Flags out for the lifeboats From Pinner to Plumstead, Romford to Richmond, Potters Bar to Petts Wood, members of almost 100 London branches were knocking on doors between 9 and 16 March during the RNLI's London lifeboat week.

London lifeboat flag day on 17 March saw collectors - among them broadcaster Brian Johnston - out on the streets, shopping malls and all the major London stations with their collecting boxes.

Clad in yellow oilskins and sou'westers the fundraisers collected £280,418.42.Sound swimming Last September two sub-aqua divers, Brian Barrell and Steve Dover, donned swimming caps and goggles to swim across Plymouth Sound from Picklecombe Point to Fort Bovisand, a distance of just over two miles. The event was staged to raise money for water-related charities.

The swim was dreamt up by Brian and Tony Pallet when Brian decided he wanted to swim across Plymouth Sound just for the fun of it! Tony backed the challenge by personally offering a £100 bet, to go to charity if the swim was completed.

On hearing the news, Steve - as always concerned for the safety of his intrepid diving buddy - decided to take up the challenge too and Nikki Keenan volunteered to collect the money. The event was born...

Members of Thornton Heath BSAC No 210 closely monitored the swim and provided the necessary moral support as well as boat cover with permission of the Royal Navy harbour master for Plymouth.

Local radio and newspaper coverage contributed to the success of the event, which raised over £2,000 for the RNLI, the National Association of Swimming Clubs for the Handicapped, and the Diving Diseases Research Centre.Any offers? For 18 months the Sandown branch ran a Nearly New shop in premises kindly lent to them by the directors of Moss Motors. Committee member Mrs Waterhouse and her helpers worked hard to raise £6,800 from the venture.

Unfortunately, Moss Motors now requires its premises back and the branch is busy looking for a suitable alternative so the volunteers may keep up the good work! Any offers?To boldly go...

A new branch has recently been formed in Hartlepool, Cleveland.

Forty-one people were recruited to form a committee and supporters group. But then the problem arose to find a name to differentiate the new branch from the Hartlepool station branch.

Hartlepool's lifeboat The Scout is affectionately known locally as The Star Ship Enterprise, as the local honorary secretary is Captain Kirk. Not only that but one of the deputy launching authorities is Mr Scott and it is also rumoured that one of the crew has strange ears! And so 'Hartlepool Enterprise' branch will now boldly go where no man has gone before and is on a steady course for fundraising.

Trivial pursuit Having twice donated £250 to the Penarth lifeboat station, the patrons of the Swan Inn, Taffs Well excelled themselves third time round by raising the terrific sum of £1,000.

This amount was raised by playing Trivial Pursuit - no trivial pursuit in this instance! Board sailors' gift A cheque for £1,689.75 was presented by Chris Noy, chairman of the Board Sailing Association to Pa ton Carr and Jean Beecrof t, chairman and secretary of the Southport branch.

This welcome gift, the latest of a number of large donations, was raised by members of the BSA competing in the Falcon Sailing 12-hour marathon.In brief...In brief...In brief.

COVENTRY ladies guild held an auction in March at Quicks' Parkside Car Showrooms and raised £1,785. The venue was donated free by Quicks, as were the services of the auctioneer Mr Harvey Williams.

LOCALS and regulars at the Black Horse public house in Tunbridge Wells have been busy raising money for the lifeboat service. At a special presentation evening Mr D Higgins, district manager of Shepard Neame Brewers, handed over a cheque for £1,270.79 to Mrs Kathy Hubbard, area organiser for the south east. The evening was rounded off by a buffet provided by the pub manager.

SPENBOROUGH ladies guild held their 23rd cheese and wine party in January.

Music was provided by a steel band and, once again, the occasion proved to be very enjoyable, resulting in a splendid £673 being raised. Over the years Spenborough's cheese and wine parties have raised approximately £10,000 for the RNLI.Finally hanging up her box Mrs Winnie Sowden of the Hedge End ladies guild has finally decided, at the age of 93, that the time has come to take a back seat in that area's fundraising activities.

Thirty-five years ago - at an age when many people are thinking of retiring - Mrs Sowden set about the task of forming Hedge End's own fundraising guild. She has been the chairman ever since.

During this time, as other committee members came and went, she arranged countless coffee mornings, jumble sales and all manner of events, as a result of which many thousands of pounds were raised.

Now she's taking a less active role, Mrs Sowden is handing over the chair.

But she's not going to give up all links with the lifeboats just yet - she has just been appointed guild president! Fighting the elements Nine years ago, members of Mablethorpe guild began selling souvenirs on the sea front using an oldtrestle table covered with a curtain and a big plastic sheet.

Despite the gale force winds which threatened to blow stall, souvenirs and members into the sea, and despite the heat of the sun which often resulted in burning balding heads, the members survived.

Now, two rather old caravans and one temporary shop later, the guild is proud to announce it has its very own shop attached to the lifeboat station.

