In brief A GENEROUS donation of £500 has been received from JAVA (the Jaguar. Alacrity, Vivacity Association) which is affiliated to the Royal Yachting Association.

AFTER Fort William and District branch invited the Lochaber Yacht Club and the Fort William Round Table to be represented on the branch committee, a cheque was received from the yacht club. Mr Colin Westland- Garnett. president of the branch, was then invited to give a talk to the Round Table - where he was presented with a cheque for £875. A fine start to the New Year.

A BURNS Night supper organised by Wally and Julie Kasprak of The Royal Oak in Chingford raised a total of £270.43 for the North Chingford branch.

AT ITS AGM in January the Lochgoilhead branch announced a spectacular 25 per cent increase in its fund raising. The remote and beautiful village in Argyll, with a population of around 350, raised £1.450 from a bingo evening, a model boat race and a sponsored walk.

THE 26TH ANNUAL coffee morning held by Mrs Christine Pickstone of the Birmingham branch raised over £200. The annual ball organised by the branch raised £2,540 and a collection organised by Mr G.

Cope at the Hall Green Greyhound Stadium realised £81.89.

A TOTAL of £9,622 was raised by Lyme Regis Ladies' guild during Flag Week last year. Among the many events were a banquet, fireworks display, air force and naval helicopter demonstrations, band concert, barbecues plus the sale of car draw tickets which raised £2.899. Grand news! Mobil Marine Sales has recently presented a £1.000 cheque to the Institute of Marine Engineers towards its centenary campaign to raise £200,000 for the RNLI.

The Institute of Marine Engineers has raised more than £137,868 towards its £200,000 target, which will go towards the cost of a Mersey class lifeboat.

Twice as much! An open day organised by Benfleet Motor Boat and Yacht Club in aid of the RNLI raised £800, twice as much as in 1988.

A visit from Southend-on-Sea's Atlantic 21, an auction of goods donated by local firms, pony rides, bouncy castle, barbecue and all the fun of the fair (including a beer tent!) all helped to raise the record amount.

A cheque was presented by club officials Brian Lambourn and Cyril Sadler to Sarah Halls, area organiser for the Eastern region. He came, he sawed...

Among the attractions at a Country Fayre organised by Wootton Bassett branch were two steam engines demonstrating wood sawing.

Ex-forester and branch member Mr Sayce operated the smaller engine which drove a logging saw. Although it was the first time he had used a steam engine he soon reduced a pile of cordwood into logs.

The Fayre was held in the grounds of Fox Mill, Purton, the property of Mr Hamish Orr- Ewing, president of the branch, and raised £576 for the RNLI.

One of the prime movers of the successful country fay res was the late Geoff Shakerley, who died suddenly last Autumn, and without his enthusiastic efforts the branch feels that it is unlikely to organise further fayres.

Branching out The first year of activities for Nuneaton and District branch, which was formed in January 1989, has proved very successful.

The flag day raised just over £600 and other fund raising events included a coffee evening, stalls at Nuneaton carnival gala and Caldecote Steam Fair and the local ASDA superstore raised over £500 with a stall in its main foyer.

The branch was very pleased to raise £2,800 in its first year, and 1990 has started well with a flag day which raised £770 from a collection and a charity stall.

Hitting the right note! Buckle lifeboat crew had a smashing time when Ian Rennie, chairman of Buckie branch, hit on the idea of a sponsored piano push - at the end of which the poor piano was to be reduced to matchwood and passed through a four-inch diameter hole.

It was left to the lifeboat crew to do all the hard work! Two teams of three men took turns to trundle the piano a mile along Great Eastern Road to the lifeboat station. At the halfway mark the piano fell off the trolley but it was quickly replaced and the journey completed in 14 minutes 29 seconds.

The piano was then taken to its final resting place on the pier where the crew set to and reduced it to pieces, feeding the pieces through the four-inch hole. More than £150 was collected for lifeboat funds as a result.

Collectors give The small Cambridge office of the Collector of Taxes operates a charity fund, and raises money for various charities by providing and raffling items among the staff.

