Since the last Annual Presentation of Awards Meeting the Committee of Management has awarded ten Bars to the Gold Badge and forty-eight Gold Badges.

BAR TO THE GOLD BADGE Mrs Margaret Driscoll Burnmouth Branch: Honorary Secretary 1959 to date Mrs Mary Hiley jp Leeds Guild: Chairman 1954-1975.

Leeds Luncheon Club: Chairman 1955- 1975. Horsforth Guild: President 1970 to date Mrs Pauline Thompson Penarth Guild: Honorary Secretary 1962 to date Mr John Kennedy Crew Member: 1939-1945. Fundraiser: 1945-1965: Newquay Station Branch: Chairman 1965 to date Mrs Phyllis Duckworth Reading Branch: Member 1958-1962.

Reading GuildXBranch: Chairman: 1962-1979. Caversham Branch: Honorary Secretary 1979 to date Mr John Eagle Walton and Frinton Station Branch: Vice Chairman 1953-1957, Chairman 1957-1980, President 1980 to date Mr Robert Oxley Walton and Frinton Station Branch: Assistant Honorary Secretary 1953- 1960, Honorary Secretary 1960-1980, Deputy Launching Authority 1980- 1990, Chairman 1980 to date Mr Elson Phillips Little and Broad Haven Station Branch: Honorary Secretary 1967-1986 Chairman 1986 to date GOLD BADGE Mrs Barbara Yuille Biggar Ladies Lifeboat Guild: Committee Member 1970 to date, Honorary Treasurer 1970-1992 The Lady Jean Fforde DL Isle of Arran Ladies Lifeboat Guild: President 1957 to date Mrs Janet Miller MAJP Kilwinning Branch: Convener 1958- 1974, Chairman 1974 to date Lady Catherine Henderson The Stewartry of Kirkcudbright Lifeboat Guild: President 1971 to date Mrs Barbro Scott St Andrews Branch: President 1968- 1971, Joint Honorary Secretary 1971- 1972, President 1972-1993, Committee Member 1993 to date Mr H Speak BEM Blackrod Branch: Honorary Treasurer 1960-1993 Mrs Elizabeth Downs Bredbury Guild: President 1961 to date Mrs Mary Aldridge Bromborough and Eastham Branch: Honorary Secretary 1967 to date Mr Peter Bowman BA Crewe Branch: Honorary Treasurer 1969-1984, Honorary Secretary 1970- 1991, Chairman 1984-1994, Honorary Treasurer 1991-1994 Mrs Margaret Park Didsbury Branch: Founder Member 1964, Honorary Treasurer 1969 (6 Months), Committee Member 1969- 1973, Honorary Secretary 1973 to date Mrs Margaret Wild Prestwich Branch: Honorary Secretary 1966 to date Mrs Margaret Watson Stoke on Trent Ladies Lifeboat Guild: Chairman 1968 to date Mrs F (Dorothy) Read Tottington Guild: Honorary Treasurer 1967 to date Mrs Doreen Baxter Up Holland Branch: Chairman 1967 to date Mrs Helen Owen Up Holland Branch: Honorary Secretary 1967 to date Mary Lady Macdonald of Sleat Bridlington Guild: Vice President 1956- 1973, President 1973 to date Mr Geoffrey Timson Grantham Guild: Honorary Treasurer 1965 to date Mrs H (Dorothy) Ludlam Halifax Guild: Assistant Honorary Secretary 1967-1968, Honorary Secretary 1968-1981, Acting Secretary 1981- 1985 Mrs Muriel Pearson Huddersfield Guild: Assistant Honorary Secretary 1968-1970, Honorary Secretary 1970 to date Mr Peter Fenby Filey Station Branch: Committee Member 1964-1967, Chairman 1967- 1978. Hull Branch: Active Committee Member 1978-1980, Assistant Honorary Secretary 1980-1982, Chairman 1982-1986, Acting Chairman Secretary 1986-1989, Honorary Secretary 1989 to date Mrs Vera Beaumont Morley Guild: Honorary Treasurer 1968-1978, President 1978-1983, Vice President 1983 to date Mrs Margaret Taylor Norton Branch: Honorary Secretary 1959-1962, Committee Member 1962- 1966, Honorary Secretary 1966 to date Mrs Joan Beynon Porthcawl Guild: Honorary Secretary 1967 to date, Honorary