Opened officially by the Mayor of Mablethorpe in July 1991, the bright and cheerful new shop has attracted many visitors and has helped to raise nearly £20,000 during its first year.

Soroptimists' choice Newbury Soroptimist Club nominated the RNLI as its chosen charity for 1991-92. Fundraising events organised by the club over the year have raised a grand total of £2,350.

At a luncheon in March, club president Mrs Fawcett presented the cheque to David Mitchell, chairman of the Newbury RNLI branch.

After thanking the Soroptimists for such an excellent effort, Mr Mitchell gave a short talk and slide presentation on the work of the Institution and the activities of the Newbury branch.Police raise £250,000 Crimewatch presenter Sue Cook has presented RNLI Director Brian Miles with a cheque for £250,000, the total so far collected from the Police Lifeboat Appeal, which was launched in September 1990 to raise money for a Mersey class lifeboat.

The money, raised by police forces throughout Britain, was presented at a special reception to mark the attainment of the appeal target at New Scotland Yard on 23 April. Representatives from all participating constabularies were there, together with Metropolitan police commissioner Sir Peter Imbert and chairman of the Police Appeal steering committee and chief constable of Grampian Police, Dr Ian Oliver.

The lifeboat funded from the Police Appeal's unusual variety of fundraising ideas is expected to enter service this winter. But the case isn't completely closed yet - still more Police Appeal events are expected to take place in the coming months!From pennies to pounds At first appearances, there would seem to be little in common between swinging a golf club and manning a lifeboat - but the affinity is very strong when it comes to the ladies of Ashford Manor golf club and their friends.

Their fundraising activities had humble origins as the ladies began collecting 1 p pieces, putting them into a Smartie tube which holds nearly £1 when full.

But from these small beginnings the collection escalated and the number of dedicated collectors has grown - and is growing still.

Since the start of the club, which has a particular interest in Littlehampton lifeboat station, a total of £506.61 has been sent to the RNLI from the ladies of Ashford Manor golf club.

How's your Japanese? When the Maldon and District branch held their supper and film show evening at the Maldon Little Ship Club it was decided to add a little sparkle to the raffle.

A young Japanese visitor, Yoko Kikitu, agreed to assist branch vice-chairman Warren Panther in calling out the winning numbers - but the ingenious plan was to call them out in Japanese! Anyone requiring a translation was required to kindly make a donation to the RNLI.

Judging by the result - the total raised that evening was £538 - a few of the Maldon members obviously need to brush up on the language! Silver celebration In February of this year, Captain and Mrs Cosgrove of Thornton Cleveleys in Lancashire celebrated their silver wedding.

To celebrate the happy event, they invited friends to a party. Guests were asked not to bring a present but rather to give a donation to the RNLI.

The evening raised the incredible sum of £696.68.

Captain Cosgrove is the captain of an oil tanker plying between North Sea oil rigs and Aberdeen, so he knows the Institution's work well. And as a present to themselves, the couple enrolled as Shoreline members.Crawling for charity The landlord and regulars of a Sandown pub had their drinking arms at the ready when they took part in a sponsored pub crawl round all 22 Gales pubs on the Isle of Wight to raise money for the RNLI.

Dressed in weird and wonderful costumes, the group from the Commercial Inn descended on pubs between Sandown and Freshwater, collecting money on the way.

Having visited all the allotted watering holes, the crew were welcomed back to base by landlord David Short, who arranged musical entertainment especially.

About £800 was raised on the day and a raffle raised the total to £1,000.

The money will go towards equipment for the new Mersey class lifeboat Bingo Lifeline which is to be named at the Inshore Lifeboat Centre, Cowes on Friday 31 July.In brief...In brief...In brief.

AN ANTIQUES roadshow recently held by Backwell and Flax Bourton branch has resulted in a contribution of £775 to lifeboat funds. The roadshow was held at a member's house and provided the opportunity for guests to gain expert advice on their precious heirlooms. Valuations were provided free by three experts from Tavener's of Bristol.

A CHRISTMAS draw and savoury morning held last November raised over £2,230 for Driffield ladies guild. Held in the lovely home of Mr and Mrs Beard at Garton, with a draw for 88 superb prizes (all donated), the event was extremely well supported.

STEVENAGE and District branch has received a generous donation from the family of a local Stevenage man following his death earlier in the year.

Mr William Drewe was born 83 years ago in Devon and throughout his life maintained strong connections with the sea and with the RNLI. On his death his son Gregory requested that, instead of flowers for the funeral, those attending donate a contribution to the RNLI. A sum of £200.60 was collected and donated to the branch.Any questions? Du ffield branch had the distinction of hosting BBC Radio 4's 'Any Questions' programme on 10 April.

The venue was Ecclesbourne School, Duffield and the panel consisted of Baroness Blackstone, Sir Norman Fowler, Tony Benn MP and Des Wilson.

With Jonathan Dimbleby as question master, the evening proved all the more interesting because it was the first 'Any Questions' after the general election - a fact much appreciated by Mrs Rita South, Duffield's honorary secretary. It was she who had applied for the branch to host the programme back in the autumn of 1991.

