Some w a y s of f i l l i n g t he CO f f e r s . . . A clean sweep! The Royal Burgh of Cullen ladies lifeboat guild, established in May 1990, recently held a tombola evening which raised £700. The village of Cullen in north east Scotland has a population of only 2.000 but already has many ardent RNLI supporters.

On the evening of the event. Steven Findlay the local road sweeper, presented secretary Mrs Karen Wilson with a further donation of £130, gleaned from the sale of returnable bottles and monies found in the streets! This wonderful gesture on Mr Findlay's pan truly illustrates the wide spectrum of support for the RNLI. Santa's Grotto A team of seven members and their helpers from Rugeley and District Branch, suitably disguised as Father Christmas and circus clowns, manned a Christmas Grotto supplied to them courtesy of Cramphornes Garden Centre at Wolseley Bridge, Rugeley.

Father Christmas was welcoming children for four weekends during the build-up to the Christmas holiday and by giving lifeboat souvenirs as gifts, patiently wrapped by branch members. £556 was raised for branch funds.

This was the second event that Cramphornes Garden Centre have allowed the branch to hold on their premises and there are promises of further combined events during 1991 - culminating with Father Christmas making a welcome comeback in time for next Christmas.

Christmas in the courtyard A seasonal courtyard Christmas Fair was held by the Col wyn Bay branch before Christmas at the home of Mr and Mrs Allan Rae of Bryn Dulas House, Llanddulas.

The courtyard of the house and buildings was floodlit and lit by coloured lights, making a welcome prospect on a cold winter's evening. The many stalls overflowed into the house.

On arrival guests were greeted with mince pies and a glass of warm and welcoming mulled wine by their hosts, Mr and Mrs Rae, after which the abundance of goods on the various stalls resulted in more than £1.000 being raised for RNLI funds. Twelve days in June The Reading Branch held a lifeboat exhibition in the Broad Street Mall Shopping Centre.

Reading, from 11 to 23 June 1990. The exhibition was manned throughout the period by local branches in the area.

A competition ran throughout and entrants had to guess the number of lives saved since 1824 until the end of May 1990. The winner, Michael Woodhouse, was presented with his prizes by Reading branch president Mr Tony Durant MP.

The exhibition raised £1.716.69 from souvenirs, donations and car draw tickets. Greens for go Dougie Donnelly, a well known Scottish sports commentator, recently presented a cheque for £7,500 to Mr Coates-Walker, honorary secretary of the North Berwick lifeboat station.

The cheque represented the proceeds from the Dougie Donnelly Golf Classic held on the West Links Championship Course, North Berwick, on Sunday 7 October 1990 and organised by the North Berwick Round Table in aid of the North Berwick Boathouse Appeal.

In spite of gale force conditions. Scottish sporting personalities including Billy McNeil, Bill McLaren, Craig Chalmers and Scott Hastings had a very enjoyable day concluded by a prize-giving dinner in the Marine Hotel, North Berwick.

The French connection...

Hounslowbranch raised£2,200fortheRNLI last May at a fun day at Brentford Dock Marina, on the Thames. In July Mr Danny Malone, a member of Hounslow branch arranged a cheque presentation when Gorden Kaye, star of BBC television's 'Allo 'Allo handed over a cheque to the RNLI.

That's the Spirit The Ashbourne branch has had a highly successful year, raising over £9,000 towards the Spirit of Derbyshire Appeal. One of the more unusual events among the wide variety of activities organised by the committee was a clay pigeon shoot and lamb roast which raised over £750. Words work well The regulars at The White Horse at Northwick near Bristol will readily engage you in conversation, but beware of using the wrong word or you will find yourself launching the lifeboat with a contribution in the RNLI collecting box! When landlord and ex-seafarer Eddie Phillips took on an RNLI collecting box he was determined that his pub would keep it well filled on a regular basis, not just the passing copper or two.

