Ballyglass fills the gap in Ireland's cover The Institution will have an entirely new lifeboat station in operation on the northwest coast of the Republic of Ireland this autumn.

The station, at Ballyglass Co. Mayo will be opened initially for a 12 month evaluation period and fills a gap in the RNLI's current declared coverage to the UK Government Search and Rescue Committee between the Over 10m lifeboat stations at Arranmore (Tyne class) to the north and Galway Bay (Arun class) to the south.When it becomes fully operational the station will have taken only some 12 months to establish once a suitable location - both geographically and from the point of view of manning - had been established.

Ballyglass will be an 'afloat boat" station, and initially will be allocated Arun class ON 1052, 54-07 City of Bradford IV, from the relief fleet (ex Humber, ex Thurso) on temporary station duty.

The lifeboat is due to sail in July 1989, after survey at Buckie, Scotland, for a passage to Poole with half of the new crew. The remaining half of the crew wiJ) join them there for an intensive training course, and she will sail for the station in the third week of August - taking the second half of the crew.

Once at Ballyglass a working-up period will commence under the supervision of the divisional inspector, with the assistance of a staff coxswain, and the lifeboat is expected to be operational during October.

The last new Over 10m lifeboat station to be opened by the RNLI was at Alderney, Channel Islands, in 1984.New RNLI chairman Mr Michael Vernon was elected Chairman of the RNLI at the meeting of the Committee of Management held on 29 June 1989.

He succeeds the Duke of Atholl who had been chairman for the past ten years.

Mr Vernon joined the Committee of Management in 1963 and was appointed a Vice-President in 1975, becoming a Deputy Chairman of the Institution in 1980.

He served with the Royal Marines from 1944 to 1946 before his business career with Spillers Ltd, of which he was chairman from 1968 to 1980.

Mr Vernon was Commodore of the Royal Ocean Racing Club from 1965 to 1969 and is a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron.

Michael Vernon is married with four children and lives in Hampshire.Workington lifeboat to be hoist by her own gantryAn entirely new method of launching an RNLI lifeboat is being planned for the station at Workington in Cumbria.

Workington's current 47ft Watson lies afloat in a less-than-convenient position and is subject to launching limitations at low water. With the need for a new, fast lifeboat at the station in the future the Institution has been looking at ways in which the situation can be improved, and after detailed consideration has come up with a novel solution.

The plan is to keep the new boat, a 47ft Tyne class, ashore in a boat house and to launch her over the quayside when needed.

The idea was originally described as 'davitlaunching', but the sophisticated method is so far removed from the traditional idea of davits that the more apt term 'gantry launching' has now been adopted.

The project calls for the building of a boat house on part of the quay wall surrounding a tidal basin where there is sufficient depth of water to launch the boat at all states of tide.

Ideas for a building large enough to house a gantry which enabled the boat to be lifted and rolled out to the quayside have been abandoned due to the huge size of the structure involved, and a decision has been made to use an outdoor gantry running on rails - rather like a container crane - to launch and recover the boat, and to make use of a trolley to move her from the gantry into a more conventional- size boathouse.

The building is to be set on supporting piles between some existing sheet piling and the quayside and this area is to be back-filled with rockfill, although the cost of this is to be shared with the dock authorities.

The undertaking will be expensive, but after exploring every other option the gantry system has been adopted as the only practical method of ensuring that Workington's next lifeboat can be launched efficiently andNew Chief Coastguard Cdr Derek Ancona FBIM MNI RN (RETD) succeeded Captain Harris as Chief Coastguard on 13 July 1989.

Cdr Ancona joined the Coastguard in 1983 after five years in the Merchant Navy and 25 years in the Royal Navy. For the last five years he has served as Regional Controller, Aberdeen Search and Rescue Region.Newspoint Independence and confusion In his annual address the retiring chairman touched on a matter which is assuming more importance to those who are concerned with the lifeboat service - the matter of recognition in the eyes of the public.

While the Institution does not seek publicity for its own sake, it is a matter of some concern that many people still confuse the work of the lifeboats with that of other search and rescue organisations.

Perhaps the RNLI is partly a victim of its own success - the service runs such modern, efficient boats and its professionalism is such that it belies its voluntary status. But, if allowed to continue, such confusion could erode our ability to raise the voluntary funds which we so need and is an, admittedly unintentional, slight on the dedication of the lifeboat crews.