The treasurer of the fund. Hazel Layton, is a Shoreline member and, much to her delight, it has been decided that the RNLI should also benefit from their fund raising efforts. A cheque for £50 has been forwarded to head office. Mrs Marmalade During her nine years as a member of the Sennen Ladies' guild, Mrs Marjorie Nicklin, known locally and to visitors as 'Mrs Marmalade', has made more than 6,000 jars of marmalade, to be sold to raise money for lifeboat funds.

She also knits woolly hats and tea-cosies, works three days a week on the souvenir stall at the Sennen lifeboat house and sells raffle tickets for the Volvo car draw at Land's End.

In recognition of all her hard work a framed certificate of thanks has been awarded to 80- year-old Mrs Ntckiin.

New money for old Advertising in Motor Boat and Yachting resulted in Mr D.L. Dyton of Thorpe Bay selling a collection of old issues of that magazine for £50. He then kindly sent a cheque for this amount to the RNLI. In brief A LIFEBOAT cake was first prize in the raffle held at a fund raising barbecue organised by St Albans and District branch and held at the home of Mrs Thelma Willcox. whose sister made the cake.

FORMED two years ago, Corby branch has seven hard-working members. Throughout last year several events were organised, one of the most successful being a sponsored Lyke Wake Walk led by John and Dorothy Malcolmson.

John is honorary treasurer of the branch and the walk raised £317.

THE DICKENSIAN Singers raised £250 for Liskeard and District branch by singing carols and songs in local restaurants and inns in Liskeard over the Christmas period, ANOTHER tale of Chri stmas cheer took place in Edinburgh when the Edinburgh Ladies' guild took the opportunity of the free use of shop premises in the centre of the city. Thanks to the generosity of the proprietors the ladies were able to open for the sale of RNLI Christmas cards and gifts over a period of seven weeks. A small army of volunteers saw their efforts rewarded when they realised an income of £ 18,000, which included £ 1,750 from a raffle run in conjunction with the sale of goods.

THE ANNUAL autumn party held by Woodbridge and District branch at Woodbridge School in November raised £811. A most interesting talk, illustrated with slides, was given by Commander Burley on the Combined Services expedition to South Georgia and the 150 guests enjoyed wine and refreshments, taking generous advantage of the souvenir stall, a raffle and auction of the beautiful floral decorations provided by the ladies of the Woodbridge Flower Club. Reliable Reliance A cheque for £10,000 has been presented to the RNLI by Western Geophysical/Shell UK.

The money was raised during a safety campaign involving crew members of the research vessel Western Reliance and will be used to cover the cost of the radar and echo sounder fitted to the Tyne class Teesmouth lifeboat Phil Mead during her recent survey.

The donation had been made possible by the joint support of Western Geophysical, owners and operators of Western Reliance, and Shell UK Exploration and Production.

A safety incentive scheme for the crew of Western Reliance led to an accident-free record during the contractual period with Shell Expro in 1989. During this time, from March to September, Western Reliance was engaged in seismic survey work in the North Sea and, despite the harsh environment and the complex nature of their operations, the crew achieved their objective of 'no lost time incidents' during the period of the contract with Shell UK.

At a ceremony on board a lifeboat at the RNLI's depot quay, Mr J.G. Saltamachia, vice-president of Western Geophysical, presented the cheque to Peter Race, coxswain of the Teesmouth lifeboat and Donald Hellier, station honorary secretary.

Lots of potential Members of the Potential Officers Wing, RAC Training Regiment, at Catterick Garrison visited Whitby lifeboat station last October to hand over several cheques totalling £3,024.

They represented the total money raised from their 46-mile 'walk', which is part of the training at the end of every course.

Regular visits have been made to the station since 1979 and over £31,895 has been presented to Whitby branch in that time. It pays to advertise Last autumn, staff of the RNLI's advertising agency, Brookes & Vernons, were invited to 'put their money where their copy was' and take part in a sponsored swim in aid of RNLI funds.

The RNLI account manager, Peter Wright, took part himself and persuaded his colleagues in the company's London and Uttoxeter offices to participate or sponsor those who did.