He realised that the word 'work' cropped up with monotonous regularity in conversations at the bar - and who wants to hear about that while relaxing over a pint and a game of darts? So 'that word', or any extension of it, is now banned - under penalty of a 1 Op fine to the RNLI every time it is used.

Everyone in the pub is equally vigilant, and even the honorary secretary of Thornbury branch was caught for 40p when he called to present letters of thanks! However everyone is equally forgetful, which produces a steady income and keeps local box secretary Ken Keepin busy emptying the two boxes. Since they started just over a year ago the boxes have produced £623.81.

To add to that Eddie organises jazz evenings with a local band to boost funds, and just before Christmas six volunteers, including Eddie and his wife Liz, went on a sponsored slim. Many pounds (weight) were lost and many pounds (sterling) were gained, and thanks to the willpower of participants and the generosity of the sponsors another £450 was raised.

Thishas brought the total so farto£973.87 - easily the best return from the 40 pubs which keep boxes for Thornbury and district branch. In brief LAST Summer Ryde branch raised £2,100 for the Swanage lifeboat appeal by selling souvenirs at Warners Holiday Centres at St Clare and Puckpool.

A RECORD £7,362 was raised by Hitchin and District branch during 1990. To round off the year the branch held a Punch, Pies and Carols event, which raised more than £250.

Over 150 prizes had been donated for the tombola stand, which was responsible for £211 of the final figure.

A BRIDGE afternoon held by Bournemouth ladies guild raised £600 for the RNLI. An annual donation from a charitable foundation added a further £2,000.

THE association for the owners of Jaguar Alacrity and Vivacity class yachts (JAVA) has donated £250 to the RNLI.

A CHEQUE for £500 from Mobil North Sea Ltd was handed over aboard the Fraserburgh lifeboat.

LANDLORDS of the Railway Hotel, Ringwood, Mr and Mrs Edwards raised £425 from various events held in the bar during 1990.

AFTER more than 20 years active fund raising the committee of Sudbury branch decided to step down in December and make way for a new committee. In those twenty years more than £56,000 has been raised with some £6,000 per annum being forwarded to head office in recent years. The new secretary is Peter Barrett, telephone (0787) 74946.

STAN Lloyd, a stalwart supporter from Porthleven in Cornwall appeared on Esther Rantzen's Heart of Gold television show last October. Stan is still an active fund raiser at the age of 80.

SEVERAL months' fund raising efforts at the Kings Head public house in Clapham, London, resulted in landlord Jim Millanthy and his wife Mary handing over a cheque for £1,035.03 to Ken Chaplin, treasurer of Clapham Battersea and Wandsworth branch. Eastbourne variety The fund raising activities of Eastbourne branch brought in a grand total of more than £90,000 during 1990.

Among the many events which contributed to the magnificent total was the annual flag week, organised by Joan Woollven, which broke the £10,000 target for the second year running, adding £10,113.49 to the branch funds to be precise.

During the course of the year the sale of souvenirs at the very successful Eastbourne lifeboat museum added £72,700, manning the nearby Bluebell Walk for four days netted £7,340 in the collecting boxes, and being the beneficiary of the Eastbourne Fun Run added a further £4,240.

Fashionable help Fifteen top models donated half of their fees to a fashion gala organised by Guildford branch last October, helping to bring the total raised to just over £30,000.

Some £25,000-worth of clothes were lent to the organisers by top fashion designers and three local boutiques. Hannah Gordon was hostess for the evening, Michael Buerk amused the audience with a lively auction during the interval and the raffle prizes were announced by the Countess of Onslow helped by branch chairman Mrs David Graham- Wood.

As a finale the models were joined by some lifeboatmen in well-cut foul weather gear - although the faces under the sou'westers looked suspiciously like RNLI regional organiser Michael Ashley and area organiser Dennis Walker...

The crew at your service Dover ladies guild held its first fashion show in the Dover Harbour Board Hall two days after their annual meeting, and raised £280 for guild funds.