The report of the service by two lifeboats to the cargo vessel Sec Japan in this issue is one example which springs to mind. It brings home the conditions in which our lifeboats operated, yet many media reports did not even mention the lifeboats and their valiant work at the scene.

In this case it is perhaps fair that the helicopters which winched all but one of the crew to safety should have received the lion's share of the media coverage, yet even the committed lifeboat supporter could have taken some days to discover that lifeboats had been at work had they relied solely on media coverage.

Even after 25 years of inflatable RNLI lifeboats there is still confusion insomequarters-onedaily newspaper still seeming to think until quite recently that some kind of national inshore rescue service operated entirely separately from the RNLI's fleet of all-weather boats.

The Institution's Public Relations Department is constantly informing all sections of the media of the true facts about the RNLI, and writing to correct misconceptions still harboured in some quarters. It cannot win this battle alone and the message is clear, we must all constantly hammer home the message: The RNLI is independent, although working closely with other search and rescue organisations, and it is entirely funded by voluntary contributions and its lifeboats manned by volunteers.

The RNLI goes about its business in a quiet and professional way. It does not seek glory, but recognition of its status would be much appreciated.Explosive stuff The Institution receives co-operation from many bodies in the course of its work, and a recent example from Cornwall illustrates the number of small savings and gestures of help which are made available.

An annual licence is required to store explosive flares at lifeboat stations, for which there is a fee. However when sending a cheque to Cornwall County Council for the Padstow station's licence Honorary Secretary Ralph Chalker remarked that he was surprised that a voluntary, life saving organisation should be asked to pay the fee, which had been recently increased.

Some days later Ralph heard from the council: 'While the legislation does not allow for exemption of your organisation,' wrote the Chief Fire Officer and Explosives Officer, 'I have considered your comments and decided that, in future, the fee will be waived and your cheque is returned herewith.' More good news followed: 'This decision, of course, will affect all other lifeboat stations in the county...' With the precedent set, perhaps other counties may consider following suit?With '1992' drawing closer events in the European Community are assuming even greater importance for the Institution - and of particular interest is the preservation of the RNLI's zero-rated VAT status in the 'harmonised' community.

Two Euro MPs recently visited RNLI establishments to bring themselves up-todate with the Institution's affairs - Bryan Cassidy (Dorset East and Hampshire West) toured the Poole headquarters and depot on 24 April 1989, and Richard Simmonds (Wight and Hampshire East) visited the Institution's Cowes base with Chief Accountant Roger Priestley on 5 May 1989, before going on to see new Mersey and Tyne class lifeboats under construction at nearby FBM Marine.RNLI plans for the future of the Poole headquartersRNLI plans for the future Fifteen years after its move to Poole the RNLI is facing logistical problems in its headquarters building, and urgently needs more space to cope with the continually increasing demands on the lifeboat service, and the increasingly complex and technical nature of those demands.

In the early 1970s the RNLI was able to sell its London and Boreham Wood premises to finance a modern headquarters and depot in Poole. At the time the financial climate limited the size of the new building, but extra land was bought alongside the office site in anticipation of increasing demand on the service.

Increasing demands That demand has now shown itself in a massive increase in lifeboat rescues, a doubled boat building programme, new lifeboat designs - both in service and on the drawing board - and an accelerated lifeboat station improvement programme. Fund raising is also a mammoth task, and although the RNLI's income has increased dramatically more money is still needed, and this must be raised in an increasingly competitive and complex charity world.

New office technology and facilities have all been used to cope with the increasing requirements, but the 1970s building is now completely full, and the Committee of Management has decided that the only way to take the RNLI efficiently into the 21st century is to erect an additional building alongside the existing one.

The Institution's aim is to develop the 'spare' land bought in the 1970s and currently used as a car park, adding a new,smaller building designed to harmonise with the existing one and providing a similar standard of accommodation.

Provision is to be made for the new technology, such as proper computer facilities, which now play a large part in much of the RNLI's work.

While the Institution recognises that it must have adequate headquarters facilities it is reluctant to divert funds from its work, particularly the provision of new lifeboats and improvements for lifeboat crews, and is therefore seeking one or more partners to help fund the new building.

The Institution's brief was for 'a durable, good quality, low maintenance building with no extravagant features or frills'.

