Five men in a boat Tomost people, the idea of rowing across the Irish Sea is incomprehensible, and it was with a degree of trepidation that five amateurs set out at 0330 on Saturday 27 May from Holyhead to tackle the feat and raise money for the RNLI.

Charles Bracher, Guy Ropner, Keith Young, Louis Bernon and Christopher Godfrey-Faussett were aboard a suitably modified 16ft 9in rowing boat and were shadowed throughout the crossing by a support boat Red Ruth, whose captain Donald McDonald navigated and fed the rowers.

Rowing out of Holyhead harbour and realising that there was no turning back inspired a degree of determination that enabled the team to row 64 nautical miles in 24 hours and 2 minutes, averaging 2.7 knots in near-ideal weather conditions - and accompanied for part of the way by a pilot whale.

The five-man crew hopes to raise in the region of £35,000, and earn a place in the Guinness Book of Records for the first single crew to row the Irish Sea non-stop.

Pole position During the school holidays the children of Corfe Castle VC First School were asked to give a demonstration of maypole dancing as part of Swanage Ladies' guild lifeboat fair.

The children, aged 6 to 9 years, were delighted to dance for the crowd of locals and holidaymakers and the fair raised a splendid £3,311.89 for the guild.

An English country garden In 1987 Mr and Mrs Reynolds of Pulborough, opened their garden to the public and raised just over £731 for the RNLI.

This year they repeated the exercise and, by manning and supplying most of the goods for 12 stalls in their garden, raised a magnificent £1,013.60.

For the first garden party Mrs Reynolds knitted lifeboatmen, which she sold for £2 each. This year, aware that the Institution had changed the colour of the crew waterproofs, she cleverly changed the colours of her knitted lifeboatmen - and once again sold her entire collection.Jewels in the crown What appeared to be the Crown Jewels, lent to the North Shields Fish Quay Festival, were in fact replicas made over a period of 12 years by Bill Lodge, a loyal supporter of the RNLI. His display and collections drew a lot of interest from the public, raising £153.20.

The Festival, held over three days, attracted at least 600,000 people and Tynemouth Ladies' guild, together with Cullercoats & Whitley Bay guild raised £3,500 from the sales of souvenirs, Volvo raffle tickets, collections and donations.

Measuring up The Jersey lifeboat appeal, which hopes to raise £500,000 towards a new Tyne class lifeboat for the St Helier station, has already raised £15,000 by asking local boat owners to donate £ 1 for each foot length of their boat or sailboard However 81 -year-old Francis Hanby does not have a boat - so he decided to measure his car instead, and donated £11.50 to the appeal! He is hoping other 'landlubbers' will follow suit.

n brief A CASSETTE tape of Scottish fiddle music, songs and dance music, 'The Surge of the Sea', has been recorded by Michael Welch (fiddle), Roger Crook (tenor and accordion), Nancy Moffat (piano) and Alex Wands (double-bass). All proceeds from sales of the tape are being donated to the RNLI Anstruther lifeboat appeal. Tapes can be obtained from the Scottish Fisheries Museum, Anstruther (price £5), or by post (at £5.70) from Michael Welch, Dean Bank, Kilrenny, Anstruther, Fife.

SEALE Hayne College Rag Week resulted in £3,000 being presented to Frank Rowley, chairman of the Newton Abbot branch. The branch entered a demonstration D class lifeboat in the Rag Week procession and a total of £9,000 was raised by the college, the balance being donated to other charities.

A CAR treasure hunt and barbecue arranged by Southbourne branch was held at Port View Caravan Park by kind permission of Mr and Mrs Tony Smith - who organised the barbecue and donated £76.65 to the branch. T. W. King & Son of Southbourne duplicated 250 sheets of paperwork for the function free of charge.

FOR THE second year running a sponsored spaghetti eating contest was hosted by the Bugle Hotel in Yarmouth, Isle of Wight.

Seven competitors, cheered on by more than 100 people, were faced with steaming bowls of spaghetti bolognaise which they had to consume in the shortest possible time, with their hands behind their backs! A cheque for £250 was later presented to the West Wight Ladies' guild.

THE FIRS public house in the small village of Polbeth, West Lothian has raised approximately £700 in 30 months in its bar bottle. The most recent collection of £150 was presented to George Paterson, box secretary of the Livingston & Calders branch.

The branch, which was reformed in 1988 after being dormant for five years, has raised approximately £2,000 for lifeboat funds.Key-side concert The most ambitious fund raising event ever staged by the RNLI branch in the village of Polruan, on the River Fowey in Cornwall, raised £8,250 for branch funds.

