In brief BRANCHES in North Wales had a busy Summer - Holyhead ladies raised £1,200 from the sale souvenirs and Volvo draw tickets at the Anglesey show; Llandudno branch raised £1,150 from collection boxes and souvenirs at an Emergency services day; Llangefni ladies raised £1,000 from a plant sale and coffee morning; Port Madoc flag day and house to house collection realised £1,500; souvenir sales at the Shrewsbury flower show topped £1,000; Connahs Quay garden party raised £300 and Abergele barbecue raised £400.

A FOOTBALL match, a sponsored silence and a host of other ventures organised by Amble and Warkworth ladies lifeboat guild as part of their local lifeboat day, raised a total of £11,600.

SOME £1,240 pounds was raised in one and a half hours at a coffee party organised by Beckenham branch.

The branch also raised a further £1,040 at a concert held in July.

REVITALISED Rhosneigr branch held a coffee and craft morning raising £1,477. The morning was held at the home of new committee members, Roger and Hilary Thorpe.

MR AND MRS Schof ield of Shenf ield in Essex, requested that for their golden wedding anniversary, donations should be made to the RNLI in lieu of their presents - resulting in some £190 being collected.

RECENTLY reformed Ware and District branch had a family fun afternoon at Watersplace Farm on 30 June. Featuring various attractions, including lots of fun for children and the main theme of delicious strawberry teas, the day enjoyed dry weather and support from local businesses raising some £700.

SEA-LOVING villagers raised over £250 to launch a new branch in Cornwall.

St Germans has always held an annual regatta in aid of the RNLI but 20 September saw the launch of the newly founded St Germans and district branch. The launch was a success with round-the-world yachtsman, Peter Goss as guest speaker joined by Derek Studdon, mechanic from Plymouth lifeboat station.Well oiled! Ray Burden and his wife Deanna recently presented an oil painting of Weymouth lifeboat, Tony Vanderve/l, to coxswain Bob Runyeard.

Ray painted the picture and donated it to the station to mark the 20th anniversary of Tony Vandervell on station at Weymouth - the painting is being raffled to raise funds for the lifeboat.

The raffle should run until Spring 1997 when the draw will be made at the Weymouth lifeboat annual ball. Tickets are 50p each and are available from: Val Houghton, 7 Mitchell Street, Weymouth, Dorset DT4 8BD.

Winning stakes How do you get 60 horses, jockeys, owners and trainers, followed by 300 punters, into the Haven Hotel in Dunmore East? The answer is - call the crew of Dunmore East lifeboat station.

Crew members set up a projector and screen and showed ten. 16mm films of the 'races', and also provided 12 volunteer 'bookies' to relieve the happy punters of much needed funds for the lifeboat.

The event, held on 9 August and sponsored by Irish Shell and Waterford Glass, will be remembered for its thrills and spills and by the hard working crew'who raised more than £12,500 through sponsorship and 'on course betting1 for the new lifeboat house appeal.

On the same day, the Waveney class lifeboat St Patrick, following 23 years of service, left harbour to a 21 gun salute with two past coxswains, John Walsh and Stephen Whittle on board.

The new Trent class lifeboat Ronald and Elizabeth, arrived on station on 11 September, opening a new chapter in Dunmore East's proud history of lifeboat service.Central fundraising update BT Global Challenge Round The World Race - Toshiba Wave Warrior had an excellent start in the race, second on the run to Rio de Janeiro.

Chris Gaskin from West Kirby was our leg crew member, and Angela Morris from Fishguard follows on the next leg to Wellington. The skipper of Nuclear Hecfric/Richard Tudor, is also a crew member from Pwllheli, and Elaine Adams from the Poole station is crewing on Global Teamwork. So plenty to look out for in the race, and please keep the sponsorship forms coming in to help buy the Atlantic we are planning to fund.

Tour de Tendring - A reception was held at Harwich on the 26th November to mark the fourth charity cycle ride in Tendring. Over one thousand riders took part in an event sponsored by the District Council, the Colchester Co-op and Kimberly Clark. Nearly 50,000 has been raised from the event in total.

RNLI International Golf Classic - This issue carries an entry form for this event, which will be one of the largest one-day golf tournaments of 1997. On 9th April up to 1,500 golfers, in 350 teams of four, will depart by ferry from Portsmouth, courtesy of P&O, arriving at Le Havre the following morning. The golf classic will be played on 12 courses in Normandy, followed by a prize-giving ceremony. Prizes to the value of 25,000 are on offer, including Mizuno golf equipment and Waterford Crystal. The entry fee is £99 per person, and £100 per team will be donated to the RNLI. So enrol now and make this an epic event.

