Clem 1, RNLI 250 A chance meeting with Ray Clemence, former England, Liverpool and Tottenham goalkeeper, raised £250.27 for the Clapham, Battersea and Wandsworth branch.

Joe Perry, a set builder for TV shows, met Ray during preparations for the Rumbelows Cup Final last April. Ray gave Joe a football. Joe, an ex-submariner, thought it would be a good idea to raffle it for the RNLI.

He had words with Tom and Margaret O'Connor, 'mine hosts' of the Nottingham Castle, who agreed to donate a bottle of brandy for a second prize. Tickets sold like hot cakes before the draw on 4 May, and a barbecue and team quiz finished off a successful day's fundraising.

Splendid days out The 33rd RNLI Thames Regatta was held on the Queen's Promenade, Kingston upon Thames on 20 and 21 June 1992.

The Kingston, Surbiton, Thames Ditton and Molesey branches were all involved in this, now the largest motor boating event on the river, with more than 220 boats attending.

As well as entertainment ashore, highlights afloat included a sailpast of the combined fleets of the Dunkirk Little Ships and the Thames VintageBoat Club, and an illuminated sailpast by other boats (best illuminated - Albany Yacht Club!). Crews competed in rowing, raft races and other waterborne activities. First prize in the raffle was a three-day trip for two to EuroDisney.

These were splendid days out for all and the regatta has so far raised a grand total of £4,800 (and still counting!), all of which goes to the RNLI.Portrush raft race Smashing weather and a variety of fun-packed activities made the eleventh Portrush raft race as successful as ever - and the latest count of the takings suggests £22,000 was raised for the lifeboats as a result.

Right from the very start on Friday 22 May to the following Sunday, music and dancing were enjoyed alongside three-legged races, tug-o'- war, greasy pole, the 'best fireworks display yet' - not to mention a rescue demonstration by the RNLI and the coastguard, and a parachute display.

The raft race itself was started by BBC Radio Ulster's Mike Edgar, who was broadcasting live on the station's afternoon sports programme. 104 rafts took up the challenge, all bidding to beat the competition for Most Ingeniously Designed Propulsion and Most Sponsorship For The RNLI.

Around 25,000 people are thought to have attended this increasingly popular event in Portrush harbour.

Fish and chop suey! News from one of our far-flung outposts - the Hong Kong branch.

Approximately £600 was raised at a fish and chip supper held at the Mariners Club in Kowloon, Hong Kong with future events planned, including a charity card sale and a barn dance.In brief...In brief...In brief...In brief...In brief...In brief...

TWO MEMBERS of the Thame and district branch again 'trod the trail' to raise £485.45 for the lifeboats. Lily Lovell and Graham Munday walked 20 miles from Streatley in Berkshire to Ashbury in Wiltshire. This is the second such walk undertaken by the pair, whose fundraising total now amounts to £804.95.

THE HITCHIN branch sales caravan, plus a souvenir table, was out in force at the annual Walsworth Festival. The glorious weather helped bring out the crowds and as a result the branch sold £161.30 of goods.

RAME Peninsula collected some £870 from their flag day in the Cawsand areas on 23 May, a quite remarkable increase over last year's total of £683.

SINCE THE closure of his local branch, Fred Taylor of Bath has continued to raise funds for the RNLI. Sunday 29 March saw him collecting £285 from donations at the Mendip Golf Club, with the help of some of his friends. And on Friday 22 May, Mr Taylor made a total of £253.49 from collecting outside the Gateway food store at Shepton Mallet. 'I won't let the RNLI down as long as I can get about,' he writes.

MERVYN Kinney and Brian Meharg, together with their colleagues on the crew of the Bangor lifeboat, organised a Gala Day, the highlight being an event called 'the Birdman of Bregenz' - local daredevils sponsored to fly (or fall!) across the marina. Over £2,000 was raised from the sponsorship and from the nautical auction, car boot sale, Land Rover pull, film shows and 'It's a Knockout' competition. Could this become an annual event? NICK WEST, landlord of The Ship public house at Redbridge near Southampton, recently raised the sum of £730.66 from a sponsored head shaving. BAT added a donation of £393 to match the amount raised by their 'now bald' employees following the event, bringing the total to £1,123.66. Betty Judd, honorary secretary of the Southampton guild, says, 'Mr West has only been in the area since November 1991, but his collecting box always yieldsa large amount'.

FATHER Christmas paid a surprise visit to New Quay ladies lifeboat guild's Christmas Fair which raised over £800. From his bottomless sack, Santa managed to find a small gift for every child!Country & Western Upturned boxes, straw bales, coloured lights and flags set the scene for the eighth annual Country & Western dance held at Brooker Farm, Newchurch, Romney Marsh in June.