Singer, composer and entertainer Peter Skellern has his second home in Polruan and agreed to give a concert on one of the local car ferries, moored off Polruan Quay for the occasion. He was accompanied by the Loveny Male Choir and the Bodmin Band who all somehow managed to squeeze aboard the tiny, six-car ferry.

About 1,500 people stood and sat around the small quay on Saturday 29 July for an unforgettable evening's entertainment, which was televised and later broadcast on all the BBC's local radio stations.

Atkins & Cripps, a Plymouth firm of timber importers, put up £1,000 to get the concert off the ground, and were soon joined by many others including local businesses in Polruan and Fowey.

Peter Skellern's joke during his performance that 'it seemed a good idea at the time' was a thought that often occurred to the Polruan branch committee as they struggled with the logistics of staging such an event - not least finding an insurance company which would consider the thought of a Steinway grand on the water!Buddy breathing Twenty members of the Liverpool University Sub Aqua Club took part in a sponsored 'buddy breathing' for the RNLI - a term used when two divers share a mouthpiece and air supply.

The event took place at the university sports centre pool and involved teams swimming as many lengths as possible underwater on 500 litres of air while 'buddy breathing'.

A total of £235 was raised for the New Brighton lifeboat house building fund.

A gala day The Gala Day organised by Lochinver Ladies' guild got off to a splendid start in blazing sunshine with the arrival of the Stornoway Coastguard Search and Rescue helicopter escorting the Arun class lifeboat, Murray Lornie, newly on station at the tiny fishing village.

The Gala Queen, Shirley Cameron, was crowned by the branch chairman, Mr Alex Strachan, and events included a pipe band display, highland dancing, children's sports, pillow fights, a bonnie baby competition, and a demonstration by the Northern Constabulary dog handlers.

The day culminated in a gruelling pentathlon race and a scratch team entered from the.

lifeboat crew emerged as the astonished but well deserved winners.

Almost £1,100 was raised on the day, a magnificent effort from such a small community.There she goes! Paul Maidment is pictured with landlord Brian Dudgeon and Belle Wilson, secretary of the South Shields Ladies' guild, toppling a pile of coppers in the Britannia public house, South Shields.

The money had been builtuponthebarover!2 months and it was Paul's duty on the evening his parents, Councillor Danny and Mrs Pat Maidment finished their year as Mayor and Mayoress of South Tyneside to help present the money to Belle Wilson, secretary of the South Shields Ladies' guild.

In addition to the pile of coppers, which totalled £182.37, regulars collected another £420. On their bikes! In June, Graham Bobin and Simon Frost embarked on a marathon fund raising journey for the RNLI. The pair cycled and windsurfed from Fort William to Inverness, windsurfing across Loch Lochy and Loch Ness. The 65-mile challenge is a popular event with windsurfing enthusiasts - who usually attempt it with transport back-up.

Graham and Simon however tackled the course in a different way, using inflatable windsurfers and folding bicycles. While they cycled they carried the windsurfers on their backs in rucksacks and then, when they sailed, the bikes were strapped on deck! Although the windsurfing sections were hampered by a lack of wind the team finished the course and raised £200 for lifeboat funds.

Not content with conquering Scotland, Graham and Simon then decided to cycle and windsurf up Snowdon! They cycled to Lake Glaslyn via the Llanberis Pass, sailed for a while before packing up the boards, and then cycled to the summit of Snowdon and down the other side, raising another £50.

Chips off the old block The outbreak of World War II was not the only event commemorated in London at the beginning of September - at least not around Netting Hill Gate .

A special party was held for 500 regular diners, friends and neighbours at Geales Fish Restaurant to celebrate 50 golden years of 'the best fish and chips on this planet', according to Michael Parkinson.

Show business personalities were among those served with fish and chips wrapped in facsimile copies of a 50-year-old newspaper, washed down with champagne.

The RNLI was chosen by the present proprietors, Chris and Carole Geale, as the charity to benefit from three raffles held throughout the day which raised more than £1,500.

Day of wine and Roses Sir Alec and Lady Rose held their annual wine and cheese evening in the garden of their house in Havant, when over 100 guests enjoyed a happy evening in lovely surroundings and raised nearly £800.

Clean sweep A joint promotion by Office Cleaning Services (Wales) and the RNLI resulted in a cheque for £1,000 being presented to Ann Williams, regional organiser for Wales.

