Jazz on a different day Cheltenham branch has recently circulated some 1,000 copies of its busy fundraising diary-but unfortunately the date of the Jazz train event, originally scheduled for 27 July 1996, has had to be changed to 3 August due to unforeseen problems.

For further informa tion, please contact Fay Harvey on (01242) 261330.The guests of honour at the annual RNLI coffee morning in Mayfield, East Sussex on 2 December 1995 were Keith Stevens, son of the stationmaster at Mayfield (in the days when they had a railway!) and now a member of the crew of the Selsey lifeboat, and Muffie, an eleven week old Cavalier King Charles spaniel.

Muffie's appealing looks and guessthe- weight competition (no doubt a great excuse to pick her up!) helped raise a tot.il of some £500.In Brief Mi Aim KS of Daventry and District branch raised £993 from their flag day collections and sale of souvenirs on 29th and 30th of September. A good result considering the nearest coastline is about 100 miles away! I'M i IM Haighof Littleboroughcompleted a sponsored cycle ride to raise funds for the Littleborough Ladies guild. The 30- mile ride around Hollingworth Lake in Littleborough, took place took place on a wet, miserable day and raised £182. Pauline and her mother also raised a further £110 from making and selling shortbread.

THE ANNUAL Christmas Fair of the Filey Ladies' lifeboat guild was held on 18 November 1995 in the Concert Hall, Filey and proved even more popular than usual.

The hall was bursting at the seams with people eager to spend their money at the stalls and in two hours the guild raised £1,579.

SINCE September 1993, Worthing branch has had an extremely successful shop in the town centre which has raised over £65,000 in sales. The shop closed at the end of 1995, so the RNLI would like to take this opportunity to say a big 'Thank you'.Central fundraising up-date Boat Show Business. The London International Boat Show proved to be very successful, with cheques to fund D class inshore lifeboats being presented to the RNLI by Jim Davidson on behalf of Cetrek, the Poole-based manufacturer of marine electronic equipment, and also by E. P.

Barrus, importers of the Mariner outboard engines used by the RNLI.

The Royal Bank of Scotland presented a cheque for £67,000 - the year's income from the RBS/RNLI affinity credit card - and also announced that it would be funding an all-weather lifeboat from card proceeds for year 2000. Also at the show, Haven Knox-Johnson announced their new RNLI marine insurance package.

Healthy success. HMCA's insert in the Winter issue of THE LIFEBOAT advertising their new hospital and health care programme has turned out to be the RNLI's most successful joint promotion ever, with 3,000 applications in the first two weeks.

HMCA had many enquiries from members over 65 and is now offering cover up to 75 years of age.

Model results. Sales of the Kimberly Clark-inspired models of Tyne class lifeboats has now reached nearly 100,000 - and a new initiative has just been launched Malt 'n salt An idea by Ian Williams, manager of Oban distillery, led to one of the most successful fundraising events ever held at Oban lifeboat station.

The distillery agreed to hold an exhibition of lifeboat work and to donate takings from their visitors centre on that day to the RNLI. Oban lifeboat, Nottinghamshire lay alongside the North pier, 100 yards away with ex-lifeboats, Popular Diver (70' Clyde class) and Ramsey Dyce (47' Watson) kindly brought for display by their respective owners, Bob Theakston and Keith Oliver. Other features of the day included, Marshall MacKinnon demonstrating his three working lifeboat models, three lifeboat video displays, lifeboat guild stalls and the sales of limited edition lifeboat photographs and smoked salmon. United Distillers doubled up their contribution, resulting in a magnificent £4,064 raised for lifeboat coffers.

with the Scouts - of whom there are over half a million. Sales of the models within the movement will be the first stage of a 3- year campaign to fund a replacement for The Scout, a Waveney class lifeboat currently at Hartlepool, which was funded by a similar appeal in 1974.

Supermarket savers. Guild and branch efforts with Safeway and B&Q, where the RNLI was one of the charities of the year, raised a combined total of £125,000, while further substantial donations have been received recently form International Paint and Office Angels recruitment consultancy's employee fundraising activities.