If '£6 Buys him a pair of boots' then this event would have bought almost 167 pairs, for, with a top-up donation from the company, a total of £1,000 was raised.

Once round down-under 'Pioneer' fund raiser Brian Lodge of Farnborough has raised £1,060 for the Swanage lifeboat appeal with a sponsored 10,000 mile charity drive around Australia.

Brian and his co-driver, Ray Best, flew to Perth, Western Australia, last August to arrange the hire of a vehicle tough enough to take the punishment of the 'roads', many of which are little more than dirt tracks.

They then headed north to the Northern Territory, stopping at Ayers Rock and Alice Springs. Then on to Cook Town and the Great Barrier Reef before driving back through Western Australia to arrive in Perth four weeks after leaving.

Brian is a regular of the Fir Tree public house in Farnborough which has been raising money for the RNLI since 1987. To date they have raised more than £2,500, and it was at the pub that former 'New Seeker' Lyn Paul presented Brian's money to John Owen, area organiser for the southern region. It was Brian's wish that the money be donated to the Swanage lifeboat appeal. Co-driver Ray Best also raised more than £750 for the Cancer and Leukaemia in Children Trust.

Diesel donation While on temporary station duty at Barry Dock, fuel for the Arun class lifeboat Duchess of Kent, was provided by the local Provincial Grand Lodge, South Wales Division of Freemasons. A cheque for £1,500 was presented to Dr David Stephens, chairman of Barry Dock branch by Malcolm Thompson, secretary of the Provincial Grand Lodge.

The United Grand Lodge of Freemasons of England had funded the lifeboat and it is planned that wherever she is stationed on relief duty the local Masonic Lodge will be encouraged to provide support in a similar vein.

Bowled over Twenty-nine second form pupils and six staff from the Latymer School, Edmonton took part in a sponsored 10-pin bowling event at Stevenage Bowl, and raised £ 175.69 for the Enfield lifeboat club branch. The evening finished with a meal at McDonalds. Up and away In October last year Derek Williams and Steve Guscott, helmsmen of the Minehead lifeboat, took part in a sponsored 'jail break' from Shepton Mallet prison, an annual event organised by the Somerset Association of Boys' Clubs. Derek and Steve entered as the team representing Minehead lifeboat crew.

With a bit of planning and sponsorship the slippery pair managed to reach New York within the 12 hour deadline! Having broken out of prison at 9am they made their way to Heathrow Airport, connected with an Air India flight to New York and were circling over J.F. Kennedy Airport at 9pm our time.

Steve, who is a police officer, had made contact with the airport police in New York to explain what they were doing, and on their arrival were met by two New York 'cops' and given VIP treatment.

Steve and Derek spent 24 hours in the city and managed to take in some of the sights before returning to England. They also managed to raise £1,100 in sponsorship, divided equally between the Boys' Clubs and the RNLI and won two trophies, one for the furthest distance travelled and the other for the highest amount of sponsorship raised. In brief ROMFORD Brewery Social Club have long supported the RNLI and earlier this year presented £618.20 to Romford branch, the results of a sponsored shave and a New Year's Eve raffle.

AN OPEN Day organised by the Northampton Ladies' guild raised a record £2,000.

Local artists and traders set up an enticing variety of stalls at the home of Mrs Dee Kennedy, offering handmade toys, cakes, pottery, clothes, books, wine, and souvenirs - accompanied by sherry, coffee and a raffle.

A MODEL of a Tyne class lifeboat, 16ft long and made by David Alderman, box secretary of Ryde branch, has been used at many fund raising venues on the Isle of Wight, helping the branch to increase its income which last year totalled a splendid £8,936.

MEMBERS of the Boston Spa Ladies' guild celebrated the guild's 25th anniversary with their most successful fund raising function.

An impressive £3,750 was raised at an anniversary ball at the Crown Hotel, Harrogate when 212 people danced the night away to Willie Hirst and his Band and the North Yorkshire Disco. A guest of honour was the guild's first secretary, Mrs Audrey Lane, who presented the raffle prizes.