DCS had promised the Institution £10 for every person attending their promotion, the aim being to raise £800 for a new ABP Mark V navigator for Angle lifeboat. The event took place at the Holiday Inn in Swansea, and every potential customer was given a free lunch.

The RNLI film 'In Danger's Hour' was shown, Captain Roy Griffiths, honorary secretary of Mumbles lifeboat station gave a short talk and OCS gave a short presentation in a very successful promotion for both parties.

Winkling out the cash On August Bank Holiday, John Skipper, the licensee of the Kings Arms in Dorking, declared it Christmas Day at his pub in aid of the RNLI. Christmas lunch was served, and on a hot summer's day the Kings Arms was festooned with a Christmas tree, decorations, and full of customers wearing paper hats, pulling crackers and singing carols.

John raised £421 for Dorking branch but felt that his regulars could do a little better - so he sold each of his male customers an empty winkle shell for 50p, which went into the bar collecting box. John or his wife Pam now demand to see their regulars' winkle, and if they fail to produce it they are immediately fined. Putting their winkle on the counter is considered a very serious offence and the fine is doubled.

Everyone is now looking forward to the end of the year, when the collecting box is emptied and they can see how much has been raised by the mis-use of winkles.

High stakes A fund raising evening held on behalf of the Shoreham Harbour Lifeboat Society at the local Corals Greyhound Stadium raised £2,737 through a raffle and sponsorship.

The Society are grateful to John White of the Shoreham Private Wharfingers Association who arranged the event, persuaded companies to sponsor the races and ensured the smooth running of the eveningCross-country walk A party of 12 airmen from RAF Bruggen, walked across West Germany to raise money for lifeboat charities.

They covered the distance from the East German frontier to Holland, walking in relays of four men, and collected in the region of 8,000 Dm.

Later in the summer six of the walkers visited Ramsgate lifeboat station to present the branch with a cheque for £1,600, the remainder being donated to the German lifeboat service.

... and the rains came down In Shaldon members of the branch committee know just the way to bring a drought to an end - hold their annual fete! Despite a summer of sunshine, this year followed the usual pattern, and as Les Dawson stepped out of the car down came the rain.

Not a man to be discouraged by a cloudburst the warmth of his personality defied any would-be faint-hearts and, having officially opened proceedings, he visited the dripping stalls and sideshows setting an example which the crowd soon followed.

The sun did come out eventually and proved to be a very successful afternoon n brief THE SMALL guild of Tighnabruaich forwarded a splendid £7,600 to headquarters in 1988, of which £3,427.86 was raised from the sale of souvenirs.

ACHES and pains from a sponsored row in January were just a memory when a cheque for £706 was presented to Malcolm Robinson, chairman of Maldon & District branch. The money was raised by a team from The Bell at Woodham Walter, and was the second year running that the pub had won a trophy awarded by Maldon Little Ship Club (which organises the row) for the largest single sponsorship.

A WINE and cheese party, held in June by the Winslow branch, raised £ 1,122 for the Institution.

The party was organised by Trixie and Bob Jerreat in their garden overlooking the rolling meadows of North Buckinghamshire and the evening included a raffle and auction, which accounted for half the profit.

BEXLEY carnival processions took place in July and Bexleyheath branch took part. Its float came second and as a result of the procession and the subsequent Danson Show a total of almost £1,000 was raised for the RNLI.

A CHEQUE for £1,000 was presented to Vernon Munns, chairman of Gravesend branch by Peter Marshall, landlord of The Peacock public house. The money was raised by customers who took part in a darts marathon and brings the total raised by The Peacock over the past three years to £4,000. Mr Marshall was given a model of the Cutty Sark in a bottle by members of the branch committee in appreciation of his and his customers fund raising.

SO FAR this year Frodsham branch has raised £1,750 by its fund raising activities. A wine and savoury evening, a garden party held at the home of Dr and Mrs Pepper and a flag day helped to raise the money, with a coffee morning and charity card sale yet to come.An expert eye Family treasures and dusty antiques were brought to the Sotheby's charity roadshow organised by Warton Crag branch, near Carnforth, Lancashire and the event raised £575.

A steady stream of loyal supporters visited Crag Bank village hall and experts even visited people's homes when items were too large to bring to the hall.

Sotheby's gave their services free for the day, but an entrance fee of £2 for a valuation of up to three items was collected for the RNLI.

Charity peak Kidderminster hotelier, Chris Dale, raised nearly £ 1,300 for the Kidderminster Ladies' guild when he took part in the Three Peaks Race.

