An eggs-tra special gift The fabulous Faberge-style egg created for the RNLI in Chichester by Ebony Jewellers in South Street has finally found a home.

Sothebys valued the egg at £20,000, an amount which the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights in London has agreed to donate to the lifeboats. The egg is now in their keeping as a company 'jewel'.

At a luncheon in London, the egg was handed over to the prime warden Mr Andrew Arnold on behalf of the Chichester branch by actor Christopher Timothy. Despite having his arm in a sling, he passed the egg over with full honours, assisted by Major Peter Longmore, president of Chichester RNLI.

Also present were other wardens of the company, the donor and director of Ebony Mr Tim Rowe and Mr John Worsley who designed and supervised the making of this marvellous piece. Lord Stanley, chairman of the national fund raising committee and Mr Ray Kipling, deputy director, were in attendance, as were Mr Roger Wormal and Captain Stephen Stuart of Chichester RNLI.

Made of gold, with a blue enamelled body and supported by gold mermaids, the egg stands 7.Sin high. It is decorated with pearls and diamonds with the Institution's flag in enamel on the top. A 2in scale model in gold of the Selsey Tyne class lifeboat City of London is concealed within.

Seven of Ebony's craftsmen made the egg in response to an initially modest request for a small prize for the waterborne treasure hunt, one of the events in Chichester Harbour's RNLI regatta year 1990.

The Chichester committee are delighted this precious object has now found a home, appropriately in the City of London, worthy of the skill and generosity of the donors.

In brief MORE than £ 1,500 was raised for the RNLI in a prize draw held at the 1991 Falcon Sailing Windsurf Marathon at Southport's marine lake on 11 August. First prize was a two-week Falcon Sailing holiday for two to Greece, Turkey or Sardinia.

STAR of the day at Amside branch's coffee morning was Godfrey the guard dog, who, with the help of his creator Mrs Janet Hancock, raised £121.60 for the lifeboats. The pair sat on Arnside promenade and invited passers-by to guess the date of Godfrey's 'birth'. Godfrey now lives with his new owner in Salford. His and his creator's contribution goes towards a sum of £1.080 raised by the Arnside branch.

WEM branch, Shropshire ran a stall at the Third Annual Sweet Pea Show in the Town Hall, Wem on 27 July and raised £231. The show had been organised by the Eckford Sweet Pea Society of Wem, the home town of the modern sweet pea and is held on the fourth Saturday in July each year. Over 2,000 people visited this year's show.

SIX brave and fit mountain bikers battled it out over a 40-mile course on the Greek island of Cephalonia in support of the RNLI. The central point of the competition, organised by Greek Islands Sailing Club, was to cycle over the mile-high Mount Aenos. The six competitors, including race organiser Gregg Fryett, raised £50 in sponsorship money.

Dorset delicacies Colonel Philip Roper of the Bridport branch and his wife organised a Dorset ploughman's lunch at his house in aid of the lifeboat service. All eats and drinks were local Dorset products - cheese, pate, apple juice and butter as well as local salads and bread. Some 80 people attended the lunch and £403 was raised in just a couple of hours.

It was originally intended that the event should take place in the garden, but due to the 'lifeboat weather' it had to be moved indoors.

Stairs, landings and bedrooms all had to be brought into use, but everything ran smoothly in the end.

On the rocks for £1,600 Island flingers Mark Somers, Charlotte Dawson, Samantha Todd-Young, Capel Irwin and Guy Winstanley collected the largest sum ever raised in aid of Port Isaac RNLI on Tuesday 20 August.

The team of five landed on Newland, an inhospitable rocky island at the mouth of the Camel estuary in Cornwall, and remained on the island for 24 hours.

The expedition raised £1,600.27. The cheque was proudly presented to honorary secretary of Port Isaac lifeboat station David Castle on the morning of Sunday 25 August.

On your bike Sergeant Bob Buck is sitting pretty after tackling an 80-mile bike ride and raising more than £2,000 for the lifeboat service.

The Bristol bobby leapt into the saddle for a sponsored ride from Bristol to Poole on 13 July.

Sergeant Buck said, 'People have shown great generosity. Each donation - large and small - has helped me break through my original target, and the pennies are still coming in!' The £2,000 cheque, presented to Mr Kevin Escott, secretary of the RNLI Minehead Committee on 12 August at Minehead boathouse, included a £300 donation from the force's unclaimed property fund. Nearly £30 was raised from a sponsored litter collection from Weston-super-Mare beach, organised by Kate Richardson who works at the force's headquarters.