Kevin Stewart and First Chapter and Redwing provided the music, and supporters came from far and wide. A barbecue, trade stalls, a bumper raffle and bar proved the right ingredients for a successful dance.

Over the last eight years Dorren Barns and her helpers from the Dymchurch ladies guild have raised £6,840.

Great lifeboat challenge! For the first time ever, seven of Cornwall's eight all-weather lifeboats and seven of its eight inshore lifeboats launched on the same day to raise some £6,000 for the RNLI - and the money is still coming in.

The spectacular fundraising plan was for Tamsin Thomas, a BBC Radio Cornwall presenter, to race Charles Hunter Pease, chief executive of Volvo UK, around the coast of Cornwall from Padstow to Fowey. Charles would travel by road in his Volvo 440i while Tamsin would make the journey using all Cornwall's mainland station all-weather lifeboats.

Supporters were asked to sponsor individual lifeboats and encouraged to organise special events to coincide with the event. In addition, Radio Cornwall carried live broadcasts of Tamsin's progress at sea whilst staff in the studio took pledges of donations from listeners.

The weather on the day was more appropriate to 18 January than 18 July! At 0800, Tamsin left Padstow on the Tyne class James Burrough, escorted by Port Isaac' sDclassandlaterSt Agnes' Blue Peter IV, as Charles Hunter Pease set off on the coast road to St Ives.

Tamsin met up with the St Ives Mersey class The Princess Royal, with the Newquay C class standing by, followed by the Sennen Cove Mersey The Four Boys, Penlee's Arun class Mabel Alice, and The Lizard's relief Tyne class Mariner's Friend, accompanied by Marazion's D class. It was up to Falmouth's Arun Elizabeth Ann, with the town's Atlantic 21, to deliver Tamsin to Fowey's relief Waveney Faithful Forester for the final leg.

The challenge did not turn out to be quite such plain sailing for Charles Hunter Pease, though. Mysteriously, he had to contend with parking tickets and wheelclamps, being locked in a lifeboat house, and frustratinglyslow hedgecutters blocking his path.

It was hardly surprising then that Tamsin aboard the lifeboat reached Fowey just two minutes before the Volvo car!Pushing the bike out Four soldiers from 6 Ordnance Battalion stationed in Germany cycled a 650-mile route following the south west coast on mountain bikes to raise money for the RNLI.

Pushing off from the Tropicana at Weston-super-Mare on 2 June, the team - with support crew - pedalled their way to a civic reception in Poole New Zealand evening The American branch recently held a very successful reception in aid of the RNLI in the penthouse at New Zealand House.

The evening was organised by branch member Tracy Bronlund, herself a New Zealander, and it was on 17 June. They were welcomed by TV star Buster Merryfield, who cycled with them for the last mile.

The four are aiming to fund an Atlantic 21 lifeboat in memory of the RAOC, which will cease to exist in 1993 under the Government's Options For Change. The team has already raised £16,000.

hosted by The Hon George Gair, New Zealand High Commissioner.

Guests had the opportunity to sample a variety of New Zealand food and wine and were entertained with Maori singing.

The evening raised over £3,000.Lose pounds, make pounds In a desperate dash to lose weight under doctor's orders, Andrew Penfold, a keen sailor from Surrey, set up a sponsored weight loss challenge in aid of the RNLI.

The driving force behind the challenge was his pledge to return to each sponsor 10 times the stake donated if he did not achieve his goal by the due date.

On 29 March 1992 in the Angel Inn, Thames Ditton, Andrew weighed in (before lunch, of course) at 15st11 Ibs, having lost over 27 pounds since 3 January. His target had been to lose 25 pounds - and he was wearing a suit he had not been able to wear for six years.

Through his mammoth (now, perhaps, not-so-mammoth!) efforts, Andrew raised £930 - to the relief of his bank manager - which was presented to the Thames Ditton branch. Perhaps he can now let us all into his slimming secret!In brief...In brief...In brief.

LADIES of the Guild of Charities, based in St Athan, presented regional organiser for Wales Anne Williams with £1,000, representing a year's hard fundraising work - jumble sales, coffee mornings and fayres were organised to raise the money, which members hope will help fund lifesaving work at Barry Dock station.

STRATFORD-upon-Avon branch organised an evening cruise on the River Avon aboard The Lady of Camelot in June. 60 people were served wine and savouries during this enjoyable event, which raised nearly £350.

HAWARDEN branch and Hawarden golf club have celebrated 25 years of joint fundraising.