Treasurer 1967 to date Mr John Gilbert Luton and District Branch: Committee Member 1970-1973, Honorary Secretary 1973-1979, Chairman 1979-1992, President 1992 to date Mrs Gillian Jeckells Wroxham and District Branch: Honorary Secretary 1967-1973, Chairman 1973-1983, President 1983 to date Mrs Anne Morris Weymouth Ladies Guild: Souvenir Secretary 1964 to date, Honorary Treasurer 1974-1978 Lt Cdr Barney Morris RN (Retd) Weymouth Station Branch: Deputy Launching Authority 1971-1975, Honorary Secretary 1975 to date Lt Cdr William Hartt RN (Retd) Rustington and East Preston Branch: Honorary Secretary 1968 to date, Lifeboat Week Organiser 1968 to date Mr Henry Dollin Bushey Heath Branch: Committee Member 1963-1965, BoxSecretary 1965- 1980, Honorary Secretary 1966-1980, Honorary Treasurer 1966-1980. Seaford Branch: Committee Member 1980-1986, Box Secretary 1986 to date Mrs Clara Welfare Shoreham and Lancing Ladies Lifeboat Guild: Committee Member 1965 to date Mrs C (Patricia) Telfer Central London Committee: Committee Member 1967 to date, Vice Chairman 1985-1988 Mrs Ivy Quinney Sutton, Cheam and Worcester Park Branch: Honorary Treasurer 1969-1991, Flag Day Organiser 1969-1992 Mrs Mary English Cobh Branch: Honorary Secretary 1963 to date The Right Honourable Lord Margadale of Islay Isle of Islay Station Branch: President 1934 to date Mr Gerald Finn Sunderland Station Branch: Committee Member 1961-1967, Chairman 1967- 1983, Deputy Launching Authority 1971-1983, Honorary Secretary 1983 to date Mr Jack Lewis MBE esc CENG FIMIME Walmer Station Branch: Chairman 1974-1993, President 1993 to date Mr Gwyn Martin DFM Aberystwyth Station Branch: Honorary Secretary 1964-1981, Committee Member 1981-1987, President 1987 to date Mr John Griffiths BEM Borth Station Branch: Crew Member 1966-1971, Honorary Treasurer 1966 to date, Deputy Launching Authority 1971-1992 Mr Eric Bancroft Tenby Station Branch: Deputy Launching Authority 1973-1980, Honorary Secretary 1980-1994 Mr James Tyrrell Arklow Station Branch: Deputy Launching Authority 1971-1977, Honorary Secretary 1977 to date Dr Patrick Murphy Baltimore Station Branch: Honorary Medical Advisor 1968 to date Dr John Gowen FRCG Youghal Station Branch: Honorary Medical Advisor 1952-1990, Deputy Launching Authority 1990 to date The following recipients were unable to attend the Ceremony and their awards are being made locally: BAR TO THE GOLD BADGE Mrs W Milne Kirriemuir Guild: Honorary Treasurer 1953-1980, Kirriemuir Branch: Honorary Treasurer 1980 to date Mrs F V McDonald MBE Stonehaven Ladies Lifeboat Guild: President 1957-1982, Chairman 1982- 1983, President 1983 to date GOLD BADGE Mr Edward Coker Didsbury Branch: President 1968 to date Cdr William Donald DSC Keswick Branch: Chairman 1968 to date Mrs D L (Tessa) Thomas Porthcawl Guild: Chairman 1967-1992, President 1992 to date Mrs Eileen O'Flanagan Dun Laoghaire Ladies Lifeboat Guild: Box Secretary 1968 to date, Flag Day Organiser 1968 to date Mr William Halcrow Stromness Station Branch: Honorary Treasurer 1958-1994 Mr Andrew Collier Clogher Head Station Branch: Chairman 1954 to dateHRH The Duke of Kent addresses the gathering before presenting the awards Welcoming HRH the Duke of Kent and all those present the Chairman pointed out that this would be the last time the Annual Presentation of Awards would be held at the Royal Festival Hall, as it would, along with the Annual General Meeting, be moving to the Barbican Centre in 1995.

