New Year's Honours Her Majesty The Queen has honoured the following for their services to the RNLI in this year's New Year Honours list: On Station The following lifeboats have taken up duty: ALL-WEATHER Blyth - Trent class 14-06 (ON 1204) Windsor Runner (Civil Service No 42) on 1 December 1995 Dunbar - Trent class 14-09 (ON 1207) Sir Ronald PechellBt on 17 December 1995 INSHORE St. Bees - B719 Percy Henry Patmore on 14 December 1995 Kinghorn - B720 Frederick Robertson on 12 December 1995 New Brighton - B721 Rock Light 9 January 1996 Porthcawl - B549 Blenwatch 16 February 1996 MBE: Dr Alastair Baird Chairman of Portpatrick station branch MBE: Mrs Iris Brookes Honorary secretary of Cannock and Burntwood branch MBE: Mr John Burgess Member of Sheringham station branch committee MBE: Mr Tony West Former second coxswain/mechanic of Ly tham St Annes lifeboat Mr Raymond James Taylor, station honorary secretary at Cullercoats, was awarded the MBE in the 1995 Birthday Honours List for services to the RNLI. Mr Taylor is due to retire shortly after 50 years service to the RNLI.Lifeboat lottery tops £5m! Scott Mean, Rob Murray, Steve Fletcher and Mike McElhatton, stars of AFC Bournemouth drew the winning tickets of the 72nd lifeboat lottery on 31 January 1996.

The first prize was a Volvo car to the value of £12,500 which had been donated by Volvo Car UK .

The car was won by Mr and Mrs Ward of High Wycombe and by coincidence AFC Bournemouth played Wycombe Wanderers in a football league match at home three days after the draw - and lost.

That was two wins to Wycombe in a week...

Ray Kipling, deputy director and Anthony Oliver, deputy head of fundraising and marketing supervised the draw which raised £157,616.50 and brought the total amount raised since the RNLI lifeboat lottery started in 1977, to just over £5m.

This quarter's draw raised £44,000 more than the previous one in October and was £4,000 up on the draw in January 1995 - the first time that RNLI lottery takings have been up since the National lottery began.

The tickets for the draw were pulled from the boot of a Volvo car loaned for the occasion by local dealers, Page Motors. Before the draw the opportunity was taken to photograph the car alongside the new Great Yarmouth and Gorleston Trent class lifeboat Samarbeta - which has been funded by the joint RNLI/Volvo promotion. By happy coincidence the draw coincided with the week the lifeboat crew were in Poole for training.

The cash prize winners were:£1,000 Mrs J. F.

Mackechnie, Burton-on- Trent, Staffs £500 Mr G. A. Walker, Strathaven, Lanarkshire £250 Mr C. P. Black, Headley, Hants. £100 Mr P.

O.'Connor, Felixstowe, Suffolk; Mr and Mrs J. Braid, Cheltenham, Glos; Miss M.

Green, Hatton, Derby; Mr M.

Franklin, Bedworth, Warks.

£50 Mrs M. Elvins, Beuchamp, Shelsey; Mr T. H.

Sheldon, St Albans, Herts; Mrs W. Allen, Cirencester, Glos; Mr M. Mair, Barnet, Herts; Lt Col and Mrs D. I.

Mackenzie, Farnham, Surrey.

The kiwi connection For many years there has been a strong link between the RNLI and its foreign cousin, the New Zealand Volunteer Coastguard Association - which has acquired no less than three former RNLI lifeboats.

The link was further forged in November 1995 when Oban lifeboat coxswain, Patrick Maclean and his wife were on holiday in New Zealand and visited three lifeboat stations, while on the same day former Oban crew member, now deputy launching authority, Willie Melville, also on holiday with his wife, visited Nelson and Greymouth lifeboats.

Both Macleans and Melvilles were most hospitably entertained when in Nelson, by Mr Harold Mason and his wife, Betty. Mr Mason, vice president of the New Zealand Volunteer Coastguard Association, was deeply involved in negotiations with the RNLI regarding the purchase of the lifeboats and hopes to re-visit his friends in Girvan and Oban in the future.

G'day cobber! Dave Jones, RNLI senior area organiser for the south west, met Trevor Gif f ord of the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard Association Inc, when on a recent holiday in Perth. The organisation, of which Trevor is President, is co-ordinated by the Water Police headquarters at Freemantle and covers some 2,500 miles of coastline with 28 lifeboats - all manned by voluntary crews.

Mr Gifford, who has also visited the RNLI's headquarters at Poole, expressed great admiration for the work of the Institution as he accomplished his last official function as President by exchanging pennants with Dave..