In Brief MKMBKRS of Backwell branch recently travelled to Cherbourg and back in a day as guests of the P&O ferry company to sell RN LI Volvo draw tickets to passengers. The captains of both the ferries involved, Pride of Cherbourg and Pride of Bilbao, welcomed six members of the committee and, together with the crews, helped to ensure the success of the venture. A total of £880 was raised during the day.

HOLYWELL postman, John Parry, undertook a sponsored slim, lost one-and-a-half stone in eight weeks and presented a cheque for £150 to Gary Jones, honorary secretary of Flint lifeboat. His secret - don't eat after 7pm! THE North Sunderland ladies' guild have had another successful year. The annual fete held on Seahouses pier realised £12,463 and together with the results of other events a total of £31,000 was sent to Headquarters.

EACH year, with the permission of the Abbot of Caldey, Ted Blythin, a member of Tenby branch committee, sets up a table just inland of the landing on the island. Having just experienced a sea crossing most visitors are happy to contribute to the RNLI, and in a week this year's collection amounted to £913.30.

CHAIRMAN of Wallingford branch, David Calvin Thomas, led the parade of 98 teddy bears at Sotwell Hill House garden party which raised £1,000 for the Yarmouth boathouse appeal.

FOR the past 12 years Suffolk Yacht harbour, in conjunction with Haven Ports Yacht Club, has held an annual Lifeboat Day, raising over £17,000. Last September organisers John Day and Margaret Spear, together with their hard-working supporters from the yacht club, raised a record amount of £3,000Cheers! In addition to several special events organised by the Hillam and Monk Fryston ladies' guild during 1994, its 10th anniversary year, the ladies ran a very well stocked bottle stall at Monk Fryston Gala in July and raised £146.

Walk this way- Last May, Bill Pretty from Northolt, Middlesex, realised a long-standing personal ambition by walking the South West Way, Britain's longest footpath.

The books said it was 500 miles long but Bill has since discovered that the official length is 604 miles! Planning tookovera yearand with the help of his girlfriend Fenella Pinnock, Bill wrote to over 2,000 companies for sponsorship and publicity. Bryan Contract Hiresupplied a support vehicle, Safeway, one of his sponsors, provided food and many donations of equipment and money were forthcoming.

Finally, after plenty of walking and squash to get fit Bill set off from Minehead with Fenella driving the support vehicle.

She did not know it, but her engagement ring was in Bill's day pack! During the four weeks it took to complete the walk, Bill found an unexploded military flare on a beach, helped rescue some lads stuck part way down a cliff and got engaged! All in all a very successful expedition which raised just over £2,573 with money collected by various guilds at Safeway stores en route raising the final total to £3,000.Quite a Show The Isle of Man Lions Club recently presented Peel Lifeboat station with a showcase for use outside the boathouse.

For operational reasons the RNLI gift shop is situated in a difficult position at the back of the boathouse and the showcase acts as a shop window encouraging people to go in and buy.

It is stored in the boathouse and is positioned outside when the shop is open.

Funded by the Club and made by Tynwald Woodcrafts the showcase was presented to Mrs Pat Rawlinson, chairman of Peel ladies' guild by Len Templeton of the Isle of Man Lions Club.Banking on their help Twenty-four members of various National Westminster bank branches on the Isle of Wight mustered at the Inshore Lifeboat Centre, to pull a D class lifeboat the 16 miles from East Cowes to Yarmouth lifeboat station in aid of the new boathouse appeal.

They left in very foggy weather and after a collection stop in Newport, arrived at Yarmouth in the late afternoon to be met by the station honorary secretary, second coxswain and crew for much needed refreshments and a very big thank you.

To date they have raised £1,300, with money still coming in.

Mum's the word...

Thurso lifeboat station has close links with HM The Queen Mother. Not only is the Thurso lifeboat called The Queen Mother, but she was named by Her Majesty and her home in Caithness, the Castle of Mey, was also the scene of some RNLI fundraising recently.

The gardens are open to the public on three occasions during the summer, and coach loads of tourists and car loads of people flock to the castle. The one thing they all have in common is the need for refreshment, and that is where Thurso branch came to the rescue! TheQueen Mother's staff asked if the branch would like to raise money for the RNLI by organising afternoon teas at the castle and, with the help of staff, volunteers and friends, over £868 was realised from the teas and £318 from the sale of souvenirs.