The evening was organised by Edwina Hoskins, owner of a local boutique, and was attended by the town's mayor, Mrs Lynn Young, and her husband. The crew of the Dover lifeboat found themselves carrying out a rather different kind of service when they served cheese and wine to round off the evening! Lunch with Sir Cyril The large-as-life figure of Sir Cyril Smith kept members of the Ramsbottom branch entertained during their annual luncheon last September.

Some 120 people attended the event to hear Sir Cyril reminiscing about his many years as an MP and recounting some amusing episodes from his time as mayor of Rochdale.

The event raised £600 for the branch funds. Tipped to succeed The five motor cruisers which comprise the 'Cruise Loch Lomond' fleet are chartered by visitors from all over the world, keen to see the beauties of the loch, but the skippers and crews of the boats do not accept tips from their passengers. Instead, they ask them to put their money into strategically-placed RNLI collecting boxes, and the generosity of the visitors - and the vessel's crews - results in a handsome collection for the Institution.

At the end of each season the fleet's owner Stuart Cordner takes the proceeds to the RNLI's Scottish office in Glasgow, recently presenting them with no less than £1,125.

Efficient donation More efficient ship repairing has led to the ministry of defence sending the RNLI a cheque for £1,000... The unusual donation came about as the result of the management and staff of the Bath-based Director General Ship Refitting's participation in a government efficiency programme over the past two years.

As a result of improved efficiency significant reductions were achieved in the cost of ship repairs, while maintaining operating standards, and part of the saving was made available for donation to charitable causes.

The RNLI was nominated as a suitable beneficiary, and as a result a cheque for £1,000 arrived at headquarters.

Making the news A raffle, an auction and other personal contributions at the British Association of Industrial Editors Scarborough Conference resulted in £1,055 for the RNLI. Robin Sharp, the Institution's assistant public relations officer, was at the B AIE London Group Christmas party to receive the cheque.

The contribution will be used to offset the 1991 running costs of the Arun class lifeboat Newsbuoy which is in the RNLI relief fleet.

Newsbuoy was named by His Grace the Duke of Atholl, (then Chairman of the RNLI and the Chairman of Westminster Press) in September 1984. The lifeboat was partfunded from the proceeds of an appeal run by the Newspaper Society in which newspaper publishers and staff, newsagents, advertisers and newsboys and newsgirls participated.

Knit one, sell one A chimney sweep, a gypsy, a Welsh Lady, a butcher and a lifeboatman joined forces to help Cherry Soloman raise more than £170 for branch funds at Portishead in December.

The characters were all knitted figures which Cherry produces for sale at branch events, giving her time and the materials free and also turning out to help sell them. Pulling in the funds The Newport (Dyfed) Junior Rowing Team won the Junior cup in the Great River Race from Richmond toGreenwich, and promptly donated £150 to the RNLI. The crew of the boat were Wayne Jones (cox), Joe Thomas (stroke), Mark Griffiths, Barry James and G.

Morris.

Shopping spree 'Raids' on local supermarkets in North Cheam raised more than £4,000 for Sutton, Cheam and Worcester Park branch.

Two collectors at Sainsburys managed to corner a touch under £1,300 between Thursday evening and Saturday evening and on a later weekend shoppers at Safeway donated more than £2.700 in a similar period.

Reporting the branch's successful supermarket days Edward Trevor praised the results obtained at Safeway, when buckets were used for collecting. It speeds up the process, he says, and also led to a threefold increase in the number of £5 notes compared with the previous year! Flying High Hazel Gaskin raised £461 for lifeboat funds in August last year when she parascended high above the Medway River.

Although scared of heights and of the water, Hazel was strapped into a parachute and hoisted 200ft into the air by a power boat. Hazel is a member of the Kent Boat and Ski Club, based at Cuxton near Rochester, which also helps the local branch to raise funds throughout the year. Fete accompli! The Shoreham Harbour Lifeboat Appeal benefitted to the tune of £4,650 as a result of Hartley and District branch's co-operation with the Hartley Village Fete committee.

