THE ANNUAL MEETINGS - 1994 AGM and APA News The Institution's Annual General Meeting and Annual Presentation of Awards will, as usual, take place in London at the South Bank Centre, this year on Tuesday 10 May 1994.

Last year it was necessary to hold both meetings in the same hall, but for 1994 the AGM will once again be held in the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the normal time of 1130 and the APA in the nearby Royal Festival Hall at 1445 (15 minutes later than normal).

Governors should find their application forms for both meetings enclosed with this issue of THE LIFEBOAT - if not please contact the AGM office at RNLI headquarters.The AGM is restricted to Governors of the Institution, but theafternoon presentation of awards is open to all - members, supporters and other interested parties are cordially invited to attend. Tickets are available on a first-come, firstserved basis from the AGM office at headquarters.

Individual seats will not be allocated for the APA and stewards will assist with seating arrangements on the day.

Contact the AGM Office, RNLI Headquarters, West Quay Road, Poole, Dorset BH151 HZ for tickets or further details.NEWSPOINT The End of the Beginning An organisation the size and complexity of the RNLI will always be developing and progressing, and in doing so passing milestones in its history. But the completion of the 'fast lifeboat' programme at the end of 1993 is perhaps even more significant than it appears.

Quite apart from being the culmination of many years of intense effort to meet a specific target it is also a tangible representation of the increasing speed of response and modern thinking which can be traced back some 30 years to the first high-speed inshore lifeboats.

However, pleasure at modernisation must be tinged with sadness, for at Aldeburgh we witnessed the phasing out of the last of a type of lifeboat which can trace its ancestry back to the 1700s and The Original' herself.

For generations the very term 'lifeboat' conjured up the vision of a double-ended, relatively heavy displacement vessel which was instantly recognisable.

But changing times, patterns of casualties, modern materials and the laws of physics have all .conspired to make this type of lifeboat as obsolete as the cork lifejacket.

While we may look back with fondness at a type of lifeboat which has served us so well for so long the latest classes are not only more effective lifesavers they are also designed to be safer and kinder to their volunteer crews. They are the future, and it is to the future that the lifeboat service must look.Walking together The RNLI is to link up with another major charity during 1994 for its first national joint fundraising venture.

Members of the RNLI and of the National Trust will beinvited to take part in a series of sponsored walks on 5 June 1994 _ which will take the participants between National Trust properties and RNLI lifeboat stations.

Eight walks have already been arranged: from Bulmer to Seahouses lifeboat station (north east), from Newcastle lifeboat station to Newcastle (Northern Ireland); from Dunster Castle to Minehead lifeboat station (south west); from Scarborough to Filey lifeboat station (north east); from New Brighton lifeboat station to Heswell (north west); from Rhossili to Horton and Port Eynon lifeboat station (Wales); from Southwold lifeboat station to Dunwich Heath (East Anglia) and from Dover lifeboat station to Deal (south east).

Further details can be obtained from: RNLI/National Trust Walk, RNLI, West Quay Road, Poole, Dorset BH151 HZ - but if none of these walks are convenient members can, of course, make any other sponsored walk to raise money!The vital legacies The RNLI is fortunate in that it receives a number of legacies and bequests each year, which enables it to meet its fundraising targets and maintain and improve the lifeboat service.

A few of these legacies are quite substantial, but the majority are of more modest size and do not make the national headlines like the recent record bequest from the late Roy Barker.

However it is the smaller bequests which provide the regular income which helps the RNLI to plan for the future and which are of such vital importance.

The Institution has a special pack to help anyone who is considering naming the RNLI as a beneficiary under the terms of their will, and this can be obtained simply by writing to Central Fundraising at RNLI Headquarters, West Quay Road, Poole, Dorset BH15 1HZ or telephoning Poole (0202) 671133 and asking for extension 330.Penrhys explainedOur 'Penwhere' piece in the previous issue may have been explained by subsequent articles in the national press - BBC Wales is filming a Lynda La Plante drama series based around a lifeboat station. In the storyline the station is 'Penrhys' - but filmed at St Davids in Pembrokeshire.

The series was originally scheduled for transmission in January 1994, but we hear that it may now be delayed until the Spring.

St Teilo, the 'Penrhys' lifeboat, is the ex-Relief Fleet Solent class Jack Shayler and the Lees and was chartered to the BBC for the filming. She will be sold out of service when it is complete.