Publicity afloat Falmouth lifeboat crew and guild members joined forces to publicise their new boathouse and shop by entering a decorated lifeboat in the Falmouth Carnival August.

Crew members, their wives and children and guild members helped decorate the float and then walked alongside during the procession through the town, distributing badges and painting competition leaflets to encourage both local people and visitors to visit the new boathouse and shop now situated at Port Pendennis.

The painting competition was judged by Tamsin Thomas of Radio Cornwall, with Nicholas Kempton of Falmouth and James Murray of Penryn winners of the respective age groups.

That's the spirit! A crowded Bruichladdich hall on Islay was the venue for a whisky blending evening celebrating the first written record of whisky, courtesy of Whyte MacKay.

Master blender, Richard Paterson, gave an illustrated talk on the history of whisky and the art of the whisky blender and a practical demonstration on how blended whisky is produced.

Members of the audience were invited to mix their own blend and that judged to be most successful, Margaret MacTaggart, was awarded a prize and a certificate.

•Islay ladies' guild provided a sumptuous buffet and all proceeds of the evening, amounting to £720, were donated to the RNLI.

Just the ticket More than £340,000 has been raised so far from the 1994 promotion in conjunction with Volvo Car UK.

Six Volvo 440 1.6Li cars were offered as prizes in raffles throughout various fundraising regions. The prize winners, and amounts raised in the regions, are: Scotland raised £46,000 - the winner was J.A. Elliot of Inveraray.

North East and Eastern together raised £62,739 - the winner was Mrs Cheetham of Castleford, West Yorkshire.

South East raised just over £45,000 - the winner was G.J. Knight of Dagenham, Essex.

Wales and West Mercia raised £40,864 - the winner was Mrs K. Roberts from Sheffield.

South West and Greater London raised approximately £116,000 - the winner was Mrs Charlesworth of Leeds.

North West raised £30,174 so far - the winner was Miss J. Harding of Workshop, Notts.A CHEQUE for£l,000was recently presented to George Phillips, honorary secretary of Padstow lifeboat by Hewlett Packard at their head office in Bracknell, Berkshire.

George's son, Simon, who is an account manager in the company, had nominated the RNLI (Padstow lifeboat) for a charity cheque and a committee decided that the RNLI be one of the recipients of the company's annual charity awards.

A PENTATHLON organised by John Gallacher of Hitchin and District branch took place at The Plough public house. Nine teams took part in the contest which commenced with a clay pigeon shoot, followed by a game of golf. Dominoes, draughts and darts took place in the pub and sponsorship so far has raised £128 plus a collection of £25.

WITH the wind howling and the rain pouring, it could not have been a worse afternoon for Scalby ladies' guild first ever grand auction. But in true lifeboat tradition supporters turned out and bidding was soon under way. Almost 200 items had been donated locally and a splendid £1,100 was achieved. It is hoped to repeat this successful venture in the future.

THE Rame Peninsula branch were delighted to receive a cheque for £250 from the Old Comrades Club at Torpoint.

NORTHOP Country Park was the venue for a charity golf day organised by the ladies of Hawarden branch. Golfers paid an entrance fee to play the course and at the end of the day a total of £180 had been raised.

ON BEHALF of the Quay Sailing Club (St Germans) in Cornwall, Margot Luff recently presented two mobile telephones to Plymouth lifeboat. The club has nominated the RNLI to be the main beneficiary of its fundraising efforts and for many years Margot has also been responsible for selling RNLI Christmas cards and gifts.

FLAG day collections and sales of souvenirs resulted in £917 for Daventry and District branch - not bad for a small market town in the centre of the country!A raft of money...

Comedian Norman Wisdom presents a cheque for £27,500 - the proceeds of the 1994 Portrush Raft Race - to Kelly Allen, the first female crew member of Portrush lifeboat. The Mayor of Coleraine, David McClarty is also pictured, right.Trusty walkers The sponsored walks, held during 1994 in conjunction with the National Trust, raised a total of £11,883 for the RNLI.

An additional bonus was that the publicity for the Suffolk walks led to a donor from the county funding a new D class lifeboat.

Something fishy...