The race is a mixture of yacht racing and mountain running and involves 350 miles of sailing from Wales to the Scottish Highlands, stopping to climb the three highest peaks in the United Kingdom - Snowdon in Wales, Scafell Pike in England and Ben Nevis in Scotland.

Chris was the navigator and his team completed the course in just under a week.

Bad news is good news! Penalties imposed by the Royal Western Yacht Club of England on contestants in this year's Observer Round Britain and Ireland Yacht Race raised £723 for the RNLI.

Tall and high More than 600 people enjoyed the City of London branch tall ships reception, held on the high East and West Walkways of Tower Bridge in July.

Guests were greeted by Richard Charvet, branch chairman and Alderman Anthony Bull (event chairman) and then sipped champagne while admiring the magnificent array of sailing vessels moored in the Pool of London.

Tower Bridge proved an excellent vantage point from which to see the ships before their race to Hamburg and the evening was further enhanced by music from a Guildhall School of Music quartet.

The function raised approximately £8,500 for City branch funds.

Chopper cheque £500 was presented to Coxswain John Christie of the Aberdeen lifeboat by Aerospatiale Helicopter Division's UK sales executive Nick Hulbert at the recent Offshore Europe 1989 Oil Exhibition.

The manufacturer's AS332L Bristow Tigers and Bond Super Pumas regularly exercise with the Aberdeen lifeboat BP Forties and the donation was to show the company's respect and admiration for the work of the Institution.

Darts champion "Twenty-seven teams from pubs in the New Romney, Dymchurch and Lydd areas took part in this year's Kent Ladies' Darts League.

Mrs Peggy Battrick, who has been organising the Darts League for many years, has raised many thousands of pounds for the Institution and the Littlestone lifeboat The Lady Dart and Long Life II was partly funded by an appeal by the League.

This year Bobby George, No. 2 Seed Darts Champion was invited to present trophies to the winning teams and he also presented Kathy Hubbard, RNLI area organiser for the south east region, with a cheque for £1,692.50.

Marathon efforts Having tried to gain a place in the London Marathon since 1982, Richard Harrison finally succeeded this year and decided to mark the occasion by raising money for a charity. Being a diver, the RNLI seemed an ideal cause to support, and Richard raised a total of £625, including a donation of £250 from his employers, British Alcan Consumer Products .

Also running in the London Marathon for the first time - and in her first ever marathon - was Mrs June Sparrow from Cornwall.

Mrs Sparrow raised £300 for the Helston and Porthleven branch and was pleased to hand over the cheque to Chris Browning, president of the branch, on board the Penlee lifeboat Mabel Alice at the annual Porthleven Lifeboat Day.

Another runner was Mr C.M. Crosbie of Grange-over-Sands in Cumbria, who raised a splendid £930 for lifeboat funds.Fishy business The Fisheries Laboratory in Lowestoft held three Open Days as part of its centenary celebrations. The Lowestoft Ladies' guild was invited to take along a sales table, and the guild was very pleased when souvenir sales totalled £665.40.

Staff at the Fisheries Laboratory, including crews of research vessels, are great supporters of the RNLI.

Fun run Several well known sportsmen and women joined in a recent fun run, organised by the Backwell and Flax Bourton branch in cooperation with members of Redwood Lodge Country Club. In spite of very poor weather more than £300 was raised from the run.

Included in the runners' list were Jeremy Lloyds (Glos CCC), Mike Rafter (England and Glos RFU), David Lawrence (Glos CCC), David Graveny (Glos CCC), Corne Lloyds (Redwood Lodge).

1001 evening On a warm summer's evening the small fishing village of Portloe in Cornwall held its annual fun evening to boost funds for the Truro branch.

Visitors were able to watch water sports, wander round a variety of stalls and watch - Falmouth's Arun class Elizabeth Ann and a Sea King helicopter from RNAS Culdrose giving an air-sea rescue demonstration.

By the end of the evening the sale of souvenirs, Volvo car raffle tickets, collection boxes and an additional cheque from other stalls, had raised £1,001.

Heave ho A team from the Amble lifeboat crew, the Amble & Warkworth Ladies' guild and other volunteers pulled a 16ft ex-D class lifeboat to the top of the 2,700ft high Cheviot to celebrate 50 years of the Amble lifeboat service In sweltering heat it took the 47-strong team just 1 hour 59 minutes to haul the boat to the top over fences and rocks with a support crew of helpers to give moral and physical assistance where needed.

The event was sponsored by Albany Life Assurance for £250 and they also provided three bottles of champagne which were opened and gratefully consumed at the summit before the long and tricky descent.