Plans for the new, four storey structure show it rotated by 45 degrees to the present five storey building to minimise loss of daylight. At ground floor level much of the space within the building 'envelope* has to be allocated to car parking to meet planning authority requirements - which also call for comprehensive landscaping of the site.

Outlined planning permission has already been received and a design team appointed.

A full planning application was lodged in March 1989, and tenders invited for July 1989.

The RNLI's decision on tenders is expected in September 1989, with building work to start in October and completion of the building at the end of 1990.The proposed new four storey building (left) is rotated by 45 degrees to the existing headquarters building (right) and is designed to harmonise with it. The brief was for a durable, good quality, low maintenance building with no extravagant features or frills.New depot at Thirsk On 14 April 1989 the new Northern Fundraising Stores Depot at Thirsk was opened officially at a ceremony attended by The Duke of Atholl, chairman of the RNLI, and Lt Cdr Brian Miles, the director.

The depot had been based near Pately Bridge, Harrogate for 16 years, but the rapid growth in turnover of souvenirs, publicity and fundraising support material necessitated larger premises.

The new depot, on an industrial park in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, provides easy access to all the areas to be covered.

After the official opening, and the unveiling of a commemorative plaque by the chairman.

His Grace was shown round the new premises by Terry Burden, the manager of the depot. In addition to the usual stock of fundraising supplies a pictorial display and model and inflatable lifeboats were on show in readiness for an Open Day the following day.The Open Day on 15 April was a great success, with glorious weather and supporters, guild members and the general public turning up in their hundreds to see the new venture.

The attractions included displays by the Redcar inflatable lifeboat crew, coastguard, police and fire brigade with a treasure hunt, model boats and bouncing castle attracting the younger visitors.

All the new depot staff, together with some regional office staff from the North East, North West and Scotland were on hand to help and to meet the public, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day - which also added some£l,000 to the Institution's funds.Record number of lifeboat launches in 1988 NEWS EXTRA 1988 saw a record number of lifeboa.t launches, comfortably topping the 4,000 mark for the first time at 4,224. Although, as the chairman remarked during his address at the annual meetings (see report, opposite page), commercial craft still account for many of the more difficult and dangerous services some 59 per cent of this record total were to pleasure craft. A total of 1,343 lives were saved, 991 (73 per cent) of them from pleasure craft.

Other statistics from an analysis of the records for 1988 show that: Pleasure Craft • Yachts with auxiliary engines were the cause of 484 launches; sailboards 417 launches; large cabin powered craft 233 launches; yachts without engines 229 launches and sailing dinghies 164 launches. Manually propelled craft, such as rowing boats, canoes, air beds, surf boards and rubber dinghies accounted for another 284 launches.

• Lifeboats spent 3,174 hours at sea on services to pleasure craft - an average of 1.28 hours per service.

• Nearly £ 14.4m worth of craft were recovered.

There were no salvage claims.

• More than half of all calls to powered craft were caused by mechanical failure, followed by 'vessel overdue', leaks and swamping.

• For yachts and multihulls stranding, machinery failure and meeting adverse conditions were the most common causes of calls.

• Calls to sailboards increased for the first time in three years, up 20.5 per cent from 346 in 1987 to 417 in 1988.

• Inflatable and rigid inflatable lifeboats carried out 62.8 per cent of the services to pleasure craft, launching 1,560 times.

Merchant Vessels • Lifeboat launches to merchant vessels and tankers were up by 28 to 126 in 1988. 23 lives were saved and 104 people landed.

• More than a quarter (29 per cent) of the launches were to take off sick crewmen, 20 were the result of a man overboard and 16 because of machinery failure.

• More than half (56 per cent) of the services to merchant vessels were carried out in darkness, 21 per cent in winds over Force 7 and 37 per cent with helicopter co-operation.

Others • Lifeboats were called out 662 times to 'people not aboard a vessel', and saved 129 lives.

• These included 82 launches to people falling from a cliff (or similar), 173 launches to people and vehicles cut off by the tide and 148 to bathers, water skiers and divers.

• The majority of these services (67.4 percent) were carried out by inflatable and rigid inflatable lifeboats.

Summary of Lifeboat Launches 1988 Sail pleasure craft Power pleasure craft Fishing vessels Miscellaneous Manual pleasure craft Unidentified/distress Cut off by tide Swimmers Commercial and MoD Aircraft 500 1000 1500.