Eleven-year-old Stuart Jones organised a mackerel race - whoever caught the most mackerel in two hours was the winner.

The race, which raised £187.10, took place on a lovely summer's evening and attracted many locals as well as visitors.

Stuart, who is the son of Porthdinllaen coxswain/mechanic Peter Jones, hopes to make it at annual event.Going west Radio Cornwall, Volvo Car UK, and West Briton Newspapers took part in a unique lifeboat challenge on 3 September to raise £17,000 - the cost of fuel used by Cornish and Isles of Scilly lifeboats in a year.

Justin Leigh, a popular broadcaster with Radio Cornwall travelled in a Volvo car to all Cornwall's branches and guilds, which held special events during the day.

The West Briton newspaper organised a special 'guess the mileage' competition and published details of the route, with approximate arrival times of the car.

Radio Cornwall covered the trip throughout the day, opening special phone-in lines inviting listeners to pledge donations and holding a special auction on air of a painting by Derrick Huges of an old pulling lifeboat rescuing a schooner off the Goodwin Sands. This raised £450 during the day. The total raised is expected to top £20,000.

Making a meal of it Just 47 people gathered together in their posh frocks and black ties raised nearly £1,300 at a recent dinner held by Botley branch on board HMS Warrior.

This historic naval ship, built in 1860, has been fully restored and provides a stunning venue for fundraising events.

Guests were treated to a guided tour of the ship before sitting down to a fivecourse dinner served with fine wines.

Rod James, a crew member of Hay ling Island lifeboat, gave a thrilling talk which provided the serious side of the evening before wallets and purses were emptied for the raffle.Racing to save lives Nothing new in racing to save lives,you might say, lifeboat crews do that every day of the year. True - but on this occasion the races were four-legged ones! On 6 October 1994 Haydock Park racecourse was the setting for the first north west region RNLI Race Day. All proceeds from the event will help fund the rebuilding of Morecambe lifeboat house.

The stakes were high, but the form of the north west region staff fundraising team was excellent. They had a host of ideas aimed at enticing money from the public - selling RNLI gifts, Volvo draw tickets, a grand collection and the winning idea, by several lengths, a megabottle tombola.

Branch and guild volunteers from all over the north west mustered to help out, and race sponsors Tarmac Construction and Volvo, together with many other companies including National Westminster Bank, Eurox Careerwear, Future Garments, Exceed Partnership, Royal Bank of Scotland, Martell, Jones & Brother, Refuge Assurance, Belfast Ferries, Borden Decorative Products and Sika, enjoyed a gala luncheon hosted by Mrs Alison Saunders, chairman of the RNLI fundraising committee. Guest celebrity Francis Lee, chairman of Manchester City football club, conducted an auction which, together with raffle proceeds, raised £1,665.

When the counters had finished a magnificent profit of £15,000 had been realised from a very enjoyable occasion.

Ten days in Tunbridge Wells The Tunbridge Wells branch had a busy but very profitable ten days in October.

The annual Frant coffee morning held by Mrs Joan Pearce raised £823.32 and six days later the branch was presented with a cheque for £1,408 from George Johnstone who had run a tote at his local pub, the Black Horse. The landlord and lady, Roy and Maureen Preston, kindly put on a buffet for the presentation.

Four days later the branch held a buffet lunch for 75 guests at the home of Jean and Ralph Graveney in Langton Green.

Two members of the Hastings lifeboat crew were present and guests enjoyed the chance to talk to them and hear firsthand the work of the lifeboat service. Due to the efforts and generosity of those who attended the lunch, just over £1,094 was raised.

At the end of the ten days a final total of £3,325.47 was realised and will go towards the new lifeboat house at Hastings.20,000 into 60 Mary Taylor, a member of an old 'lifeboat family' in Padstow has, almost singlehandedly, sold £10,000 worth of Volvo raffle tickets. By attending fundraising events and sitting on the quay, come rain or shine, Mary sold 20,000 tickets! For nearly 60 years she has supported the RNLI and, no matter what the hour, is at the boathouse at every 'shout' to give the crew hot drinks and food on their return. Mary's grandfather and father were long serving coxswains of Padstow lifeboat, her grandfather being awarded a silver medal in 1911 and her father a bronze medal in 1928. Her own son serves the station as a committee member and his son is growing up steeped in lifeboat lore.