The Chairman opened his address by recounting two apparently routine lifeboat services, one by the Alderney lifeboat which, on a chilly March morning, went to the aid of a small fishing boat broken down in the Swinge and threatened by steep overfalls and a lee shore. Both vessels were back in Braye harbour in time for lunch. The other was at Aldeburgh last September when the lifeboat searched for three hours for a boy reported missing in a 12ft dinghy on the river Aide. The lifeboat found nothing, but her crew were relieved to hear that the boy eventually turned up safe and sound.

What was so momentous about these apparently routine incidents? Simply that the rescue off Alderney was the first by a 25-knot all-weather lifeboat, in this case the 14m Trent prototype on temporary station duty there, and the Aldeburgh search was the last call made on a traditional double-ended lifeboat in RNLI service.

'In 1994,' said the Chairman, 'we have truly begun a new era of fast lifeboats. The transition to an all-fast fleet has been completed on schedule and is something in which everyone should take pride. It could never have happened without the crews' enthusiastic willingness to adopt new technology or the ability of the staff to shape that new technology to the Institution's needs. Above all, it would never have happened if the fundraisers had not risen to the challenge of the building programme.' Congratulating supporters on this achievement the Chairman remarked that they need only listen to the afternoon's medal citations to realise its value. Two fishermen, six yachtsmen, and thirty-seven crew members from a Russian factory ship were only alive today, he said, because the RNLI has the boats and the crews to cope, even in the worst conditions.

One way of measuring how far we had come in recent years was to look at the speed of response. Currently an all-weather lifeboat can usually reach a point 50 miles off the coast in three-and-a-half hours, which compares with the previous 30 miles in four hours, and a new target - by the year 2000 - of reducing the time for those 50 miles to two-and-a-half hours. This meant that at least half the Severns and Trents planned by the Institution would need to be on station and at least half the new 34 knot Atlantic 75 inshore lifeboats.

In the next five years new boats would cost the Institution well over £80m, said Mr Vernon, a major undertaking by anybody's standards.

While confident that the target could be achieved the Chairman stressed that he appreciated the size of the challenge facing the fundraisers. Six and seven figure numbers have become commonplace, but that it was worth remembering how many flag day stickers, raffle tickets and tea towel sales are needed to raise enough money for a £lm lifeboat.

The 'Blue Peter' television appeal had helped to bring this point home. Two gigantic warehouses were filled by some 1,500,000 packages of 'treasure', to be sorted and sold to raise a sum estimated to pay for six new inshore lifeboats and half the cost of the Trent for Fishguard later this year.

That project represented a huge nationwide effort, and yet it was but a fraction of what volunteer fundraisers achieve every year. Last year their direct contribution towards the Institution's £62m income was another record, so we cannot but have faith that the target will again be met this year.

Mr Vernon hoped that all supporters would draw inspira- tion from the success of the past year and added that there was present another source of inspiration - one which had been with the RNLI for the last quarter of a century. HRH The Duke of Kent had succeeded his mother, Princess Marina, as PresidentThe 1994 Annual Meetings continued of the Institution 25 years ago and, with genuine interest and understanding, had given everyone an added reason to continue with their work.

He had presided over some significant moments of RNLI history, some difficult, some tragic but many glorious. The Chairman remarked that as someone who had been a member of the Committee of Management for the whole of the Duke's Presidency, he was extremely aware of the support he had given the Chairmen who have served under him. Mr Vernon also praised the contribution made by HRH The Duchess of Kent, who had also been an enormous inspiration.