Racing certainty. An exciting project has just been finalised with Toshiba, in which it will fund a different lifeboat crew member for each of the five legs of the BT Global Challenge Round the World Yacht Race, starting in September.

Small shares. An advertisement appears in this issue for a trial Small Share scheme.

Readers may hold small shareholdings, such as Scrip dividends, which are uneconomic to sell but which might produce a useful return if combined with several other small lots.Celebrity cruises for cash Celebrity Cruises' new liner Century visited Southampton on 5 December 1995 and a charity evening was held on board.

At the end of the evening casino tokens were exchanged for charity cash and with all the proceeds going to the RNLI the Institution was £1,100 better off.

The evening was arranged well before the ship arrived, but while Century was travelling through the English Channel the day before a crew member was taken ill with appendicitis - and was brought ashore by lifeboat! Free weekend The RNLI was offered a free weekend display and collection opportunity at Thurrock Lakeside by the technical services manager Bob Tranter, who was rescued by the West Mersea lifeboat crew in August 1995.

With the help of David Lewin at West Mersea, staff from RNLI headquarters and Thurrock branch, an impressive display was mounted which included Bob's rescued 'five-oh-five' class dinghy, a display D class lifeboat, display panels, photographs and a video player.As part of the sea safety and PR weekend at Thurrock Lakeside, the West Mersea crew drew the crowds by re-enacting the sequence of events after a Mayday call.

The weekend was extremely succesful and collections amounted to some £913, plus £156 in membership subscriptions, and five new active members for the local fundraising branch.

Copy for the Fundraisers pages of the Summer issue of The Lifeboat should be received by Friday 10 May at the latest, and earlier if possible.

We endeavour to include as many items as possible, but regret that due to the increasing number of events we cannot guarantee publication.A DIP in Black Park Lake on Boxing Day by the Apollo Venture Unit from Hedgerly, near Slough raised £300 for lifeboat coffers.

Some fifteen stalwarts in festive fancy dress grouped around a camp fire on the bright, frosty morning, and while collectors rattled their tins and some 100 supporters gathered on the wooded shores of the lake the bathers plunged into the icy waters with barely perceptible hesitation! DURING the past year the Diabeg/Torridon, Ross-shire Convenership has raised some £540 from a whist drive, donations, collecting boxes and sponsored walks. A recent sponsored walk by the grandchildren of the Convener, Mrs I Ross, raised £280.

RECENTLY two of the most enthusiastic and hard working members of Cheltenham branch, Peter and ludy Smith, celebrated their golden wedding with a party for friends and relations. Invitations were endorsed - 'No presents please, we will bring along our RNLI collection box for any small donations to our favourite charity.' The sum of £301 was raised as a result.

WHEN Steve Tree died last December at the age of 87 his widow Hilda and son Stephen decided that because of his close and lifelong affinity with the sea that family and friends should make a donation to the RNLI instead of floral tributes. Stephen collated the contributions and as a result the Institution was pleased to receive the sum of £400 in Steve's memory.Guernsey appeal tops £1m The Guernsey Severn lifeboat appeal, launched in 1994 to raise funds towards a Severn class lifeboat for St Peter Port, has proved extremely successful - raising in excess of the original Elm target! At an annual meeting of the subscribers in January, Jurat L. A. Moss, chairman of Guernsey station branch and of the appeal, announced that the final total raised was £1,026,786, of which £841,957 resulted from the appeal directly and £184,829 received from legacies specifically designated towards the cost of the Severn lifeboat.

Since the launch of the appeal, fundraisers and members of the committee of management have been extremely busy attending every event including localshows, carnivals, a dinghy marathon, a flower festival and a dinner gala auction, and set about the task of selling some 30,000 raffle tickets.

Guernsey station branch are very grateful for the response from the public in raising this sum of money, clearly demonstrating how strongly Guern- sey feels about her lifeboatmen and justifying the chosen name of the lifeboat: Spirit of Guernsey.Humber appeal Numerous activities have been taking place in support of the Humber lifeboat appeal in West and South Yorkshire.

