FORTHCOMING EVENTS We regret that we are unable to include notices of forthcoming events in THE LIFEBOAT. Although we appreciate fully the benefits of obtaining advance publicity for fundraising events the sheer number involved would soon swamp the journal.

There are some 2,000 Branches and Guilds and if, for example, we were to include one event a month from each, the quarterly journal would need to list some 6,000 events. Even in a barely-readable type size this would occupy more pages than are available in the entire journal! It would be invidious to select just a few events and to exclude others and so we must continue the present policy, which is to report as many fundraising events as possible immediately after they have taken place.

Deadlines for copy are given in each issue of the journal, and we make every effort to include all reports received in time.In Brief THE ANNUAL Bournemouth pier-to-pier snorkel race took place in April. Organised by Hurn Sub-Aqua Club in aid of the RNLI the event raised £500 and was won by John Lewis with a time of 38 minutes.

FLAG day and house-to-house collections raised an impressive total of £3,477 for Huntingdon branch this year.

SIXTY fundraisers took part in a sponsored 12-mile walk from Worthing to Rustington and back and raised £3,400 for lifeboat funds. Jean and Wyn Samuel of Worthing branch organised the annual event and the Mayor of Worthing walked along with some of the participants for the first mile.

MEMBERS of Sunderland branch and lifeboat crew were invited to a social evening held by the Grangetown Jolly Girls to receive a donation of £608. The Jolly Girls are a group of ladies who devote their leisure time to raising money for charities via a series of garden fetes, raffles, tombola, donations and other similar functions. As the ladies were unaccompanied by male escorts, crew members were in great demand as partners for the subsequent disco! THE City of Derby branch reports that a record £10,250 was forwarded to headquarters in 1992, and feels particularly encouraged to have raised this amount as it must be one of the branches which is furthest from the sea.

THE EMSWORTH and District Flower Society raises money for two local charities every year and as a direct result of a suggestion from Havant branch committee member, Elaine Fisher, the Hayling Island lifeboat station was chosen as one of the charities to benefit for 1992/93.

At the March meeting of the society a cheque for £1,000 was presented to Roy Smith, chairman of Hayling Island station, by the Mayoress of Havant, Mrs Patricia Tart.

AN AUCTION sale organised by Coventry ladies' guild at the car showrooms of Quicks Parkside, raised £867 in one-and-ahalf hours. The venue was given free of charge as were the services of the auctioneer, Mr Harvey Williams.

A CHEQUE for £2,000 was presented recently to Sutton, Cheam & Worcester Park branch by the Royal British Legion Club of Worcester Park. It had been raised by club members specifically for the RNLI by raffles, dances and auctions during the previous year.

FOR THE first time collections were made throughout the week in Birmingham and the Birmingham branches were delighted with the results - a grand total of £15,950, an increase of over 50% on last year. One collector, Tom Hansher, collected a staggering £990.10.Walk this way...

Ten-year-old Glen Berry of York, a keen lifeboat supporter and Storm Force member, and whose mother is the secretary of the Acomb branch, walked from Whitby to Robin Hoods Bay and raised £370. Glen followed a route taken in 1881 when the Whitby lifeboat was hauled overland through snow drifts to launch at Robin Hoods Bay to save seamen from a sinking brig.

Ivan Simcock of Northenden branch undertook a strenuous walk of 270 miles from Edale in Derbyshire to Kirk Yethole in Scotland and has so far collected £770 for the RNLI.

He completed the walk within the planned 21 days and would like to thank everyone concerned for their moral and financial support, with a special thanks to Mary and Basil whom he met on the walk and encouraged Ivan on his 'off days.

The Salcombe effect...

Sutton, Cheam and Worcester Park branch held a collection at the local Safeway Store in Sutton to coincide with the Salcombe lifeboat series on ITV and were amazed how much the programme affected the collection.

Over three days £2,072 was collected - the usual amount for a mid year collection at one of the larger stores is between £1,000 and £1,200 and it can only be assumed that the extra revenue was generated by the TV programme.In Brief THE MARSKE Fishermen's Choir are great lifeboat supporters, often travelling considerable distances to perform at concerts, shows, fetes and so on. Over the past 25 years their efforts have resulted in many thousands of pounds being raised for charity, their main concern being the RNLI.

