynsford, Kent, celebrated her 82nd birthday by presenting a cheque for £100 and three crocheted knee rugs to Ron Cannon, coxswain of Ramsgate lifeboat. The money was mostly raised by the sale of the handmade rugs.

Mrs Verrion's interest in Ramsgate lifeboat stems from the fact that she was born there, and that her husband Charles' grandfather was Charles Verrion, a crew member of the lifeboat Bradford which was involved in the rescue of the Indian Chief m 1881, for which he received a silver medal.

When talking to Ron Cannon Mrs Verrion discovered that she was born in the same road as Ron, and her husband in the same road as Mr Cannon Senior who, until his retirement was also a member of the Ramsgate lifeboat crew.

In brief FOR THE second year running Shotton Sailing Club has handed over a substantial amount of money to the RNLI from a sponsored Charity Endurance Race. They raised £687.27, even more than 1987's£518.

AT THEIR ANNUAL Bridge Afternoon, Bournemouth Ladies' guild raised the sum of £736. Added to this was a donation of £1,000 which the Guild receive at this event every year.

A £10 PRIZE donated by the Park Inn, Dover was won by the Dover lifeboat crew and supporters when they played the local branch of the Royal Naval Association at crib, shove ha'penny, uckers, pool, darts and carpet bowls. They also shared the £50 profit from the RNA raffle during a fiercely contested but often hilarious variety of games.

LOCAL SPORTS clubs were invited to hold fund raising events by Backwell and Flax Bourton branch, and the local skittles league, all 56 teams of the Wrington Vale, held a lifeboat evening in 28 pubs and clubs which resulted in a total of £512.92 being collected.

THE Sand wick Orkney Ladies' gui Id held their annual opening last June in the garden at Kinfield, the house of Captain Patrick Scott, and raised over £ 1,000.

STAUNCHLY supported by local people through its normal fund raising activities, Ilminster branch has raised £43,225 in the last four years. A third of the branch income is raised by the Lifeboat Thrift Shop, which is open one afternoon and one morning a week in a church hall, selling nearly new clothing, bric-a-brac and souvenirs.Banking on their support In March 1987 Barclays Bank in Loughton opened for business on Saturday mornings, and to mark the event - and the tenth anniversary of Loughton Branch - a cheque for £100 was presented to the branch.

In late 1988 arrangements were made for another donation to the branch by Barclays, this time for £300, and as it is traditional for Barclays' staff to wear fancy dress on the last working day before Christmas, and everyone is in party mood, it seemed appropriate to make the presentation after closing time All of which explains why, at 1535 on 23 December, a large crowd of passers-by stared with disbelief through the plate glass windows of the bank at what could have been a pantomime or fancy dress party.

The presentation was made by Ken Jones, the bank's branch manager and the oilskin clad figures are Julian Pye (kneeling), Mike Evans, (bearded), honorary secretary of the branch, Bernard Barrett and Percy Gibbs, all Loughton branch members, watched by the bank's staff.

Opening the sluices! Locals and holidaymakers flocked to Snettisham water-mill for a special open day in aid of the Hunstanton Ladies' Guild. This is the fourth year that Mr and Mrs Nott, have thrown open their water-mill and grounds for the benefit of the RNLI, and the guild is now £270 the richer.

Visitors were first guided through the small museum and the old mill, which is probably one of the oldest working water-mills in existence.

Guild members had each been delegated to make a batch of scones, and these were served with tea or cold drinks donated by Mr and Mrs Nott.

There was hardly a pause on the stall selling RNLI souvenirs and the raffle ticket sellers were also kept busy.

The shirt off his back! A Manchester United football shirt, autographed by the team, was donated by John Farley of Cawsand to Sean Patterson of 'The Devonport Inn', Kingsand, Cornwall, on the understanding that any money raised from it should go to the RNLI.

On hearing of this Peter Blagdon of Cawsand immediately offered to buy the shirt for £100, which was donated to the newly formed Rame Peninsula branch.

Publicans fleeced Geoff and Anne Atkinson, publicans of 'The Fleece Inn', Holme, Holfirth, have raised an amazing £3,125 for the RNLI. Part of the fund raising involved the Cross Scotland Dinghy Marathon which ended at the Glasgow Garden Festival last summer.

Geoff presented the cheque to Assistant Chief Constable A. McKenzie, vice chairman of the executive committee of the Scottish Lifeboat Council.

Get out of that As part of RAF Carlisle's 50th Anniversary celebrations a competition along the lines of the popular TV series 'Now get out of That' was organised by Fit Lts Peter Fitness and Dale Moody.