The cash was also to have included a £50 donation raised specially for Sergeant Buck's appeal from the Cabot Cruising Club in Bristol but it was stolen during a break-in.

Sergeant Buck was himself a lifeboatman from 1971 -1974, operating from Pill station.

He is now chairman of the Pill branch of the RNLI.

A glorious weekend 27 and 28 July was a very productive weekend for hard-working supporters of the Worthing branch at their annual seafront fayre.

Solent Coastguard helicopter joined forces with the two Shoreham lifeboats and the Littlehampton Atlantic 21 to entertain a vast crowd of spectators between the pier and the beach house on Saturday afternoon. A collection taken afterwards produced £98.

A crane driving competition in beach house grounds on Friday evening and Saturday and Sunday afternoons was a popular and novel event. Contestants had to ring a series of pegs in the ground with a large rubber tyre suspended from the jib in the fastest possible time. Over the course of the weekend, 190 entrants took part, producing £102 from entry fees.

Gamble-Sadler crane hire kindly donated the use of their crane and the services of Bob, their driver. The company also donated the prize money.

Sales of RNLI souvenirs amounted to £135, and donations from those watching the crane in action came to £50. Meanwhile, on the promenade of West Worthing, the tombola raised £70. At Worthing fire station's annual open day, sales of RNLI souvenirs came to £243, exceeding all expectations.

Over the course of this glorious weekend Worthing RNLI raised a grand total of £700.

Singing For Their Supper A gala evening held at the Hawthorns School, Bletchingley on Saturday 13 July by Mr and Mrs Harold Porter and the committee of the Caterham and District branch raised over £2,000 for the Institution.

A delicious supper, a tombola and a wine bar - with all wines and bottles donated by Mr Porter's firm, Porter and Laker Ltd of Kennington, London - helped raise the magnificent sum.

After supper, the guests were entertained to a very special concert given by Peter Langham Evans, star of Opera 80 and man of many festival appearances, with his fiancee Lorna Anderson, one of Britain's most sought-after young sopranos who herself has enjoyed a distinguished career on the concert stage. With them was Malcolm Martineau, leading accompanist to many of the world's best known singers.

Fuel for free For many years, Stones Fuel Oils Ltd, a small local fuel distribution firm, has supplied diesel free of charge to both the Filey and Scarborough all-weather lifeboats.

Now, with the arrival of the Mersey at both Filey and Scarborough stations, fuel consumption is set to rise substantially. But the company wish to continue with their grand gesture and to date all accounts have been returned to the RNLI with the wording 'with compliments' stamped on them.

Good grounds for pounds Cakeham Manor, West Wittering with its Great Hall of 1250 and watchtower of 1520, was the setting for a summer garden party organised by Manhood branch which raised £2,150. 185 guests paid the £12 ticket price for wine and a finger buffet and entry to the grand draw. Ferry tickets to France and theatre tickets were just two of the prizes.

Branch chairman Mr Ian Chrismas said after the event, 'The Manhood branch is greatly indebted to Mr and Mrs Teddy Branson, owners of the manor, for the use of their lovely home and gardens'.

Havering handiwork A colourful quilt depicting a lifeboat surrounded by marine life was presented to the Hornchurch and Rainham branch on 12 August for raffling in aid of the RNLI.

The quilt was made by Havering Quilters.

Individual panels were joined to produce the quilt top and then the top, wadding and backing was hand-quilted using a floorstanding frame at which several people can work as traditional 'quilting bees'.

The lifeboat is based on the Aldeburgh boat, itself unique in that it is now the only one in the country launched 'on the skids'.

A spokesman for Havering Quilters said, 'We hope it will raise a substantial amount for the RNLI.' The raffle is to be drawn on 30 June 1992.

Details from Sue Clifton on 071 928 5742.

In brief LOUGH SWILLY station branch launched an edible version of their inshore lifeboat.

Made of rich fruit cake by fund raiser Josephine McLaughlin, the cake was raffled at the branch's annual tug-o'-war and raised £158.

21 YEARS - and £60,000 of funds raised later - the Ladies1 Lifeboat Guild of Uttoxeter this year celebrated their great achievement with dinner at Alton Towers.

Brian Pegg, retired cox of the Sheringham lifeboat was guest speaker.