CORNWALL'S own boat race, a sevenmile event which starts at Loe Beach and finishes in the heart of Truro, was won in style by members of the Falmouth Gig Rowing Club. The crew donated their winnings of £100 to Falmouth branch.

THANKS to Miss Etherington of Wokingham and four friends the Institution recently received a very generous donation of £2,263.38 to cover the cost of six sets of protective clothing for lifeboat crew members. The six lucky recipients were crew members of the Salcombe lifeboat.

INMARCHofthisyearthe Cottingham ladies' guild celebrated its 25th anniversary.

Since its inception the guild has raised £88,474 for the RNLI.

THE TURKS HEAD Tear-a-way-Fishermen' have for several years been raising money for the Institution. Last year, as well as presenting Mrs Belle Wilson, honorary secretary and souvenir secretary of South Shields ladies' guild with a cheque for £250, they gave her a model of a lifeboat as a 'thank you' for all her work for the RNLI.

MRS DOROTHY McGregor of Sixth Sense presented her Spring collection at a fashion show at the Dean Park Hotel, Kirkcaldy, raising £1,100 for Kirkcaldy branch.Funds from the Falklands Taking a day out from the regimental exercise on Salisbury Plain, a team from 51 Field Squadron visited RNLI headquarters to present a cheque for £2,386, raised while on a four-month tour in the Falklands.

Before the formal presentation to Ian Ventham, head of fund raising and marketing, the team were shown round the headquarters and depot and when asked why the squadron had chosen the RNLI, officer in charge Major Macklin explained that this was a fit, active man's charity which many soldiers could relate to, particularly true of the sappers and other servicemen based in the bleak coastal environment of the Falklands.

The fund kicked off with the squadron's officers running the length of East Falkland, a 150km route from North Arm to Stanley.

All elements of the squadron joined in the spirit of various fundraising events, including a 12-hour swimming marathon and a 24-hour darts competition.Top Torsos The Institution has now received four Resusci Anne' torsos as a result of the collection of BP Options vouchers by the many friends of the lifeboat service.

These torsos are now being used for training purposes. One is 'stationed' in Ireland for the use of Irish lifeboat crews, and vouchers collected solely in Scotland have been used to provide a torso for Scottish lifeboat stations. Two more are in Poole for use at other stations around the coast.

The RNLI is still collecting these vouchers as 'Resusci Babies' are now required for our lifeboat crews to practise their skills where a more gentle approach is needed.

The Institution would like to thank everyone for their help - keep sending the vouchers to Gill Cull, Central Fundraising Department, RNLI, West Quay Road, Poole, Dorset BH15 1HZ.

Ferry funds Since the B&I Line moved into the port of Milford Haven in 1979, its ferry vessels have raised over £10,000 for the lifeboat service.

The gentleman responsible for organising this splendid effort, Bob Heapes, on-board services manager, was recently awarded a framed certificate of thanks from the RNLI's committee of management at a ceremony on board the B&I ferry Isle oflnnisfree.

The award, signed by the director, was presented by Tom Sinclair, chairman of the Hakin Point (Milford Haven) branch in appreciation of all Bob's fundraising efforts, which include organising special on-board crew events and a coffee morning which netted £1,500, as well as box collections.

The local branch also made a second thank you' presentation to Purser Kay Skelton who had made the on-board RNLI collecting boxes her special responsibility for several years - all B&I ships have RNLI collecting boxes on board.There's money at the bottom of our garden...

An elderly member of Hinckley and District branch has found a special way of using the grounds of his home for the benefit of the RNLI.

Part of his garden is opposite the village Methodist church and is ideal for wedding party photographs. His premises also include spare garaging which is in demand, especially in winter.

Requests to hire the garden or the garage are always met with the response 'of course there is no charge but any contribution for the lifeboats would be very welcome'. The result is a steady flow of donations or Shoreline subscriptions.

His wife organises the village annual house-to-house collection with the telling message that the lives saved last year were about as many as the number of adults in the village.