The Froebelian School in Horsforth, Leeds, chose the appeal as their charity for the year, raising £4,000. The pupils held several events to raise funds including a Christmas carol service, Christmas fair, harvest festival collection, sponsored events and a fish and chip evening. The children met the appeal mascot, Bevan Bear when he visited the school to collect the cheque, he also brought along the model of Lincolnshire Poacher to show them.

Jared Turner, aged seven, undertook the Three Peaks walk of approximately 30 miles and raised some £200 in sponsorship money.

Patrick Garrigan made a sponsored walk from Seahouses to Beadnell during his summer holiday and raised £115 in sponsorship money - Julie Mounty, area organiser for the North East, attended Patrick's cub scout evening to be presented with the cheque and enjoyed telling them more about the work of the RNLI and the Humber appeal.Julie was also involved in organising a Corporate golf day at the Moor Allerton Golf Club in Leeds during 1994 with the help of Graham Lawley, Senior Manager of Lloyds Bank, Vicar Lane Branch. This event raised over £4,000 for the appeal and proved so popular, that a similar event was held in September 1995. Both events together helped to raise almost £9,000 for the appeal and on both occasions Lloyds Bank, Yorkshire Area, made a donation of £1,000. Julie, accompanied by Tom Nutman, divisional inspector of lifeboats for the north, received the cheque from Graham Lawley.Dressing for success Naughty nuns, cheeky St. Trinians girls, Mary Quant look-alikes and Sergeant Peppers braved bitterly cold conditions on Boxing Day 1995, to take part in the Maldon, Essex rowing event to raise funds for the RNLI.

More than 35 boats, with over 100 rowers, took part in the 5 kilometre row on the river Blackwater, which has become an annual event at Christmas or New Year for 25 years. The event is run by the Maldon Little Ship Club and thousands are raised for charity every year.

A total of £6,000 was raised this time and the trophy for the boat sponsored for the most money went to the all-ladies group, the Hythe Hookers. The inshore lifeboat from West Mersea was in attendance and Maldon and district RNLI organiser, Ken Harrington declared it another successful and profitable event.Fayre deal for Marlow...

The Marlow branch had a successful year of fundraising in 1995, taking their income to a record £11,000.

Last year saw two new events - a May fay re which brought in over £1,400 and was hosted by their president, Patricia Greene (Jill Archer of radio's The Archers') and a bowls afternoon with cream teas, adding another £417.

The most successful event by far was the traditional Marlow grand prix raft race, which took place on a very wet Sunday in September. Despite the deluge 36 enthusiastic competitors rowed, pedalled and urged their weird and wonderful craft along while assaulting their opponents with water and flour bombs! There were winners in a number of classes but the most notable were Staples UK who have raised the magnificent sum of £2,610 in sponsorship, and a team of physically and visually disabled people from Rugby. The grand total raised was £4,678.84. The 1996 raft race promises to be an event not to be missed - Sunday 8 September from 11.00 am. Entry forms are available from Joe Dormer, Quarry Court, Quarry Road, Marlow SL7 1RF.Mursley's mussels There was something fishy going on in the tiny village of Mursley, North Buckinghamshire last month as villagers went trawling for cash using sea-fresh Norfolk mussels as bait.

The catch was superb - over £1,000 was netted at a mussel supper organised by villager Chris Jones in the village hall, which was divided between the local first school and the RNLI.

One hundred and twenty diners consumed nearly four hundredweight of mussels, bought RNLI goods and auctioned seafood items, resulting in Graham Styles, treasurer of the Winslow branch, receiving a cheque for more than £500 for RNLI funds.

New-born branch Although Porthleven has had a lifeboat day committee for 20 years, raising over £50,000 during that time, the branch has only existed for a year.

The distillersofGlenmorangie whisky, Macdonald and Muir of Ross-shire, helped the branch's first year fundraising efforts by donating a limited edition stone flagon containing their finest 21-year-old whisky.