THE CHILDREN of Betchworth County First School, Surrey, held a sponsored matchbox fill to see how many articles they could get into a standard size matchbox. The answer was 100 - corresponding to exactly the number of pounds raised by the event. The cheque was handed to the Reigate and Redhill branch.

SUNDAY 19 MAY saw the Southborough and District branch busy organising a very successful car boot fair at Mabledon Farm, Southborough. Mrs June Relf, honorary secretary, said: 'How delighted we were to raise £2,000, topping all previous efforts.

Good advertising, good organisation and team spirit - as well as a dry Sunday - made this an excellent fund raising event'.

ON 7 JULY, Northampton Ladies' guild celebrated its 25th anniversary - and with it raised £5,300! As part of the celebrations, a pig roast was neld at Brock Hall, the home of Mr and Mrs Peter Lee. Jazz music was supplied by Ginger Pig. A special event during the evening at the hall was the Beating of the Retreat by the band of the Royal Marines.

Lifeboat traditions live on by Raymond Baxter Few fund raising events this year can have been more exciting - even by RNLI standards - than the venture staged by the Walton and Frinton Station Branch on Saturday 27 July this year. In fact, the sponsored row became a considerable adventure for the 26 crews who took to the water in an extremely demanding and close-fought race from Clacton to Walton Piers in conditions which were far from ideal.

Persistent sea fog reduced visibility to at most three-quarters of a mile and it was sometimes less than 250 yards. Some crews claimed never to have seen the shoreline, let alone a fellow competitor, from start to finish. Those on shore were denied most of the spectacle.

Not surprisingly, no one had taken a compass to row the six miles between two sea marks as prominent as the local piers on a summer day. But it did not matter. Principal organiser Bryan Ward, until recently one of the Walton lifeboat crew, ensured every rowing boat was constantly within sight of a skipper ready to meet any emergency.

The Walton and Frinton lifeboat has been there since 1884, and there are those who take such matters seriously.

My wife and I watched the event aboard the Walton and Frinton Solent class City of Birmingham.

The fog was not the only unwelcome hazard - the sea state was also far from friendly.

Their skills as lifeboatmen (and their sense of humour!) were tested to the full as coxswain Bob Kemp and his crew undertook the task of embarking the rowing crews whom we had ferried down from Walton into their towed craft.

But, to quote Stanley Holloway, 'There were no shipwrecks, and nobody drownded - in fact, nothing to laff at at all', especially as the idea of lining up competitors to stake boats before the start was abandoned in the circumstances. When I banged off the hand-held maroon to signal the off under instruction from Jim Berry, the Walton mechanic, the fleet was more widespread than might have met the approval of the Royal Yacht Squadron.

And what a fleet it was, ranging from modern six-oared GRP whalers to a Grand Banks dory.

And a beautifully restored 89-year-old work boat, once the property of the Institution, was today crewed by a pair of stalwarts one third her age.

The crews themselves were as varied as their craft, including teams from various rescue services, the sea cadets, a tug boat company from Harwich and three sets of gallant all-lady oarspersons. The local newspaper trumpeted proudly that 'Crews had come from as far afield as Southend-on-Sea.' By the time we got underway to overtake the fleet to seaward, almost every crew had' got its act together'. Although well spread out, they were streaming down the tide at a cracking pace, the technique of most owing more to Grace Darling than Henley Royal Regatta.

We forged ahead to mark the finishing line beyond and inshore of Walton Pier and in moments the fog had swallowed the race. Constant radio contact with their escorts assured coxswain Kemp that all was well with the competitors, if not with everyone else in the vicinity.

With two and a half miles still to run to Walton Pier we got a 'shout'. A yacht, radarless and lost, had wisely called the Coastguard for assistance.

Within minutes, she was located using that priceless modern aid, VHP D/F. Without even seeing her, Bob and Jim were able to vector a support ship to guide the yachtsman to safe anchorage. Our next job was to find Walton Pierhead by radar! On station again, this time to mark the Finish, we waited. Bob Kemp made arrangements to ensure none of the rowers were too far inshore to clear the pierhead. The fog was that bad.

All eyes aboard City ofBirmingham peered into the grey, and the lifeboat became silent.

'There. On the port bow'. The first crew home was the whaler of Alexander Tugs of Harwich.

Their time was 1 hr.05.

I fired another maroon and Bob sounded the lifeboat's siren, as he did for every competitor to cross the line.