THE BRITISH Motor Yacht Club (Sailing Section) has for the last three years organised a sponsored six hour endurance race in aid of the RNLI, and in 1989 they raised a record £1,111. A cheque for this amount was presented to the Twickenham and District branch.

AN AUCTION of promises by Alderney Ladies' guildraisedalmost£4,000. The result is truly remarkable as Alderney, one of the Channel Islands, has a very small population and the event took place out of the holiday season. Banking on their support Nigel French, a member of the Fareham branch committee, persuaded his friends and fellow employees from Barclays Bank in Romsey to help him with a 55-mile sponsored cycle ride around the Isle of Wight and raised £754 for lifeboat funds.

Leap into the unknown Members of the West Midlands Police Special Constabulary from Solihull police station decided that their sponsored fund raising effort for 1989 would be rather different...

which partly explains why 12 Special Policemen in full uniform were seen leaping into the sea from Tenby lifeboat.

They were hauled out by crew members standing by in the station's D class lifeboat.

A Force 6 wind and a resulting choppy sea made the daring deed even more 'enjoyable' and a total of £1,700 was divided equally between a local hospital appeal and Tenby branch.

Young walkers William Dunsmore of Little Witterham and George Bowman from Bristol undertook a sponsored walk along Hadrians Wall last summer and raised a splendid £1,371 for the Days Lock Island branch.

The two 13-year-olds were pupils of Cothill House School in Abingdon at the time of the walk.

Aldeburgh aid Aldeburgh Ladies' guild raised a magnificent £50,000 last year, which covered the cost of new equipment for the station' s Rother class lifeboat James Cable. This included the radar and depth sounder and also a refit. Customary support When Mr Kenneth Seel, a resident of the Ffynonwen guest house in Aberporth, Dyfed, died shortly before Christmas his son, Tom, who lives and works in Japan, visited for the funeral. He presented the Cardigan branch with acheque for £73 in lieu of flowers in his father's memory.

However it is apparently the custom in Japan for relatives and friends to help towards the often heavy cost of funeral expenses, and to receive gifts to the value of half their contributions in return. When he arrived back in Japan Tom found that the Japanese custom had been applied - and as result the Cardigan branch was presented with an additional cheque for £488.

Safe Shells on the seashore For every accident-free month Shell Tankers (UK) donates £1,000 to the RNLI. Last year there were two such months and a cheque for £2,000 was presented to the Institution by managing director R. Davies. In brief NEWBIGGIN Middle School presented a cheque for £300 to Newbiggin branch. The money had been raised by the school children in a variety of ways during 1989.

A SPONSORED Golf Day, organised by the ladies' committee of the Chiltern branch, was held at Beaconsfield Golf Club in October and raised a splendid £1,085.

THE ENTHUSIASTIC and hard working members of Workington Ladies' guild raised a record £8,260 last year, £ 1,772 of which came from static collecting boxes in and around the town.

AN INCREASE in the fund raising efforts of Worthing branch last year resulted in a record £18,702 being raised.

THE SMALL Watford branch was very proud to raise a terrific £8,300 last year, £1,931.58 of this from the sale of souvenirs.

AN UNUSUAL Italian Evening at the home of Mr and Mrs Marsh raised £355 for Withernsea Ladies' guild. A coffee morning at the Victorian Tavern raised another £329. The things people do! One...

Dear Sirs, Please find enclosed cheque for £30, being the amount raised as the result of a bet at our office Christmas party - I had to wear a pair of exotic knickers on my head all the way home.

Yours, with good wishes, P. G. Greeving f We resisted the temptation to include this item in the 'In Brief section - Ed) Two...

Dear Sirs, Two of my locals at the Horse Shoe Inn, 'Norty' Williams and Phil Davies bet me £50 each that I wouldn't dare wear 'Drag' on Christmas eve. Not one to miss an opportunity to raise money for the RNLI I took them up on their bet. The enclosed photo shows the three of us, together with a very game barmaid. I'm the one with the dark hair! A very successful evening - resulting in a cheque to Fleetwood Station for £245.