The photograph shows Mary selling her 20,000th raffle ticket to Stan Burgess, chairman of Padstow branch committee.

In the background are Mrs Joan Lowe and Mrs Jackie Burgess, respectively chairman and secretary of the ladies' guild. Coxswain Alan Tarby looks on approvingly.

Photo Denys LoweSea boots Henley on Thames branch's 13th annual boot sale was its best ever, raising more than £7,000 profit for the Institution.

A fine, bright day in September drew booters' to the riverside venue, some of them arriving before dawn! By 8am some 200 boots were in business and the number passed the 350 mark by 10am - with at least 1,000 cars full of bargain hunters parked nearby.

Bubbling tea urns, a popular beer tent and a burger stall working its way through 1,200 burgers in the day were all indications of a very successful event.

Due to the very large number of Fundraising reports which we continue to receive it has been necessary to hold a number over for future issues of THE LIFEBOAT Towering success Jimmy Campbell, author of Tower Above All' (reviewed in the Summer 1991 issue) has donated £250 to the RNLI - profits from sales of the book and its supplement 'What's different about Tower Above All' published this year.

A further £36.29 was also donated by Mr Campbell to Blackpool lifeboat station from a 'guess the weight of a cake' competition held at the town's Vintage Fun Expo '94.

Open all hours Thanks to the generosity of the owner of an empty High Street shop in Ventnor, Isle of Wight, the Ventnor and district branch obtained rent-free premises for a charity shop.

Manned by volunteers and with items donated by the public the shop also presented an excellent outlet for souvenirs, raffle tickets and also tickets for local RNLI events. At the branch AGM in April a cheque for £23,500 was handed over, representing the takings for the 1993/4 financial year.In Brief Two splendid cakes baked by Mrs Violet Dunn of Littlehampton raised £275 for the Guernsey Severn lifeboat appeal. After the auction in Guernsey the cakes were donated to Swissville, a centre for socially disadvantaged children.

AN INFORMAL musical evening with a pie and pea supper was greatly enjoyed by the 180 people who attended. Organised by Dinas Powys branch in aid of the Penarth lifeboat appeal, the evening raised £1,000.

Entertainment was provided by the musical group Ecumenical Seven.

FOR THE third year running the Castletown and Derbyhaven Motorboat and Yacht Club, based on the Isle of Man, has donated a substantial sum to the RNLI from the proceeds of the Castletown Regatta which they organise. A cheque for £1,000 was presented to Castletown branch by the major sponsors, Royal Life Insurance International and Beauman and Beauman.

THE llth Civil Service, Post Office and British Telecom Lifeboat Fund's half marathon was held in Windsor Great Park in October. The annual event is one of CISPOTEL's greatest fund raising initiatives and over the past ten years has contributed approximately £200,000 towards the lifeboat fund.

A SUNNY day in August drew the crowds to Luccombe Fair in Dorset. Organised by Blandford branch a whole range of fundraising events took place, ranging from a static display of stationary engines to a dog show. A good time was had by all and the branch benefited to the tune of £4,000.

WITH the assistance of the landlord at the Bell Inn, Walsall, a group of caring fundraisers managed to raise £700 in three weeks through raffles of freely donated prizes by customers. The group 'adopted' Holyhead lifeboat some years ago and decided to pay a visit to the crew to give them the money and a Black Country delicacy.

As the station did not possess a microwave oven to warm the delicacy, the fundraisers also took a microwave with them, plus the £700.

A TEAM of intrepid ten-pin bowlers took part in an all-night marathon bowl in Hartlepool last September. At midnight Paul Watson, second coxswain of Hartlepool lifeboat opened the bowling and funds were raised by each bowler being sponsored to last the 8-hour night shift. The resultant £1,000 made it all worthwhile.

GUESTS gathered for an epic coffee morning last October. It was the 32nd such morning to be held by Mrs Christine Pickstone and the best yet, with £374.52 being realised for Birmingham branch.

THE OPEN Day held at Ashlett Creek by the Calshot and District branch on 26 June was a resounding success, topping £3,000 for the first time since the event started back in 1970. By the end of the sideshow-, competition-, display- and draw-filled day the final total came to £3,545.50..