A weekend last summehsaw twelve teams of four, from various public service organisations and RAF Carlisle, undertaking an arduous competition which consisted of twelve exercises over a 50km course.

The course included water crossings, initiative tests and an overnight stop in a makeshift bivvy with survival rations.

All of the teams completed the course, and raised a total of £1,800 for charity. £900 of the total was donated to the RNLI, who were represented by the winning team of RAF Carlisle officers.It runs in the family It was very much a family affair when three members of the St Ives (Huntingdonshire) branch took to the road to raise money for the RNLI.

Sarah Boorman (19) and her father Laurie (48) completed the 13.2 miles of the half marathon, and mother Mary (51) the 4.5 mile Fun Run starting and finishing at Huntingdon Racecourse. Their efforts were re warded with a total of £240 for lifeboat funds.

To the rescue In a bizarre twist of fortunes the ambulance crews based at Bromley recently came to the 'rescue' of the RNLI.

Lewisham branch member, Mike Baldwin, had arranged for a special Race Night charity evening to be held on Bromley Common, but with less than ten days to go calamity struck - Mike was rushed to hospital for major surgery. The whole evening was in jeopardy, but the ambulance crew who took Mike to hospital rang Freddy Swain, the honorary secretary, to say they and their colleagues would help organise the event.

Together, both parties laid out the hall, prepared the refreshments and made sure the evening was a success, raising more than £300.

Mr Swain said he was overwhelmed by the response of the ambulance crews, 'without them we would have been in trouble,' he said.

Mike is now out of hospital and making a good recovery.

Marathon effort The Cispotel Lifeboat Fund is the Institution's biggest single supporter and is well on the way to funding its 41st lifeboat.

Since 1984 an annual half marathon has been organised, and last year's -which took place in Windsor Great Park - was officially started by Sir Robin Butler, Head of the Civil Service.

For the first time a Junior Fun Run also took place and this was won by brother and sister Graham and Louise Reidy.

The winner of the half marathon was Glen Whellams of HM Customs and Excise, with Jim Bell and Martin Beagley in second and third places. The first lady home was Alison Toplin of the Ministry of Defence.

More than £ 100,000 has been raised for the fund by these marathons, with last year's figure of approximately £15,000 still to be added.

Making a mint A member of Cabot Cruising Club, garage proprietor Mr Alex Jakeways, kindly donated a mint collection of miniature cars and vintage vehicle models, together with a display garage that had been part of a BP promotion, for a club raffle.

Sales of the raffle tickets reached £ 100 and Mrs Doreen Powles was delighted to win the prize just in time for a grandson's Christmas present! The Club, a staunch supporter of the lifeboat service, donated the money raised to RNLI funds.On the air The Lima Delta CB radio group organised a 'Dry Land Regatta', and a weekly CB Auction was conducted on the air by club chairman, John Timmis.

The events raised £545.98, and a cheque for this amount was presented to Richard Polden, deputy regional organiser for Wales.

Record breaker? A single collecting box recently opened by the Great Yarmouth & Gorleston Branch from the oil rig Mr Mack contained an amazing £863.16.

Hayling from Clapham A three-and-a-half month fund raising campaign by 'The Falcon'public house, Clapham, resulted in Chris and Kathy Kelly presenting a cheque for £1,300 to Nigel Roper, crew memberof Hayling Island lifeboat and Kathy Hubbard, South London area organiser.

Football tickets, country and western nights, in-house entertainment and a sponsored cycle race challenge helped raise this magnificent amount.

In appreciation of his attendance at the presentation Nigel Roper was handed a cheque for £ 100, to help with the renovation of the Hayling Island boat house.

Several members of the Clapham, Battersea and Wandsworth Branch were present and Chris and Kelly were duly thanked for their wonderful fund raising efforts on behalf of the RNLI.Golden anniversary party Hamilton Ladies' Guild celebrated 50 years of fund raising with a party in Hamilton Town Hall last December.

Guest of honour was SirCharles McGrigor, Convener of the Scottish Lifeboat Council, who proposed the golden anniversary toast to the guild.

The guild raised £7,600 last year and in the past ten years have handed over more than £70,000 to the Institution.

Beautiful Open Day The last Sunday in July last year proved a record breaking day for Percy Blunden and his garden at Keepers Cottage, Lindfield.

Percy opens his garden every year in aid of the Haywards Heath and Lindfield Branch and on a beautiful sunny day 882 people came to enjoy his very colourful garden - where between five and six thousand bedding plants vie for attention with many tubs of fuchsias and geraniums.

The home-made teas dispensed by Elisabeth B1 unden and her band of faithful helpers contributed to the enjoyment and at the end of the day just over £1,000 had been donated to lifeboat funds.

