Model register Thank you for printing my letter in the Summer issue of THE LIFEBOAT under the heading of Model Register.

The response to my letter has meant that we now have sufficient numbers to form a group of lifeboat modellers which has been called the Southern Model Lifeboat Society.

The aim of the Society is to promote model lifeboat making and to encourage members to display their models at RNLI fund raising events.

If you are a model maker and would like to join us, please contact me at the address given below.

Likewise, if you are an event organiser and would like us to display our models, please let me have details as soon as possible. We are taking bookings for 1991 now.

All our models are electrically powered and pollution free so we can operate in swimming pools without causing any harm.

Tony Ollif f 2 Elderfield Close Emsworth, Hants PO10 7QW Teddy Bears As a result of 'Bear necessities' in the Fund Raisers pages of the Summer 1989 issue of the journal and my letter in the Spring 1990 issue (A bear thank you) , I have received over one hundred requests for personalized Teddy Bears, as well as many very nice thank you letters from pleased recipients .

The Teddy Bears are still available and cost £5 each, to include postage and packing. I can knit you a teddy with the name of your boat on his jersey. For non-boat owners the letters RNLI can be worked on the front of the jumper.

Mrs M. Hoods 14 Broad Way, Hamble, Southampton, Hants. S03 5HT Union Flag A few years ago I intended to write to you complaining that you published pictures of vessels wearing flags (usually the Union Flag) to which they were not legally entitled, without any accompanying comment that they were breaking the law. I am not sure if my letter ever got as far as a typewriter or if it remained in my head! In either case I would like to congratulate you on the comment in the caption to the picture of African Queen (page 286, Summer 1990 issue) .

Coincidentally this issue arrived as I was typing a letter to the harbour master of"a famous south coast yachting harbour on the same subject.

A G Merriman Rake, Hants Thank you Many thanks for your magazine THE LIFEBOAT. I enjoy the reports of your activities.

As I am 87 years old it is good to know there are people who give their time and help to the unfortunate folk who get into difficulties.

Mrs N Greenaway Badminton, Avon Viking longship On seeing the report of the towing of the Viking longship Dyflin by the Moelfre lifeboat in the Autumn issue, I was reminded that lifeboatmen have rowed a Viking longship.

In 1949 The Hugin, a replica Viking longship, had crossed the North Sea under sail and oars. She was exhibited at several lifeboat stations along the South coast, being towed from one station to the next by lifeboat and raising funds for the RNLI.

The first recorded naval battle was fought off Swanage in 877AD by King Alfred' s ships and Viking longships . It was claimed a victory, though King Alfred' s ships were greatly assisted by bad weather and the fierce tide rip off Peverill Ledge where 120 Viking longships are said to have foundered.

On this special occasion of a peaceful visit by a longship, the lifeboat crew, assisted by members of the sailing club and others, rowed The Hugin into the bay. Coxswain Bob Brown was at the steering oar. As second coxswain I pulled the steerboard stroke oar and 'Bimbo' Chinchen, the motor mechanic, took the larboard stroke oar.

Quite an experience. I wonder how many lifeboatmen are still able to claim they rowed a Viking longship? The mention of Moelfre lifeboat also has a connection with Swanage and Poole . In 1927 the Moelfre lifeboat carried out a Gold medal service to the ketch Excel, which was built at Poole for my great uncle Captain Thomas Hardy in 1877 for the Swanage stone trade, and sold in 1885 to Irish owners, I believe.

Lew Hardy Swanage, Dorset A maritime nation I have been commissioned by Simon and Shuster to write a book on the decline of Britain as a maritime nation, publication to be some time in 1991.

I am anxious to talk to present and past members of the lifeboat service who are full or part-time fishermen about their experiences of that industry and its present state.

I would be most grateful if I could use your columns to appeal to any of your readers who are, or have been, professional fishermen willing to be interviewed on or off the record, to contact me at the following address .

Dr Tim Madge The Village House Latimer, Bucks, HP5 1TY On parade! How proud and honoured I felt to have been selected to represent the fund raisers at the 90th birthday tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

I always feel that the RNLI is one big happy family and from the minute I arrived at the meeting place, I was made to feel welcome. The other fund raiser, John Cox, chairman of the St Albans branch, arrived and we were soon chatting like old friends . The staff from Head Office looked after us so well all through the day.

We met at 9.15am on what promised to be a long day, but which in fact passed surprisingly quickly, and it was super to meet some of those gallant men from the lifeboat crews. They are all so unassuming, yet so brave when needed.

The morning was taken up with a runthrough of the parade, and after lunch we formed up opposite Wellington Barracks in Birdcage Walk for the dress rehearsal.

We were instructed by a genial Welsh guardsman, and although there was a lot of waiting about the time passed very quickly with the lifeboatmen for company, and I did not feel at all odd being the only woman on parade with them.

6.15pm saw us forming up for the final and most exciting time. It was a wonderful feeling when we started off and it seemed that the crowd gave a special cheer when the RNLI went by, which encouraged and pleased the crews no end. When we finally arrived on Horse Guards Parade it was a great thrill to see all those people cheering and to be able to give our own special salute to Her Majesty.

After we had dispersed we were invited to a 'get together' and buffet supper by the RNLI which, for me, proved to be the perfect end to a very happy and unforgettable day.

I may say that mu husband had a seat in a stand and saw and heard a lot more than those of us in the parade, but I certainly would not have changed places with him for anything.

Mrs Dru Dennis Godstone & District Branch Family affair Regarding 'A Family Affair' in the Autumn edition of THE LIFEBOAT, I wish to tell you about the family connection of the Fraserburgh lifeboat station.

My name is James Sutherland and I am second coxswain of the lifeboat.

Albert Sutherland is coxswain and his twin brother Victor Sutherland, a crew member, are my younger brothers.

Charles Duthie, assistant mechanic, is my brother-inlaw.

He has a son, Billy Duthie, and a son-in-law, Zander Ritchie,'both crew members, who are my nephews.

Charles also has a nephew on board, emergency mechanic Brian Ross . Our mechanic, Tommy Summers, has a son, Michael Summers on board, and his brotherin- law, Kenneth McLennan, is a member of the shed crew.

James Sutherland Fraserburgh Past and Present I just had to write after reading Past and Present in the Autumn issue. How well I remember those sad days of Dunkirk when the lifeboat Viscountess Wake field was lost.

I lived in Hythe in those days and my father, after 21 years in the Royal Navy, joined the lifeboat crew in 1919 until 1927 when we moved too far from the station to attend the calls .

Brother George, who lives in Witham, Essex, and I are Shoreline members and both work at helping the service by selling souvenirs and flags on flag day.

George, who is 81, was treasurer for Witham branch until an illness last year.

My grandson, Leon, has been a Storm Force member for two years .

Mrs S Wiglesworth Ashford, Kent.

Surf class I am trying to undertake some research of the RNLI' s 32ft Surf class lifeboats introduced in 1936. In particular, I am anxious to obtain information about this class of lifeboat's unusual form of propulsion, namely the Hotchkiss Internal Cone.

If any reader has any information, I shall be pleased to hear from them.

A. R. Pari Huws 4 Finstall Road Spital, Bebington.