The idea of a competition involving local golfers was first mooted by the late Mr Reidford, a keen golfer, when he was treasurer of the branch.The amounts raised in the early years were modest by present day expectations - £16 in 1967 compared to £267 in 1992, a grand total of almost £1,500.

THESPIANS of the Kidlington branch put on a pantomime performance of Turkish Delight from 18-21 March 1992 and played to packed houses every night. Those who made up the 'Lifeboat Theatre Players' staged a happy ending to the run in true panto fashion by raising £2,600.

WICK LIFEBOAT paid its annual visit to Helmsdale harbour on Saturday 4 July for the town's lifeboat day. Lifeboat queen Jan Gunn presented Coxswain Walter McPhee with a cheque for £2,250, the result of a hard year's fundraising by Helmsdale branch. On its return to Wick the lifeboat called in at Dunbeath harbour where the coxswain was presented with a cheque for £100 by harbour users.

KATE THURSTON, 16, from St Bede's Roman Catholic High School in Blackburn, is a keen Storm Force member. With her friend Sarah Gould she nominated the RNLI as one of the charities to benefit from their school's sponsored day. They also wrote to the P&O vessel Norsk! whose radio officer Peter Loynd is married to one of the school staff, to ask if the crew would like to help the school raise money. The officers and crew of the Norsk/sent £95 towards the total of £750 finally raised by the school.

DAVID HUNT of Nottingham found an unusual way to celebrate his 50th birthday - he decided to make himself the subject of a sponsored shave and then got as many people as possible to support him in his venture. Four parties were thrown to celebrate Mr Hunt's half-century and £3,400 was raised to be distributed among Mr Hunt's preferred charities. The RNLI was very pleased to receive a cheque for£850.

ONLY THOSE with especially short arms and deep pockets avoided the onslaught of the Edenbridge branch in their February fundraising campaign. Swimmers pounded lengths of the local pool during the branch's sponsored swim as sponsors were persuaded to part with their cash. The total raised was £2,115. Organiser Alison Gravatt was evidently inspired after crossing the Channel in a small sailing boat with her husband. She was later heard to mutter: 'Never again without a lifeboat in support!'Right on target Rear Admiral Wilfred Graham, a former Director of the RNLI, writes to say that the Stockbridge branch benefits each year 'to the tune of £1,500 from a clay pigeon shoot organised by a local farmer Peter Harding.' This year, Richard Vaughan of BBC TV's 'South Today', a participant in the clay pigeon shoot, presented the cheque to Rear Admiral Graham, chairman of the Stockbridge branch on 28 April. Rear Admiral Graham continues, 'Stockbridge is quite a long way from the sea but the local farmers and shopkeepers are pretty keen lifeboat supporters.' Art exhibition For the past three years Henfield branch has organised a very successful art exhibition at The White Hart in Henfield, Sussex.

This year, over 150 paintings by local artists were shown and a preview held for invited guests. The exhibition was open to the public for the five days following. Artists were charged a modest £1 hanging fee and the RNLI received 25% of the sale price on all 45 paintings sold. £998 was added to the coffers of Henfield branch, and the total raised by the exhibitions is now over £3,000.Stepping out Despite an unsettled forecast on Sunday 26 April, members of Wadebridge branch put their best feet forward to raise money from a sponsored walk along the famous Camel Trail which runs alongside the Camel River in Cornwall.

Ardent walkers were sent on their way by Tamsin Thomas, a regular on Radio Cornwall, who is herself a member of the Fowey branch.

The walkers completed the 5-mile course from Wadebridge to Padstow to be greeted by the Padstow branch and, of course, the RNLI flag! Happily, everyone finished the course and, after a relaxing lunch, totted up the takings for their morning's work - a fantastic £1,000.

On the same day in another part of the country, 81 lifeboa t supporters got very wet indeed as they took part in the Worthing and Rustington branches' annual joint sponsored walk (or should that be swim?).

Sent on their way by the mayor of Worthing, Councillor Hugh Braden, 59 gallant walkers braved the pouring rain and biting wind to hike the 12-mile round trip from Worthing to Rustington and back. At the same time, 22 other intrepid walkers were setting out to do the same walk, this time starting from the Rustington end.

This 21st sponsored walk raised over £4,800, and brings the grand total raised through the years to over £60,000. To celebrate the occasion, Shoreham lifeboat and the coastguard helicopter exercised in rough seas just off Worthing Pier, and the mayor and mayoress cut a celebration cake made by Worthing committee member Joan Skyrme, which was soon polished off by the hungry walkers!£60,000 cheque The President of the RNLI, HRH The Duke of Kent, received a £60,000 cheque from Mr Michael Gore, vice chairman of the S.G. Warburg Group, at their London offices on 27 May.