The Institution co-operated in the making of the series to ensure that it was presented in the correct light, and members of the station were also involved in various ways with operating the lifeboat.London Boat Show The Earls Court Boat Show takes place between 6 and 16 January . The RNLI will have a pool-side stand with capsize demonstrations by an Atlantic 75. All vistors will be made most welcome.New lifejacket in service The new lifejacket for crews of all-weather lifeboats, which has been under development for some three years, is now to be issued to all of the RNLI's 125 all-weather lifeboat stations. The first station to receive the new lifejacket was Eastbourne, at theend of October 1993, and all stations should receive the new £170 jacket within the next three years The new inflatable lifejacket is much less bulky than the air-foam model which it supersedes and although offering the same properties - such as floating the wearer face-up - it is much easier to work in, particularly within a modern lifeboat's wheelhouse.

The lifejacket was developed in conjunction with specialists Crewsaver and incorporates two separate, gasinflated chambers. The first inflates automatically when the wearer enters the water to provide 321b of buoyancy - enough to keep a lifeboatman afloat yet able to manoeuvre in the water. The second chamber can be triggered manually to give a total of 631b of buoyancy which is enough to keep both the wearer and a survivor afloat.

• A detailed examination of RNLI lifejackets and their history appeared in the Summer 1993 issue of THE LIFEBOAT.Technical talk at the ILC Representatives from eight member countries of the International Lifeboat Federation met for a conference hosted by the RNLI at the Inshore Lifeboat Centre (ILC) in Cowes onll and 12 November 1993.The conference, the first of its kind, was to discuss and exchange matters of technical interest and included a familiarisation trip on a Severn class lifeboat and visits to several companies which build and fit out the Institution's lifeboats A tour of the ILC, where inshore lifeboats are built and maintained, was also included.

Delegates from Holland, Italy, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the RNLI attended the meeting.Fishing Safety campaign The RNLI is supporting a Department of Transport Fishing Vessel Safety Campaign by drawing it to the attention of fishermen around the coast and helping to distribute leaflets produced by the Department by having a stock available at lifeboat stations.

The leaflets, in a striking yellow and black and headed 'Fishing is a Dangerous Business - Make it Your Business to Make it Safer', provide a check list for skippers to help cut down on fishing vessel accidents.

Fishing has been identified as one of the major causes of lives lost around the coasts covered by the RNLI, which welcomes the attempt to reduce the number of casualties.Lifeboatmen are People of the Year Two Hayling Island lifeboatmen, Rod James and Frank Dunster, have been named as two of the 17 People of the Year by RADAR - the Royal Association for Disability and Rehabilitation.

The two were chosen for the honour, accorded at a special luncheon at the London Hilton on 3 November, for their part in the rescue of 17 young people from a yacht in severe weather and heavy seas in October 1992. A full account of the service - which led to the award of an RNLI Silver Medal to both men - appeared in the Spring 1993issueofTHE LIFEBOAT.Lord Mayor's Parade The Mersey class lifeboat Her Majesty The Queen took part in the Lord Mayor's Parade on Saturday 13 November 1993 - see cover picture. Apart from marking the centenary of the RNLI's City Branch, which falls in 1994, the lifeboat was also carrying members of the BBC TV's 'Blue Peter' programme and two young people who had won the trip as a prize in a Storm Force competition.

'Blue Peter' is holding a special appeal to raise funds to replace six 'Blue Peter' inflatables and the programme carried considerable footage of the parade, which also featured on live television during the day.

The coxswain and two crew members from Hastings formed the official 'crew' for the day, with various other volunteers and staff members either aboard to help or walking in the RNLFs 'costumes through the ages' parade - covering everything from black oilskin coats and cork lifejackets through to the latest foul-weather gear and inflatable lifejacket. Indeed with the torrential rain experienced on the day the RNLI representatives were the most appropriately dressed of any contingent! Crimdon Dene closes Crimdon Dene lifeboat station, in Co Durham on the north-east coast of England, dosed on 31 October 1993 at the end of the inshore lifeboat's summer season.

The station, established in 1966, operated a D class lifeboat which had launched 69 times.

Despite the dedication of crews at the station it was decided that due to the low level of activity and the difficulty in obtaining sufficient crew in an out-of-the-way location operational cover could be maintained perfectly satisfactorily by the Atlantic 21 rigid inflatable at Hartlepool, only 5 miles to the south, and the D class inflatable at Sunderland to the north.