Linda Skinner, manager of Glenmorangie distillery visitor centre, presented fundraisers, Michael Carter and George Shipman with this collector's item. In return and in thanks for the distillery's help, there now hangs in the visitor centre, a RNLI plaque and a picture of the Penlee lifeboat, Mabel Alice on exercise with a SAR helicopter from RNAS Culdrose.

The draw, limited to 50 tickets, raised a total of £310 and took place in December 1995. The Flagon was won by Paul Clark of Porthleven, who is a keen supporter of the local Lifeboat day.

Our man in Towcester Despite suffering a stroke some 10 years ago, wheelchair bound Colin Baldry remains as the RNLI's 'man in Towcester'. Colin, pictured here with Mrs Dora Gamble on Towcester flag day last year, does not get out of his home very often but enjoys his time sitting outside the local bank, collecting for the Institution and talking to the many people that know him.

Bill Leech, RNLI area organiser for the eastern region, organises the annual collection and Colin and Mrs Gamble together with her husband are just two of the small, dedicated group which joins them on the day.Pushing the boat out for Lyme Regis Warminster mayor Ann Coventry launching the sponsored boat push, along with club members.

It's amazing what lengths some divers will go to in order to boost the coffers of the RNLI.

A group of members from West Wilts sub aqua club chose a fancy dress boat push through five towns - raising cash and eyebrows as they went! The fabulous frogmen (and women) tackled the task wearing a motley selection of watery weeds, chosen to represent all those likely to call on the RNLI - such as divers, sailors, fishermen, canoeists and surfers.

They heave-hoed their craft through Warminster, Westbury Trowbridge, Melksham and Bradford on Avon, with gratefully received support from Aqua leisure specialist sports of Melksham and local radio station GWR-FM.

£236 was raised for the RNLI and a cheque was consequently handed over to the Lyme Regis lifeboat station.

A special auction In October 1995, Stephen Franks and Michael Keggan, crew members of the Port St Mary lifeboat, suggested organising a combined raffle and auction to raise funds for the RNLI and the special needs unit at the local school. The event was organised and promoted by the lifeboat crew in conjunction with one of the local hotels, at which the event would be held.

Steve and Michael obtained most of the prizes and auction items with assistancefrom the crew and these included a portable colour television, airline flight coupons and hotel accommodation donated by local companies.

On the night a veritable mountain of items was auctioned to a packed and extremely generous audience. The people of Port St Mary responded well - two of them even had all of their hair publicly shaved off in return for sponsorship! The result was a grand total of £ 3,950 and the lifeboat treasurer subsequently received a cheque for £1,975 with a cheque for the same amount being presented to Port St. Mary school special unit.

The closing date for Fundraising items for the Summer issue of THE LIFEBOAT is 17 May 1996 but earlier if possibleFull of Eastern promise RNLI supporters from Eastern Saudi Arabia, held their fourth annual fundraiser for 1995, which proved to be another outstanding success.

The event featured various stalls and a raffle, and was held in a 'nice and cool' 90°F in Jenny and Grayham Tucker's garden.

An extremely good time was had by all, and several guests cannot remember the time the event ended - or actually leaving. There was a moment of panic when it was thought the amber nectar had run out, but a couple more cases were located in one of the bedrooms and disaster was averted! The turn-out was excellent - attracting an estimated 200 people and raising a grand total of 19,6339.85 Rials or some £3,300.

A donation was also received from a local charitable group and sponsors included British Airways, P&O European Ferries, The Regency Intercontinental Hotel, The Diplomat Hotel and Arabian Foods.

Sadly this is the last year organising the event for Don Noakes, as he has to retire but he has left the job in capable hands for the future.

Taken for a ride! Michael Gray, pictured meeting crew and station personnel at Cullercoats lifeboat station shortly before completing his sponsored cycle ride, cycled from Surbiton, Surrey, to Newcastle-upon-Tyne last September, raising £189 on behalf of Surbiton branch..