Yours faithfully Phil Hindley, Licensee (Sorry we couldn't publish the photo, it's the barmaid you see... Ed) News from the Appeals Lincolnshire appeal On a cold, blustery January day one foundation stone for the new Skegness lifeboat station was laid by the Mayor of Skegness and excoxswain, Councillor Ken Holland, and another by Mr Jack Roughton, chairman of the Lincolnshire lifeboat appeal committee.

A major donation by Mr John Van Geest funded the cost of the lifeboat and it is likely that by mid-summer the appeal will have reached its second target, the funding of the boathouse, and hopefully also have enough funds for the launching carriage.

Lincolnshire people will then have completely funded the updating of Skegness lifeboat station by contributing more than £500,000.

Support has come from all quarters, county branches of Rotary, Round Table and Lions, sailing clubs, ladies' guilds and individuals.

Nigel Dixon, landlord of the Lincolnshire Poacher pub in Louth organised a 'fun day' and raised more than £2,000, and one enterprising supporter has started a 'buy a brick' project with ordinary bricks costing £2 and 'platinum' bricks £20.

Well-known artist David Waller produced an oil painting of a country scene depicting The Poacher which was donated to the appeal. The original painting has been sold, but a limited edition is available, with all sales proceeds going to the appeal. Shoreham harbours an appeal The Shoreham Harbour lifeboat appeal was launched last September to raise funds for a new Tyne class lifeboat at Shoreham Harbour.

More than £100,000 has been raised so far by many stalwart supporters, one of whom is Jenny Kent, landlady of the Inn on the Prom. She and her customers have supported the RNLI for many years and recently added £1,000 to the appeal. The money was raised in a variety of ways, culminating in a tug of war - and 'her lads' are so enthusiastic that they are planning a 'bus pull' to raise even more money.

Other supporters are the men and women serving with the 3rd Battalion The Queen's Regiment in Northern Ireland who have raised more than £7,000 for the appeal.

The original target for the Battalion was £5,000, but this was far exceeded by the enthusiastic efforts of the soldiers who gave up their own free time to take part. Among the varied events organised to raise the cash was a concert, a sponsored assault course and a 200-mile sponsored march across Kent and Sussex last year.

The battalion was formerly the 1st Battalion The Royal Sussex Regiment and still maintains strong links with the county, with many of those serving in its ranks coming from Sussex. Derbyshire is close to Devon Since the launch of the Spirit of Derbyshire appeal last June more than £220,000 has been raised towards the funding of a new Mersey class lifeboat to be stationed at Ilfracombe in Devon.

At a recent fund raising dinner and dance a cheque for £4,000 was presented to Colonel Hilton, president of Chesterfield branch, and Mrs Hilton, chairman of the appeal.

The money was raised by branch members and supporters and was their first contribution towards the appeal. Frantic tour of France A charity treasure hunt in France took place last year in aid of the RNLI and the NSPCC.

Organised by Frantic Tours of Wheathampstead in Hampshire, 15 teams embarked at Dover to spend a weekend dashing around the French countryside in search of treasure.

The teams were given the questions and maps on board the ferry and frantically began to plot the grid references - the object was to answer as many of the 111 questions as possible using the grid references to find the correct route. The weather was superb and the French countryside at its most picturesque as the route wound its way down tiny deserted country lanes - where locals were puzzled by British cars often passing in opposite directions on the same road, hopelessly lost! Four competitors failed to arrive at the Saturday evening check point and were awarded a trophy as winners of the 'Help, I'm hopelessly lost award'. When finally tracked down they were within a mile of the finish and parked next to a 'you are here map'! Sunday was spent careering across parts of France that only the French see, and after lunch it was a rush back to Calais to catch the ferry. The treasure (two cases of typically French things) was awarded to the team who answered 98 questions correctly.

The event raised more than £1,500 and a cheque for £761.23 was sent to the RNLI.

Three into one The West Mersea lifeboat station has benefited from donations to the tune of £3,264.60 in the form of three cheques: Dengie and District Gardeners Association presented £1,200 to the station, the proceeds of its annual sale of garden produce.

A cheque is presented annually, each year so far setting a new record.