When all the sponsorship money has been collected the guild hopes to have raised approximately £1,000 Young swimmers Andrew Hazell and Neil Johnstone of Farnham, both aged 10, took part in a sponsored swim (organised by Andrew) at their school, Edgeborough Frensham.

Both swam 100 lengths of the school pool and raised £175 for the RNLI, Andrew collecting £70 and Neil £105 in sponsorship. Thereby hangs a tail...

Since it re-formation in 1985 Tring branch has sent over £12,000 to headquarters. This has been achieved by annual events such as a mid-summer ball, a marathon quiz, barbecues and taking part in the Tring Festival procession complete with a mermaid perched in a D class lifeboat! Operation Jailbreak Four prisoners made a bid for freedom from the cells at Portsmouth's Kingston Crescent police station to raise money for a new lifeboat house at Portsmouth! The jailbreak was organised by Richard Hook and the four' desperados', Adrian West, Stephen Alexander, Alan Hartill and Richard Hook, all crew members of the Portsmouth lifeboat, escaped to cover some 1,200 miles.

During their time at large the team visited 24 lifeboat stations and raised £3,000.

The team had a narrow escape at Poole while en route to headquarters - they were stopped by a policeman but managed to bluff their way out of being arrested.

Pineapple Poll Regulars of the Pineapple pub in Brimpton Common choose a different charity to support every year, and this year it was the turn of the RNLI - the pub's fishing club makes frequent sea-fishing trips.

£3,000 was raised by a number of activities, including a trivial pursuit competition, a 24-hour bar billiards tournament, barbecues, raffles and a meat auction.

The money was handed to John Owen, area organiser for the southern region for the Swanage lifeboat appeal.

Lucky streak At his recent birthday party Steven Jordan of Ipswich was threatened with the 'bumps'.

Instead he offered to streak 200 yards if his friends and relations gave him £1 each.

After his modest run (children were present) he collected £26 and donated it to the Harwich & Dovercourt branch.

Raft Race The Portrush Raft Race goes from strength to strength, and this year it was no longer a one-day event but spanned almost an entire weekend.

Some 15,000 people crammed in and around the harbour. The sun shone, and although the highlight was undoubtedly the Raft Race, there was also a pantomime horse race, fireworks, fun run, brass band music, and free-fall parachuting.

The Raft Race weekend was sponsored this year by Guinness and £21,000 was raised, bringing the total raised in eight years by this event to £75,500.

Sark success The gardens of La Seigneurie, home of the Seigneur (lord of the manor) and Mrs Beaumont, were opened for the benefit of the RNLI on a gloriously sunny Saturday in August.

With gate money and the sale of souvenirs raising over £300, this tiny but beautiful Channel Island has already contributed over £1,000 to lifeboat funds this year.

Little but large The tiny village of Aliens Green, Hertfordshire has a pub, The Queen's Head, but the number of residents available to patronise it is very small. Contributions to the RNLI are out of all proportion to the number of customers - in 1987/88 they collected nearly £618, in 1988/89 the figure so far is £305.

n brief CUSTOMERS who frequent The Hope and Anchor in Eaton Bray are a generous bunch.

Aided and abetted by the landlady, Mrs Jacqui Galvin, they contributed over £300 to lifeboat funds last year and to show his appreciation Bryn Jones, chairman of Dunstable branch presented Jacqui with a certificate. Until three years ago Jacqui's father, Toby West, was coxswain of the Falmouth lifeboat.

A MEMBER of the Redditch branch, Mrs Laurie Capewell, organised a fund raising event around her new swimming pool. Cheese for the function was donated by the Swiss Cheese Board and a total of £220 was raised for the branch.

THE BLACK Prince floral boat procession which took place on May Day proved very successful for Rame branch. This 700-yearold traditional parade involved the Mill on the Brook Morris dancers, together with visiting dancers and school children, dancing through the streets of Millbrook, Kingsand and Cawsand calling at each pub to give dancing displays while collections were made by branch members. The whole event was in aid of the RNLI, and £229 was collected.

AT THE annual Penny Race at Ridgeway Middle School, Astwood Bank, the children raised a total of £ 150 during the lunch hour for their adopted Penlee lifeboat.

AN INVITATION to attend the Cub Hub at the National Scout Camp in Kingsdown resulted in Goodwin Sands & Downs Ladies' guild taking £598 at their souvenir stall - 'Charlie', a life-size model of a lifeboatman, proved a great attraction..