Clint Swan and Tim Plumber, of the Haybridge Basin were eventually judged the overall winners on handicap, coming in second inlhr. 12, and the Walton and Frinton Ladies' Guild, stroked by their chairman, the coxswain's wife Val, won the Ladies' competition.

But in the end everyone got a prize - a barbeque and bonfire on the beach rounded the day off and the event raised over £4,000 for the Institution.

To my mind, every bit as important was the fact that the people of Walton and Frinton had more than lived up to the proud century-old tradition of their lifeboat community.

Comic Relief Landlady Lilian Crust turned blunder woman to raise £ 1,500 for the lifeboats in a daredevil act of parascending, despite the fact she is afraid of heights! Lilian, keeper of the Portobello Inn, In brief AT THE annual general meeting of Ferndown District Guides, the chairman of the RNLI Ferndown and District branch was presented with a cheque for £812, collected by the Guides from various fund raising events.

OFFICE Electrics Ltd of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, have been stamping a message on the back of their office mail envelopes.

It reads: 'Please send used stamps to RNLI, Poole, Dorset, BH15 1HZ'. Peter Rushforth, managing director of the company says several of his customers have taken up the idea and are busy saving stamps...

MRS A.C. Mason of Lower Hayne, Corfe, Taunton in Somerset has so far raised £210 for the RNLI by making carved wooden house names. Although over 80, Mrs Mason is keen to keep those orders coming in. Every penny, she says, of the £ 15 charge goes to the RNLI.

THE SUDBURY branch have announced that they raised over £3,370 from their house to house and flag day collections earlier this year.

MR DAVID Town, a keen RNLI supporter, was 80 last January. To celebrate this special occasion he undertook a sponsored swim in aid of the RNLI. Cheered on by friends and relatives, David swam 50 lengths of the pool at Kirkstall Leisure Centre in Leeds to raise £503. This sum was handed to the Leeds Ladies' Lifeboat Guild.

dressed in style for the occasion, proving to all her spectating regulars that, as well as being extremely brave, she is a good sport.

Afterwards, Lilian confessed she had quite enjoyed the experience. 'I would do it again - it was not half as bad as I thought,' she said.

Lilian's was just the latest fund raising event to be organised in West Kingsdown for the RNLI. The branch has already fully funded Pride of West Kingsdown, a relief D class lifeboat which was named and dedicated in the village on 13 July this year (see page 123 for full details).

The West Kingsdown fund raisers have now launched a second appeal for more than £12,000 to fund a new davit for Sheerness station. The appeal is well on target and has so far raised over £5,000.

Tall ships - high profile The Tall Ships Council generously permitted the lifeboat service a high profile during the recent visit to Belfast of the tall ships.

As always, the support and encouragement to the lifeboat service from the many people of the Province was much in evidence and the RNLI benefitted by almost £10,000 through collecting boxes and souvenir sales.

The Belfast committee of the RNLI also arranged two receptions on board HMS Caroline.

Altogether, the various efforts raised £19,000. This generosity is greatly valued by the volunteer crews who man the lifeboats around our coasts throughout the year.

Rafters are raising Portrush had never seen anything quite like it! On spring bank holiday weekend this year, a record-breaking 132 rafts - 600 participants in all - as well as 20,000 onlookers packed Portrush Harbour to enjoy the Guinness raft race - and raise money for the lifeboats at the same time.

Since the earliest days of the race, fund raising teams have been dressing up in carnival costumes and competing against each other on the chilly waters for charity. This year, the spectacle was declared underway by Ulster's Phil Coulter, the man who composed and sang 'Home from the Sea' for the lifeboat service.

Over the ten years that the race has been held, teams have raised more than £125,000 for the lifeboats. This year, the generous people of Portrush, North Antrim have already broken last year's total of £26,000 and it seems the money is still coming in.

The Police Appeal - an update Pulling for the RNLI Twenty policemen and one policewoman took part in a Landrover pull on 31 July in aid of the Royal Ulster Constabulary lifeboat appeal.

Grosvenor Road Sea Anglers as well as Grosvenor Road, Springfield Road and New Barnsley police stations all took their turn pulling the police patrol Landrover.

The 13-mile route ended at Carrickfergus Castle.

Goff Evans, chairman of the Sea Anglers said, 'It was tough-going on the day as it was so hot, but thank you to all those who donated and sponsored the participants.' But in the end it was all worthwhile as £2,309.50 was collected in buckets on the route - and sponsorship money is still to be collected.