The Mersea Island Ladies' guild realised a further £1,314.60 from a variety of fund raising events over the year, and their efforts are very much appreciated by the station.

A sponsored 15 mile walk around Mersea Island by pupils and staff of School House, Brentwood School raised a splendid £750 for the station.

Saddling up for an inflatable The Portobello public house in West Kingsdown launched an appeal to fund a D class inflatable in May last year and the first event to take place was a sponsored motorcycle ride by Graham and John Fisher, regular patrons of the pub.

With superb organisation and excellent weather the brothers visited 158 lifeboat stations and, together with sponsorship and other monies from patrons of The Portobello, they raised a magnificent £6,200 for the appeal.

Send us The Bill On a wet and blustery Sunday afternoon last October, when sensible folk would have been at home watching TV or listening to the radio, two celebrity teams comprising the cast of The Bill" and staff from the London commercial radio station LBC, turned out to play football.

Hundreds of spectators turned up to watch an LBC victory and £457 was raised for Twickenham and District branch and the Clarendon Special School.

A further £120 was added from the sale of souvenirs.

Townswomen's choice The RNLI was chosen by the ladies of the Waltham Forest Afternoon Townswomen's Guild as the charity to benefit from the proceeds of various events which they organised last year.

Among the activities were fashion shows, craft sales, coffee mornings, bring and buy sales and a strawberry tea.

The culmination of their efforts was the presentation of a cheque and cash for approximately £284, which was gratefully received by the chairman of North Chingford branch, John Butler. Three times the target for Tall Ships Race Mike Andrews, committee member of Brentwood and District branch entered his traditional 12 ton 'Gauntlet' class yacht Heather in last year's Tall Ships Race and exceeded his original fund raising target by more than three-fold. Starting with a target of £1,000 Mike even- tually rounded up £3,092 for the branch.

Never slow to see ways to raise money Mike even passed round an RNLI collecting box at a pre-race party held aboard another competing yacht in St Katharine Dock! After the Parade of Sail in the Thames the race began early the following morning.

Unfortunately a hard leg to windward began to take its toll on some of the crew, and on the yacht which had 'dried out' during the winter and whose topsides and decks were leaking.

Reluctantly Heather retired from the race and returned to Lowestoft, the crews disappointment tempered to some extent by the valuable contribution which they had made to lifeboat funds.

Nautical but nice! A highly successful Nautical Night was organised by Beverley Ladies' guild, and held in the splendid setting of the Montgomery Centre, Beverley.

Members of Beverley Borough Band played a selection of sea shanties and other nautical music and, with with the sumptuous buffet supper provided by the committee, the evening proved most enjoyable.

The occasion came to a moving finale with the band master inviting the audience to join in with singing 'Eternal Father, strong to save' while a film of storm tossed seas and lifeboats was projected onto a screen behind the players.

An excellent £645 was raised from this successful event. In brief THE LANDLORD of the Durham Ox in Beverley, Mr Hall, decided that one of his regular customers was in urgent need of a trim and offered to make a donation to the RNLI if the hair was cut. Other customers offered to sponsor the operation and a total of £28 was raised. Mr Hall is a stalwart supporter of the Institution and a collecting box in the pub yields around £40 a year.

THE PUNCH, Pies and Carols evening organised by Hitchin and District branch was a great success with a final total of £696 being produced for lifeboat funds. Another success was the coffee morning held in Church House which raised £124.

MEMBERS of the ABC Motorbike Club in Port Seton embarked on a sponsored fancy dress walk and raised £ 1,300 for the North Berwick boathouse fund.

THIRD year pupils at Fir Tree Junior School in Wallingford raised £43 by making tabletop games and inviting other classes to play them for a small charge, and a sponsored 'rescue' event involving the whole school pushed the total amount raised to just over £272. The money was donated to the Swanage lifeboat appeal.

A SPONSORED parachute jump undertaken by Ceri Thomas, Pauline Evans and Adrianne Henderson, members of the Caldicot and District branch raised £624.60.

CHILDREN of St Aidan's Primary School choir sang carols as part of a fund raising day organised by Northenden branch and raised £358..