The fete was held last July and the cheque for the proceeds was handed over in November to Ken Everard, the recently retired coxswain of the Shoreham lifeboat.

The branch raised an additional £4,572 at various fund raising events during the course of 1990.

Fundraising with a bang A firework party last November at the home of Brian Lodge of Famborough, raised £ 1,476 for the Swanage Lifeboat Appeal. The party was attended by colleagues of Brian's from Apex Printing and the money was raised in a variety of ways including individual donations, auctions and raffles.

All those attending came in fancy dress, mainly pearly kings and queens, and a guest dressed as a flower seller helped with the fundraising by selling posies at £1 each.

In 1989 Brian Lodge raised over £1,000 for the same appeal with a sponsored drive across Australia.

... and the next patient please Dunstable branch's barbeque last summer raised £550, due in part no doubt to the very professional duo cooking the steaks.

With a doctor and a dentist behind the grill (in the person of committee members Mike Day and Mike O'Donovan) few could doubt the quality of the fare! Easy as having a ball...

Raising money is as easy as having a ball, writes yachting writer and broadcaster Malcolm McKeag following his involvement with the Keel Haul Ball. As a result of the ball four Lymington sailors will hand the RNLI a cheque for more than £1,500.

Crawford McKeon, Jane Howe, Malcolm McKeon and Jill McKeon put together the Keel Haul Ball, a low-cost black tie affair which gave 250 people a great time for relatively little outlay, and brought the RNLI a tidy sum.

In contrast to some Balls, with a capital B, held in a swish hotel in the capital where tickets can cost £ 100 and up before adding in the drinks, the McKeon team ran the keel Haul Ball at Elmer's Court Country Club for just £22 a ticket.

The Country Club club itself was a major contributor, donating the venue for free and leaving only the staff wages and buffet food to come out of the ticket price before the RNLI benefited from what was left.

On top of that the raffle - at a posh ' do' it would be called tombola - raised over £600, thanks to good prizes and moderately priced tickets.

Among the prizes were a year's free membership of the Country Club donated by Elmer's Court, a Methusalam of champagne donated by Champagne Mumm (sponsors of the Admiral's Cup), and a day's charter for six people aboard a classic 40ft motor yacht donated by James Waldrock's DMG Yacht Charters.

Potential sponsors of events such as the Keel Haul Ball can take heart from the response to Elmer's Courts' generosity - seven people were so impressed that they joined up on the evening. The Club now offers 'Keel Haul Corporate Membership', donating £40 from a specially reduced fee straight to the RNLI. A round-about way Each year a member of the Hoo Ness Yacht Club provides a Junior Award, and in 1990 it was decided that this would go to the child who raised the largest amount for the RNLI.

Very soon after the challenge was announced 13-year-old Mark Rowe was busy approaching club members to sponsor him and his 9-year-old brother Matthew on a 28- mile circumnavigation of the Isle of Sheppey in their 10ft 'Mirror' class dinghy.

The brothers made their voyage one weekend in August last year, with their parent's yacht in attendance as safety boat.

Having sailed down to the lower part of the Medway they found themselves having to row most of the way from Garrison Point along the north coast of the island due to a lack of wind, and then having to drop their sails because there was too much wind! After a night aboard their mother ship in the Swale (which divides the island from the mainland) they finally completed the circumnavigation in about 13'A hours of sailing and rowing.

Mark and Matthew raised £330 for the Institution, winning the Junior Award in the process, and handed over their cheque to the Medway branch at a club event in October.

The club also made a donation and to their delight the brothers have now been invited to visit Sheemess lifeboat station. Welling's black box On New Years Eve 1990, the Welling Branch held a Buffet and Disco Dance at the Lord Kitchener public house, Welling.

A superb time was had by the 240 people who attended the event which, together with a raffle, raised £1,302.50 for the Welling Branch.

An RNLI plaque was presented to Kevin Jarvis of The Black Box Disco to thank him for the dances at which he has played for the Welling Branch. Thanks are extended to Mr John Godden of Charringtons for allowing the rent-free use of the Dance Hall.