Visiting hours Three cars and three motorcyclists left Greater Manchester on a dull Monday morning in June to visit every lifeboat station in England - all 96 of them! Not only that, the Greater Manchester Police team who were attempting the feat planned to complete the fund raising event in four days flat.

The car team set off at 1000 on 3 June for the Wirral to visit every station up England's west coast. At the Scottish border, the team cut across country to Berwick- on-Tweed and to Cromer where at teatime on 6 June they met up with the cyclists. The motorcyclists had meanwhile travelled to stations in the west country, the south coast and up the east coast. Cars, motorcycles, fuel, insurance, breakdown cover, communications, food and accommodation were all kindly donated to the eleven-strong team.

Superintendent Peter Cope said, 'What rapturous welcomes we received! 'The car team was presented with a beautiful laminated picture of a Mersey class lifeboat by the crew of Wells in Norfolk. This was most appropriate as this is the type of lifeboat the police appeal is trying to purchase.' Sponsorship money is still coming in, and so far the team say they have raised over £3,000.

Crewmen monopolise London Sussex lit'eboatmen enjoyed free parking and avoided going to jail on 12 June when they raised over £124 playing monopoly on the steps of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square.

The idea to play this famous Londonbased game at one of the board's locations sprang from the imagination of Michael Audreson after he played games with the late Beric Watson, Managing Director of Waddington Games.

During the game, the public was invited to make contributions towards the money being used by the players.

'Recycled teenagers' swim Members of the 55+ Club of Narberth swimming pool crawled, breaststroked and butterfly- ed their way to fund raising success in a sponsored swim during June to benefit three charities, one of them the RNLI.

43 'recycled teenagers' - as club member Gordon Bottomley refers to his team - together swam a total of 484 lengths (six miles). They collected £481.50. £160.50 going straight into lifeboat service coffers.

Elsewhere, 71 -year-old Mrs Betty Portch raised over £92 swimming 70 lengths of Prince Regent swimming complex in Brighton. Her niece Donna Robinson -just nine years old - has learned to swim widths and is aiming to swim 30 to raise funds.

Storm Force member Kirsty Banks, 10.

of North Cheam, Surrey, completed 25 lengths of her local swimming baths to raise £419 for the RNLI. At a recent meeting of the Sulton. Cheam and Worcester Park branch. Kirsty was there to present hercheque to local branch president councillor Edward Trevor.

Finally, the children of Mudeford Junior School took part in a sponsored swim at Two Riversmeet Pool in Christchurch. John Neville, chairman of the Christchurch branch had invited pupils to watch a video about the work of the lifeboats. Spurred on by the show. 120 children between the ages of seven and 11 set about raising £850. enough to equip three new crew members with all their sea-going gear.

Fashionable fund raising A July fashion show of men's, ladies and children's clothes involving 36 models proved a very enjoyable way to raise £ 1.294 tor the two-year-old Prestatyn branch.

This, the latest in a series of successful fund raising events for the branch, took the form of a poolside show with a sherry reception and hair-dressing demonstration.

Many local firms paid to set up a stall and demonstrate their goods, and clothes for the show were supplied by local outfitters.

From strength to strength Lady Bay Ladies' Lifeboat Guild of Nottingham celebrated 20 years of fund raising on 18 May 1991. Since their earliest days, the guild has gone from strength to strength, raising a total of £4.845 in 1989-1990. Afar cry from the days of 1971-1972. when a modest £43 was raised! To celebrate the anniversary, over 100 people attended a function at All Hallows Church Hall, Lady Bay on 17 May, including the mayor of Rushcliffe councillor Peter Lawson. the mayoress Miss Jean Lawson and the north east area organiser Mr Stuart Swallow and his wife.

During the evening, a presentation on behalf of the guild was made by Mr Swallow to Mrs D. Appleby in recognition of her support. Mrs B. Linney whose support was likewise to be recognised could not be present.

Treasurer Mrs J. Tyler presented Mr Swallow with a cheque tbr£2.5(K). the amount collected by the guild since 1 October 1990.

All enjoyed a commemorative cake especially made for the occasion, complete with replica RNLI flag.

Il was fitting that the celebration took place at All Hallows Church Hall, the venue of a talk which ultimately led to the formation of the guild all those 20 years ago.

One good turn...