Although unable to charge for admittance to the broadcast, the branch sold tickets for a finger buffet at which the audience were invited to meet the panel and question master.

The total amount raised at the end of an interesting evening was approximately £2,300.Sandy snip Peter Scott, chairman of the Hull branch, received an unexpected donation for branch funds when he was handed a cheque for £360 by Herbert Learning.

Mr Learning had raised the money by having a sponsored haircut on an oil installation in the Libyan desert.

Thirty-six of his colleagues had chipped in £10 apiece.

Last place in the lifeboat Who gets the last place in the lifeboat? In a very lively debate amongst members from several European countries, it was decided that the honour should go to Father Christmas! This fun exercise in the art of debating took place at a European Conference in Holland with members of the world-wide organisation International Training in Communications.

Seven members represented famous people and gave reasons why they should be allocated the last place.

Marco Polo lost out in the semi final and even Mrs Thatcher was not considered a match for Father Christmas.

The theme of the conference covered much of the work of the RNLI helped by literature provided by Miss Illingworth of Torquay branch. A collection was taken, in many currencies, and is still being counted! Getting into the swim The Royal Lifesaving Society last year organised 'Swimsafe '91', in which swimmers of all ages took to their pools to swim a total of 7,000 miles - the same distance as round the whole of the United Kingdom! The money raised by the swimmers was divided equally between the RNLI and the RLSS, the lifeboats and the lifeguards. And on 8 April 1992, a cheque for £20,000 was presented to the RNLI by Celia Godsell,Hull donation was director of the RLSS.

But that's not the end of the story - as last year's effort went so swimmingly, the RNLI and the RLSS are planning another swim, this time of 8,500 miles - that's all the way from the UK to Los Angeles! Pub quiz champions The four top scoring teams from over 150 battled it out in the finale to the Martell RNLI Pub Quiz League in Liverpool on 3 April.

The champion of champions title finally went to the Iron Horse team of S wind on, who just snatched the prize of a gallon of cognac and a day's racing VIP-style from Kent's The Brasenose Lions.

The league, now in its second year, has raised over £10,000 for the RNLI as part of Martell's Launch a Lifeboat campaign.

Raising funds - and the roof! A joint police choirs and band concert raised the roof at the City Hall in Hull last November to raise money for the national Police Appeal.

The police choirs of North Humberside, Scunthorpe, Durham, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire, a total of 150 male voices, together with the Humberside police concert band, participated in the concert which was hosted by Steve Massam of BBC Radio Humberside.

The concert raised £1,573.

New Year celebrations The Harwich lifeboat station benefited from the Chinese New Year on 4 February.

A local Chinese restauranteur, Mr Wing, charted the DFDS ferry Da na Anglia to celebrate the Year of the Monkey with 250 invited guests.

During the evening Dave Gilders, coxswain of the Harwich lifeboat, was presented with £1,000, the proceeds of the raffle.In brief...In brief...In brief.

THE ANNUAL sponsored walk organised by Portsmouth South branch at Southsea in May raised more than £700 for the lifeboats.

BOYS AT Downside pre-preparatory school in Purley raised over £200 during lifeboat week.

The week started off with a lifeboat-theme assembly followed by the 'shop' on three afternoons after school. The boys undertook many projects during the week with handwork and painting displays. They also made boats and had a knockout sailing competition, with gold, silver and bronze awards.

A SUCCESSFUL concert was organised by Minehead ladies guild in April. Despite the fact the venue had to be changed at a late date because of security risks, a large audience came to enjoy the concert given by the Western Band of the Royal Air Force.

The RAF Benevolent Fund and the RNLI shared the proceeds of £760.

ANOTHER capacity audience gathered to hear a concert by the Hayling Island choir and the Victory brass band of Southsea, swelling the coffers of Hayling Island fundraising branch by £705. Among the guests were the Mayor and Mayoress of Havant and Mrs Wendy Nelson, southern regional organiser. The choir, who gave its services free, sang a programme with a distinct nautical flavour - the band were not to be outdone and soon had the audience singing and waving their arms in the best oompah style.

A BURNS supper presented by Jimmy Logan and friends raised more than £1,000 towards Tobermory branch's Bobby MacLeod Building Appeal. The total now stands at £30,000.

The lions' share Members from the Lions Club of He d'Oleron (the largest island off the west coast of France) were recent guests of the Howth/Sutton (Dublin) Lions Club.

For many years the Howth/ Sutton club have held oyster nights in Howth yacht club to raise muchneeded funds. Part of the proceeds are donated to the yacht club for presentation to the RNLI.

During the French Lions visit, a cheque for £2,000 was presented by the Howth/Sutton club to the RNLI at a ceremony held in the yacht club.

Members of the He d'Oleron club added a further £300, the result of a spontaneous collection among themselves after they had heard of the work of lifeboat service..