Mr Vernon then added: 'The Committee of Management has decided that the most fitting way to express the gratitude of us all is to present you. Sir, with the highest award the Institution can offer, the Gold Medal. I trust you will accept it as a mark of the esteem in which you are held by everyone in the large family which is the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.' The applause which greeted the announcement and the subsequent presentation reflected the appreciation shown by those present at the APA.

The President was clearly moved by the award, saying: 'It is not easy to put into words just how deeply honoured I feel at receiving the RNU's highestaward, the Gold Medal. That the Committee of Management should decide - without the knowledge of the President 1 might add - to confer on me the same award as that presented to only the very bravest of our lifeboat crews is something I take as a supreme compliment.

7 accept the award on the strict understanding that no comparison can ever be made between my contribution and that of our lifeboat crews.' His Royal Highness remarked that bravery had not been a resource on which he had had to call during his 25 years association with the RNLI, indeed he lookedback on every assignment with the Institution, which had taken him to 92 lifeboat stations, with nothing but pleasure - as did The Duchess of Kent.

The Duke recalled lifeboat experiences which had remained particularly vivid in his memory, including the moment when he succeeded as President his mother, Princess Marina, who had been the last person to be honoured with the gold medal for service other than bravery. Equally vivid was the memory of his first official duty, attending the funeral of those lost in the Fraserburgh lifeboat disaster in 1970 - a reminder of the very heavy price that voluntary service can demand.

The RNLI strives to reduce the risks, but that they could never be eliminated was tragically proved by the disaster at Penlee in 1981, another sad occasion His Royal Highness would never forget.

Naming ceremonies were always occasions to look forward to, said the Duke, they take place at beautiful parts of the coast and are an occasion when fundraisers and lifeboatmen can celebrate their success together.

'When I meet RNU fundraisers I am always struck by the enthusiasm as well as the dedication with which they throw themselves into their work. I have also noticed that they seem to have the happy knack of making other people part with their money with a smile on their face.' The President added that he was lucky to have been able to go to sea aboard more lifeboats than probably most people in the hall, enabling him to appreciate the environment in whichthe crews operated and to get to know the people who do the job. It also allowed him to imagine more vividly the circumstancescircumstances leading to the award of bravery medals.

'If the admirable voluntary nature of the RNLI has been a constant factor in the last quarter of a century,' the President went on, 'a very great deal has nevertheless changed in that time. In 1969 the fastest all-weather lifeboat was a 15 knot Waveney. Today we have the 25 knot Severns and Trents with all the latest electronic gadgetry. Then lifeboats answered 2,300 calls a year, now that figure has more than doubled to 5,500. It cost about £1.7m to run the service in 1969, in 1993 in cost nearly £48m.' The world may have changed, said the Duke, but he was impressed by the way the RNLI adapted to meet new challenges and embrace new technology and fundraisingtechniques while retaining its essential values of voluntary service.

Looking to the future the President was sure that the Institution would be playing an equally crucial role 25 years from now, as there was no sign of a let-up in the number of casualties. New lifeboats are designed to take the RNLI into the 21st century, he said, and there appears to be no shortage of volunteers to crew them.

"Through the indefatigableworkofvoluntary fundraisers and the generosity of the public', he added, 'we also have a sound financial base. It only remains for us to see that future generations come to appreciate the lifeboat service as much as those of us here today.' The Duke looked forward to a continuing involvement with the RNLI, and announced that he would shortly be going to Aldeburgh to name the new Mersey there. The new boat heralded the era of an all fast lifeboat fleet, and what better way could there be to embark on his next spell as President? The Director of the RNLI, Lt Cdr Brian Miles, then read the citations as the President presented the awards for gallantry and for the long-serving fundraisers. To close he moved the traditional resolution recording hearty appreciation of the gallantry of the crews, and of all voluntary workers, and it only remained for Clayton Love, a member of the Committee of Management, to propose a vote of thanks to HRH The Duke of Kent - touching upon his visit to Mr Love's native Ireland - to bring the proceedings to a close..