Percy has been awarded an RNLI plaque in appreciation of his fund raising efforts.Pembroke imagination The annual general meeting of Pembroke Ladies' Guild gave members a chance to review the very successful events of the past 12 months, during which they managed to send £9,000 to RNLI Headquarters, and hand a further £1,000 to Peter Williams, area organiser for Wales, during the evening.

The guild's social activities were quite imaginative - a Sherry and Mince Pie Morning in the officers' mess of HM Mooring and Salvage Depot at Pembroke Dock proved to be a great success in December; a Summer Ball in Pembroke Castle in July, run jointly with the Sail Training Association, was a prestigious event with the band of the Welsh Guards in attendance; and in October a Royal Devonshire Cream Liqueur Tasting Evening at the Cleddau Bridge Hotel was most popular.

Together with house-to-house collections, flag day and collections at Carew market, a most successful year was recorded.

Conoco's appreciation Over the past few years Conoco (UK) Ltd has been showing its appreciation of the emergency services by making donations at three of its locations, and the RNLI has been one of the beneficiaries.

Last year lifeboat stations at Humber, Mablethorpe and Great Yarmouth each received £1,000 and lifeboat committees in Aberdeen, Peterhead and Lerwick also received £1,000 each.Moving on Since taking over 'The Crown', a small country pub in the hamlet of Little Walden, just outside Saffron Walden, Chris Oliver and his wife Jill have, for many years, been enthusiastic supporters of the RNLI through the Saffron Walden and District branch.

A number of events, notably two sponsored Oyster Eat-ins and a celebrity dinner, all staged at 'The Crown' during the past three years, have raised £7,000 for lifeboat funds.

Chris and Jill have announced plans to move to larger premises but will continue to live within the branch area.

In brief FAR-FROM-THE-SEA Matlock and Bakewell branch raised more than £4,000 last year, with events that included a successful concert by the Derbyshire Police Choir and a stall for one day at Bakewell market.

This year's financial year began with a Christmas Sherry and Mincepies morning at the home of the branch chairman, Mrs Street, which raised £640.

ANOTHER GUILD which is also many miles from the coast is Uttoxeter Ladies' guild. Various fund raising events included a cookery demonstration, nearly new shop, harvest supper, clay pigeon shoot, holiday raffle, a collection at a racecourse and a Christmas Festive Evening brought in some £7,000, with a sponsored swim by children of Smallwood Manor School raising a further £2,012.

THE Stockbridge branch raised £3,874 last year. The main fund raising events were an open afternoon at the Longstock Water Gardens (by kind permission of the John Lewis Partnership) which raised £675 and an enjoyable evening of Parlour Racing at Marsh Court School, which raised £1,686.

A FASHION show started Faringdon branch's financial year off in a useful manner.

With the help of the Royal Military College of Science the show raised £1,250. 1987/88 brought in a total of £7,000 for the branch.

A WEEK-LONG exhibition organised by Mrs Z. Richards of the Birmingham branch in the Bull Ring Shopping Centre and manned by local guilds and branches in Birmingham, raised £3,080.

A GAMES evening organised by Hastings and St Leonards Lifeboat Society at the Royal George public house in Hastings raised a magnificent £800.

CAROLS were sung by members of the kitchen staff of Bromwich Catering, Sutton Coldfield, at the Christmas Dinner arranged for British Gas, Hinckley, and a collection raised a very generous £191 for the Grace Darling Appeal.

AT THE annual general meeting of the Anstruther Ladies' Guild president Mrs Loma Patterson presented a cheque for £738 to Peter Murray, coxswain of Anstruther lifeboat.

The money is to go towards the local lifeboat appeal.

V sEnough for a D class... and much more Committee members of Warwick Ladies' Lifeboat Guild with, from left to right: Richard Mann (kneeling) regional organiser for Central England; the Lady Mayor of Warwick, Cllr Bridget Savory; Jean Terry, chairman for the appeal; and Bill Leach, area organiser. (Photo courtesy Heart of England Newspapers) To mark the 21st birthday of the Warwick Ladies' Guild members set out to raise £10,000 to buy and equip a D class inshore lifeboat to be based at Port Talbot. However the total raised was £28,515, so the balance will be used to provide electronic equipment for Grace Darling, the new lifeboat to be stationed at North Sunderland.

Normal fund raising also continued during the year with such diverse events as a dinner dance, casino evening, race day at Warwick Racecourse, luncheons, talks and donations from local firms, with the result that a further £8,000 was contributed to RNLI funds.

Altogether a most successful year for the Guild..