The Group chose the RNLI as their favoured charity for the year and employees raised £30,000 through events and initiatives coordinated by Anne Haynes, the appeal organiser. Under the Matched Giving Scheme, the company then generously doubled the amount raised. The money funds an Atlantic 21 lifeboat to enter service in 1995.

Garden party In the hot sunshine of the last Sunday in June, Jane Kimber and John Clothier opened their attractive garden in West Bagborough in aid of the RNLI.

Taunton branch members manned the car park and souvenir stalls and sold large quantities of teas and ice cream to thirsty visitors. Great interest was shown in R.J. Brewer's collection of working model lifeboats.

Jane Kimber herself raised the most from the sale of some 800 home cultivated plants. Visitors left with armfuls of greenery, praying for rain so their purchases could be safely planted. The day, with plant sales of £1,200, made £2,011 for branch funds.

Diamond jubilee Jersey guild celebrates its diamond jubilee this year. The guild's first meeting was on 20 July 1932 and flag days ha ve been held every three years since 1934 (excluding the war years).£565 was collected then, compared with 1991's figure of £7,757.

The souvenir stall at St Catherine's raised nearly £8,000 in 1991. Bridge afternoons, Christmas bazaars, raffles, discos and flower festivals have all contributed to the £687,866 forwarded to Headquarters since 1968.

To mark the 60th anniversary, a jubilee ball was held at La Hague Manor in June and this event itself raised a magnificent £6,000.

Stormalong 92 On Friday 17 July, the crew, sponsors and supporters of Stormalong 92 celebrated their success in the Three Peaks Yacht Race 1992 at The Britannia, Kensington.

During the evening the Kensingston branch president, the Mayor of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, was presented with a £1,500 cheque, representing the amount raised during the race.

John Eaglestone, landlord of The Britannia, organised a raffle, and souvenirs were auctioned - raising a further £470.

Just reward Mrs Norman Cant, chairman of Dunblane branch for the last 20 years, attended the Bishop's Waltham Agricultural Show and won two bottles of champagne in two separate draws on the local RNLI stand! Bishops Waltham branch enjoyed a day in wonderful weather to produce £920 for the Institution from the sale of souvenirs, the champagne draw and the regional car draw.In brief...In brief...In brief.

THE PEOPLE of Littlehampton and Arundel have beaten their own record for generosity during Littlehampton lifeboat week - the total this year reached £1,410, £130 up on last year.

HEXHAM LADIES guild enjoyed a four-hour evening cruise on the River Tyne in July.

Supper was provided for the 200 people aboard The Catherine and a local jazz band provided the entertainment. The result - an impressive £2,800 for lifeboat funds.

BARRY LININ, landlord of Felixstowe's Ferry Boat Inn, presented a cheque for £255 to the local branch from a fun day/quiz night which Barry hopes to make an annual event.

NAILSEA & District branch, formed in May after a successful open film evening, has already raised £3,000. The enthusiastic committee quickly arranged flag week and put the RNLI firmly on the map by netting a fantastic £2,040 at its first attempt.

AUGHTON branch held a July marquee luncheon, raising £1,036. The branch was given the use of a wedding marquee for the event at the home of Mr and Mrs Tyver. The committee organised the catering for some 140 people.

SEVEN LADIES darts teams from the Wantage area were presented with commemorative plates for their part in a sponsored darts marathon organised by Wantage branch earlier this year. £1,530 was raised.

FRECKLETON branch celebrated its 21st anniversary this year with a wine and cheese evening in the village hall. Several local firms sponsored the event and donated the raffle prizes and £1,000 was raised for branch funds.

ROUND TABLERS Terry Cooper and Tony Cross travelled for seven days from John O'Groats to Lands End on a vintage motorbike and raised £2,930. The cheque was presented by the Round Table's Oxford area chairman to Michael Treweeke, chairman of Windrush Valley branch - the nearest branch to the owner of the motor cycle!And finally...

Charles Gay ofNewhaven Boatman's Society writes: 'Some 20 years ago, at a local angling club weigh-in which had attracted huge crowds, I was passing round the RNLI collecting box which was filling nicely. I came to two very elderly ladies, clearly twins, and asked if they would care to contribute to the maintenance of the Newhaven lifeboat.

The one lady turned to her companion and said, 'I don't think we will ever want the lifeboat'. Her twin replied, 'No - and it doesn 't look very safe to me anyway!.