When Whitby lifeboat crew laid on a trip in a lifeboat for Skipton and Craven disabled, members of the Craven Old Wheels Society got together to hold a supper dance on 31 May in aid of the lifeboat.

This well-supported event raised £251 and was attended by Whitby crew.

On 8 and 9 June, the same club organised a veteran vehicle rally, sponsored by Great Mills store in Skipton, from Skipton to ..Whitby. in all 40 vehicles taking part.

A cheque for £481 - the total amount raised over the two events - was handed over to the lifeboat crew on 12 June.

Pauline and John Ogden of the Craven Old Wheels Society, who organised both events, are organising similar ones for 6 and 7 June next year when they hope to double their takings.

Saving every penny Mrs Margaret Taylor, honorary secretary of the Norton branch, writes: 'Our branch was given the use of an empty shop in our main street to sell goods for lifeboat funds. The owner. Mr Vic Maloney, has not asked for a penny in rent.

'So far. we have raised nearly £1,100 and we can have the shop for a further two weeks or so. All the goods - which are not RNLI souvenirs - have been given voluntarily by Nortonians.

'We have sold clothes, shoes, household goods, a hammock and even an old sewing machine which raised £20.

'The sum raised is the highest we have ever taken for a single event.

'To cap it all, we also gained second place in the recent Malton and Norton carnival 'decorated shop window' competition!' Aquaphobic aid Landlord Andy Lyes of the Severnside Anchor Inn in Epney, Gloucestershire can't swim a stroke. So he and wife Joan organised a disco and raised £605 for the RNLI. 'I reckon I might just need help from them one day,' Andy joked.

On hand to accept the cheque were retired Bristol Channel pilot DougGriffey and Judith Roberts of the Gloucestershire branch.

Peter Tippet, a serving pilot in the Bristol Channel, gave ihe RNLI kitty another boost by handing over money collected by his local. On Peter's 50th birthday last May. he and his wife Liz agreed 'no gifts' and instead asked all their friends to t i l l the bucket on the bar instead. They did and raised a healthy £120 in no time.

Gloucester's town crier Alan Myatt broadcast the double event as far as his voice would reach. As he's recently gone into the Guinness Book of Records as the world's mightiest mouth, it was a fair distance! In brief PRIMARY 3D of Daniel Stewart/Stewart Melville Primary School visited North Berwick station on 26 June - and asked lots of questions about running a lifeboat. Crew members put on suits for the children, who later wrote thirty thank-you letters to the crew. After their visit, the class organised a cake and candy stall at the school, and sent the station a cheque for £70.

DIANE Hall, president of the Inner Wheel Club of Redditch has presented a cheque for £750 to Mr Frankie George, coxswain of Fishguard lifeboat.

The sum was raised by the club's members who held a ploughman's supper, a buffet dance, coffee mornings and a travelling lunch.

MISS Mary Cresswell of Kington branch in Herefordshire held a very successful coffee morning at her home, raising £400. Regional organiser Anne Williams said, 'Because of Miss CresswelPs great sense of humour, the morning was great fun and enjoyed by all.' HITCHEN and District branch member Mr John Gallacher pulled on his walking shoes and completed a sponsored round-the-village walk at Preston in Herts. Thanks to the generosity of local friends and RNLI supporters Mr Gallacher raised £530 for the lifeboats.

SE ATON, Beer and District's colourful carnival float earned £143.50 for the lifeboat service in the local East Devon street parade. Sea-nery was painted by the branch vice chairman and assistant secretary! HITCHING a ride on a D class lifeboat at West Bay Fun Day in July was Dorset County carnival queen Sam Brown, accompanied by the town crier Harry Poole. The event, held in aid of the RNLI and featuring displays from various organisations and the sale of car draw tickets and souvenirs, raised about £2,300 for the Bridport branch.

RAME Peninsula branch's flag day on Saturday 25 May raised a magnificent £815 from souvenir sales, street collections, a coffee morning (where crew members of Plymouth lifeboat were presented with their traditional pasties), the raffle of a one-gallon whisky bottle at the Devonport Inn and the selling of Volvo car lottery tickets. A Volvo was kindly loaned for the occasion by Kastner's of Plymouth.

FOUR days was all it took for Richard Moran to walk the 95 miles from North Shields to Berwick - and collect £100 for the Tynemouth Ladies' Lifeboat Guild in the process. Sticking to the coastline, Mr Moran covered an average of 23 miles a day. Pausing for breath, Mr Moran also found he had won a gallon bottle of whisky which he raffled, raising a further £100.