On the carpet Jim Pearson of Honley Car Parts in West Yorkshire spotted an adjacent carpet company dumping hundreds of carpet squares into a skip. Quick-thinking Jim asked if he could have them, and then retrieved the doomed floor covering along with,a large pile of similar samples and stacked them in his garage.

Having sorted the enormous- pile into matching sets of colour and size Ije put up a notice outside his shop: 'Quality'Car Mats 25p - all proceeds to the lifeboats*.

Jim now does a steady trade in car mats, and with his carpet-selling neighbour regularly topping up his stock, Jim has so far netted £242 for the RNLI. It has become almost a full-time job for Honley and Brockholes branch to empty his collecting box, and this is all from a man who is not even a branch member in a small village about as far from the sea as you can get! Mass production! The Minehead Lifeboat Guild shop is open daily from March until October, from 10.30 am until dusk, and since Easter 1990 ladies of the guild and friends have made and sold no less than 262 gingham aprons, 250 knitted lifeboatmen dolls, 220 other dolls, numerous oven gloves, peg bags, knitwear and greeting cards! The guild raised £1,770 in that time - and since 1981 they have made and sold an amazing 1,839 gingham aprons.

Pounds lost, pounds gained! Mrs Veronica Harrison (Vron to her friends) decided to hold a sponsored slim last Summer, and members of the Medway Branch Committee later attended a function put on by the RochesterCruising Club, where she is a member, to be presented with the proceeds.

Veronica raised the sum of £400 from friends and members of the Cruising Club.

Vron looked very pleased with herself and happy to be presented with an RNLI Certificate for her efforts by Medway branch chairman John Allison who had no idea of, and tactfully did not ask, her previous weight. Drawn into a new car Buying a 25p draw ticket in Yorkshire last year has given Miss Daphne Knights of Purley in Surrey quite a problem-but one she can quite happily live with.

Daphne's ticket won her a brand new Volvo 440 in the North East region's Volvo draw, and after picking up the gleaming new white car from her local dealership in Croydon she now has to grapple with a pleasant problem.

The problem? Well, Daphne has owned her present car, a 1958 Austin A35, for many, many years and was just about to decide whether to keep it in regular use or buy something a little newer when she heard of her good luck in the draw. The 33-year-old Austin is in fine fettle and Daphne is now determined to find it a caring home to live out a gentle retirement.

Daphne is a member of the A35's owners club and it may find a home with a fellow enthusiast, but THE LIFEBOAT will forward letters from readers who would like to take the little grey car under his or her wing. They swear by it...

Liverpool licensee Jim Parry wants his customers to keep on swearing, because it means more money to buy equipment for the New Brighton lifeboat station! So far Jim has raised £2,400 by fining regulars for swearing at his pub, the Carnarvon Castle.

Members of the lifeboat crew visited the popular Higsons local recently to receive equipment which included a VHP and a transportable radio, dry and foul-weather suits for the crew, torches and gloves.

Said Jim, 'Regulars are fined lOp each time they sing, swear or think 'naughty' thoughts!' Skegness success The Lincolnshire Lifeboat Appeal has recently reached its target of £600,000 and Skegness Coxswain/Mechanic Paul Martin felt this was a suitable time to give Skegness man Alvis Blanchard a 'mention in despatches' for his particular contributions to the appeal during 1990.

As well as some £900 from beach collections during launches Alvis organised a skydive parachuting event and a 'buy-a-brick' campaign which brought in £11,000. In the previous three years Alvis, who was once a launcher at the station before travelling the world, has undertaken sponsored parachute jumps and organised others to add some £5,000 to RNLI funds.

Work is underway on the 1991 project Skegness lifeboat teddy bears - one of which has already been auctioned for more than £200, despite selling for £5.95 normally! The Fund Raisers The final date for copy in this section of the Summer 1991 issue of THE LIFEBOAT is Friday 24 May..