Together the efforts of these two senior citizens, who wish to remain anonymous, have so far brought about £3,000 into the RNLI's resources.Television personality Pam Rhodes and her daughter, Bethan, are pictured alongside a half-scale model of a Tyne class lifeboat which Hitchin branch displayed at Walsworth Festival alongside its souvenir stall.

When the branch took delivery of the model last year - it had been built by apprentices in an East Anglian boatyard - it looked far from being a lifeboat! It had the hull form and superstructure of a Tyne but little else. By obtaining working drawings of the real thing from Poole, plus a great deal of ingenuity and hard work in fashioning various pieces of equipment such as aerials, radar mast etc., a small team of volunteers transformed it into a magnificent model. It has been given the fictitious operational number 47-171 and named Cyril Gadd in memory of a founder of the branch.

Photo: Michael JoyceDURING the Christmas period Dudley branch raised £1,038 and chairman, Karl Falk, commented ' that the generosity of the people in the pubs around Dudley town centre and near the Tipton border was marvellous, despite the recessionary times'.

AFTERNOON tea at Church House raised £67.47 for Hitchin branch.

AT ITS annual luncheon Morley ladies' guild, which has just celebrated its 40th anniversary, the twelve ladies in the guild were greeted with the news that over the past ten years they had accumulated £27,000 for the lifeboat service. The luncheon itself raised a further £709.

ON THEIR return to this country Mr and Mrs Ellis popped in to Headquarters to present the Institution with cheques to the value of £1,328.37. The money had been raised over a period of two-and-ahalf years from the sale of fancy goods in a souvenir shop at HMS Malabar in Bermuda.

THE Holyhead lifeboat station branch benefited to the tune of £550 from the proceeds of a sportsman's evening held at the Little Manor pub and restaurant at Thelwall. The event was organised by the manager and manageress Colin and Jenny Burne and the guest speaker was sportswriter and former first division footballer Duncan McKenzie.Making a meal of it A dinner held by the Hinckley branch proved to be a highly successful event.

One hundred and twenty five people sat down to a meal at the Hinckley golf club and afterwards Bill Leach, area organiser for Central England, introduced Brian Pegg BEM, former coxswain of Sheringham lifeboat. He gave a fascinating insight into the work of the lifeboats and their crews and the listeners were both entertained and impressed by his jovial and modest approach to the job.

As a result of sponsorship by local businesses, a raffle and the sale of souvenirs, a splendid amount of £737 was raised.

Ruby collection In April John and Pat Cox, respectively chairman and honorary souvenir secretary of St Albans and District branch, celebrated their ruby wedding.

Fifty-five friends and relatives attended their party and in accepting the invitation guests were informed that it was their presence that was wanted not their presents. Collecting boxes for the RNLI and the Cancer Relief Macmillan Fund were in the hall for those that were interested and £100 was collected for each charity.All at sea Long Eaton branch were all at sea on Saturday 3 April. As a thank you for the many hours of hard work put in by the branch in raising funds, Coxswain Phil Burgess of The Lizard lifeboat invited representatives down to Cornwall to visit the station and go to sea in its Tyne class David Robinson.

Even the notoriously fickle Cornish weather was kind, with clear blue skies and a gentle breeze. An SAR exercise had been organised with a helicopter from RNAS Culdrose and the visitors were enthralled to watch at such close quarters as a crew member was winched from the lifeboat to the helicopter and back onto the deck again.

After being entertained to coffee in the crew room the visitors began the long journey north fired with fresh enthusiasm and full of gratitude to The Lizard station for their hospitality.

Heart of... gold! Mrs Margaret Griffiths, chairman of Worcester guild has been awarded a Midlands Electricity Board Heart of Britain award for her work for charity.

Modest Margaret was nominated by her next door neighbour and did not expect to win the award.

Over the past ten years the guild has collected a total of £100,000 and celebrations to mark this magnificent achievement were held at the Ferry Inn, Worcester.

Island life According to David Packer, Hong Kong branch is alive and well and, indeed, thriving. David, who is chairman of the branch, has written to tell us of two recent fundraising events - a junk trip to Lamma Island for a seafood dinner, and a trivia night at Mad Dogs pub.