HASTINGS coxswain Mr Fred White and his crew have constructed a scaled-down model of their Mersey class lifeboat Seatink Endeavour, The boat, on show in Hastings town centre with two of the crew to collect funds on lifeboat day, contributed to a record fund raising lifeboat week for Hastings and St Leonard's lifeboat society, beating last year's totaf of £3,400 to collect £4,755.49.

CHILDREN from Hemyock County Primary School presented a cheque for £514.40 to deputy regional organiser Tony Bellamy. The school, on the Devon and Somerset border, raised the sum by organising a sponsored walk, swim, cycle ride and silence, as well as holding a mini jumble sale, cake stalls, a fashion show, performing odd jobs and enjoying a non-uniform day at school.

Tunbridge Wells raise £4,415 A total of £4,415 was raised by committee members and friends of the Tunbridge Wells and District branch during lifeboat week.

£1,640.43 was collected on flag day 8 June and £2,775 was raised in the house-to- house collection.

During the week, a disco on the back of a transit van helped draw the public's attention to what was going on in the Calverely shopping precinct in the town centre.

Further afield, local sailor Bob Young experienced that sinking feeling when he jumped out of an aeroplane to raise £88.

Tunbridge Wells sub aqua club donated the prize money from a competition they won at Crystal Palace and the ladies' section held a luncheon, which, as well as being a great social event, raised over £600.

The art of fund raising The ten-strong Nottingham branch entertainments committee has raised £ 13,900 from just two events.

Earlier this year, local artists showed their paintings at a gallery evening held in local auction rooms and commission was paid to the RNLI on every painting sold. The event proved very popular - 374 tickets were sold.

A summer ball was also arranged by the committee at Kelham Hall near Newark, attended by 378 guests. The formal dinner was followed by dancing to the Mersey Beats and the Pandemonium disco. During the ball, money was further raised by donations, a raffle draw, advertisements in a brochure and various sponsorships.

Plaques for profit Mr Brian Williams, a branch vice chairman and life-long supporter of the lifeboats, has set up a company producing RNLI wall plaques for retirements, trophies and presentations of all kinds. They are intended above all as a means for branches and stations to show appreciation for the fund raising efforts of pubs and other organisations.

All income from sales, less administration expenses, is directed to RNLI funds.

Contact Brian Williams at Marine Crafts, West Rock, The Cleave, Kingsand, Nr Torpoint, Cornwall PL10 INF.

Gifts to lift the spirits Landlords Mike and Annette Hamill of The Coopers Arms, Rochester, Kent turned auctioneers on 29 April when a bottle of Martell cognac was sold off in aid of the RNLI. The event raised £351, which was accepted on behalf of the Medway branch by vice chairman Mr Peter Gyngell.

Martell Cognac's links with the RNLI were further strengthened at Blaikie's Quay, Aberdeen where Alex Carnie of Seagram UK presented local RNLI members with a US gallon (two litre) bottle of Martell cognac.

The presentation took place on the quayside at high tide in front of the service's number five lifeboat based at Aberdeen.

Amongst those present was Innes Farquhar, former executive committee member of the Scottish lifeboat council, whose car number plate reads RNL15! Let them eat cake! A splendid cake decorated to represent the RNLI flag and donated by SAS Catering, Heathrow was one of the raffle prizes at Twickenham and District's 31 st Annual Ball held earlier this year at the Lensbury Club, Teddington. Other prizes included two shuttle tickets from British Airways and two tickets to Paris donated by British Midland.

The cake was won by Mr John Holden, Assistant Scout Leader of 1st Teddington Baptist Scouts, who took it to his father and scout camp the following weekend. We are reliably informed that the cake was eagerly devoured by both fathers and scouts alike! Citizen of the year Vi Bone, honorary secretary of the RNLI Girvan Ladies' branch has been nominated by the Garrick Gazette and the townspeople of Girvan to be their 'Citizen of the Year'.

Born in Naini-Tal, India, Mrs Bone was a professional gym teacher. She has been involved in raising funds for the lifeboats for many years and took over the position of honorary secretary in 1986.

Her hobbies are painting (she was past president of Girvan Arts Guild), giving films and talks, as well as selling RNLI souvenirs from Stumpy's Tower, a well-known Girvan landmark.

The Fund Raisers The final date for copy in this section of the Winter 1991 issue of The Lifeboat is November 26.