Future events include another junk trip combining a viewing of the Dragon boat races in July. August/September are months when most expats take their leave back in the UK away from the heat of Hong Kong and October will see the resumption of more branch activities including a car rally around Hong Kong Island and an evening at the races in Happy Valley.

A very didgery do...

Rolfe Harris attended a fun weekend organised by CSMA at Brean Sands Pontins Holiday Village in March.

Rolfe very kindly donated three of his paintings for a raffle which raised £155.Gala performance Tweety Pie (alias Jonathan Kinney) flies through the air with the greatest of ease! Bangor lifeboat crew hosted their 2nd Gala Day on 1 May 1993 with the sea front bursting with a vast array of fun events - bouncy castle, sky diving display, the fabulous Martello Jazz Band and last, but not least, a magnificent parade of the Birdmen of Bregenz.

Crowds looked on in astonishment as The Red Sparrow, Superman, the Flying Viking, Batman, Brickman, Lipstick Annie, Tweety Pie, Bangor Seagull and the youngest competitor James Gillespie, a dedicated lifeboat shore helper, hurled themselves across Bangor Marina in a bid to gain the sought after Birdman title.

Lipstick Annie and her handbag (Brian Meharg, deputy launching authority) had just popped out for a pint of milk and found herself being propelled off Bangor Quay in competition with the other birdmen.

The gala day was a huge success raising more than £5,000 for the RNLI.Joint effort A joint fundraising campaign by the Civil Service Motoring Association (CSMA) and The Frizzell Group has raised £21,238 to help cover the cost of the new lifeboat now stationed at Barmouth, Moira Barrie - see naming ceremonies, page 54.

The money was raised through a series of competitions in the CSMA's own magazine Motoring and Leisure.

Peter Jones, chairman of the CSMA, and Colin Frizzell, chairman of The Frizzell Group, presented the cheque to Lt Col C.P. Walker RM, honorary secretary of Barmouth lifeboat station on 28 May 1993 at the Panorama Hotel in Barmouth.

The Frizzell Group has been associated with the CSMA for 70 years and the two organisations began fundraising jointly in 1983 and have donated over £100,000 to the lifeboat service.

The Force is with us! Andy Loveridge is a regular visitor to the RNLI's London office in Lambeth - he helps to deliver the mail for Parcel Force! On one of his visits he mentioned that he had been accepted for the 1993 London Marathon and offered to collect sponsorship for lifeboat funds.

Recently Andy, who served in both the Royal and Merchant Navy, made a 'special delivery' - a cheque for £232 for Woolwich branch.

Andy hopes to take part again next year and to beat his 3h 38m 12s time, not bad for a first attempt! Concerted effort A concert entitled 'Wind, Waves and Water' was recently held in Chichester Cathedral. Organised by Manhood branch with support from Chichester branch, the Saint Martin Singers, together with actors Maureen O'Brien and John Hollis, gave a most interesting and unusual concert of words and music.

Included in the programme was a service report read by Clive Cockayne, honorary secretary of Selsey lifeboat station, giving an account of Coxswain Mike Grant's award winning rescue of a yacht in serious trouble off Selsey.

An audience of 270 raised over £1,900 for lifeboat funds.Row by row Walton and Frinton ladies' guild rowing crew have been presented with their own boat by Nobby Pearce, vice-chairman of the Walton and Frinton branch.

For the past two years the ladies had entered sponsored rowing events organised by Brian Ward of Walton lifeboat management committee, raising a total of £2,500, but each time had to borrow a boat for training and the events. Nobby was so impressed with their efforts that he decided it was time they had their own boat. After much searching he obtained a 'wreck' and after spending seven months hard at work in his garage the new boat, resplendent in her gold and blue livery,was handed over to the guild in March of this year. Sarah Halls, area organiser for Eastern region, performed the launching ceremony and named the boat The Gilded Lady At present there are twenty lady crew members who are now in training for several future sponsored events, including the 22-mile Great River Race on the Thames.

The guild is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year.

Since its inception over £38,000 has been raised and great hopes are being placed on The Gilded Lady increasing this amount in the future.