Home from The Sea - Many will have seen Jim Davidson and lifeboat crews from Caister and Cromer performing at the Royal Variety Show in November. Both CD and cassettes are now available through retail outlets.

Telecommunications offers - Deregulation of the telephone service has led to a great many new offers in this area. A previous issue carried advertising for the 1602 Club, while this issue offers a product from World Telecommunications. Both offer cheaper calls, provided a prefix number is inserted before the main number, and both offer a return to the RNLI as well. Personal phone numbers are also advertised so that you can combine your home, mobile and car phone into one, easily-remembered number.

Affinity products - A wide range of services are now available - from credit cards to hospital and health care; from photographic to travel; many types of insurance - marine, motor, buildings, contents and pets. The Small Share scheme continues to bring in a welcome stream of donations, and Stamp Searchers have produced 15 commemorative and 10 First Day covers in their first year of operation. All offer a good product for the buyer and a return to us. So please give them a try if you are looking for any of these facilities.Vladi good party! Eighty RNLI supporters from the City of London enjoyed a vodka and caviar party aboard a Russian submarine moored by the Thames barrier at Woolwich. The party, held on 2 August 1996, was the first fundraising event organised by the newly formed London special events team, raising over £1,000.

Terry Eiss, who runs the submarine and is a long-standing supporter of the RNLI, generously donated the floating venue for the evening - welcome drinks were sponsored by Virgin Vodka.

A reporter and crew from London's Cable programme 'Live TV' were also Lifeboat supporters on the submarine gangplank present, giving the guests something else to tell their friends about.

The submarine has now moved to Bristol and Terry welcomes any supporters to the submarine in it's new surroundings - if he is holding a vodka and caviar party, it can be highly recommended!Great givers A Cornish newspaper reported that St Agnes topped the charity list by being Cornwall's most generous village. Some £10,000 is raised every year for the RNLI which is more than £2 per head of their population.

Branch secretary, Ray Thomas said, This testifies both to the high regard in which the boat and crew are held in the village and to the fundraising efforts of guild, branch and crew members.' This Summer's events included a barbecue fete, raising £750 and a lifeboat day that raised over £2000.

Booty in the bottle Ian King, publican of the Railway Inn in Billingshurst, organised a quiz evening on 27 August 1996 to coincide with the emptying of a giant whisky bottle full of collected cash.

After a jolly evening with food provided by Ian and his wife Stella, it came to counting up time - lan's son, Martin produced a basket full of coins that he had been collecting since the last RNLI evening, the total of which came to £126.

The whisky bottle yielded another £146, which together with the proceeds of the quiz, a mini auction of Tee-shirts and a raffle brought the total to some £306.Literary lions roar in Celebrating its 70th anniversary, Great Yarmouth and Gorleston ladies lifeboat guild hosted a lifeboat literary luncheon on 26 April in the banqueting room at Potter Leisure Chalet Hotel in Hopton on Sea with 240 guests in attendance.

Three 'literary lions' honoured the event under the chairmanship of Commandant Vonla McBride CB, a vice-president of the Institution - Martin Bell OBE world-wide reporter, diplomat and recent BBC correspondent in war-torn Bosnia; Anthony Grey OBE a former reporter with the Eastern Daily Press, a presenter on both Anglia and London Television and Reuters correspondent in the dark years of the Maoist regime in China where he was held in solitary arrest in Peking for two years; and Edward Storey who brought the space and breath of the Norfolk Fens and its unique character and beauty with a kind of enchantment and understated humour.

The event was initiated and organised by Mrs Thelma Dowding MBE the branch president but eventually every member of the committee became involved in its success. Jarrolds organised a large selection of the speakers' books that they all happily signed after the luncheon.

First event Although Bexhill-on-Sea has had committees for many years, it was not until last Summer that a membership scheme was launched.

The branch raised £1,020 at its first fundraising event at the town's festival of motoring where volunteers sold souvenirs and Volvo draw tickets.Shield of thanks Gerry and Ingrid Stillman were presented with the Sue Curror memorial shield by Locks Heath and district branch recently, in recognition of all the hard work that they have done for the Institution over the years.

Gerry and Ingrid have sold Christmas cards on behalf of the local branch for some ten years from their chandlery in Warsash, 'Sea fever' - raising an estimated £8.000.

Can you help? Since its formation, Denmead and Hambledon branch has raised over £50,000 for the Institution and has staged a wide variety of local events.

The branch, currently celebrating its 20th anniversary, is seeking to increase the number of supporters - at present, the need is greatest in Soberton, Newtown, Southwick and Droxford areas.

Anyone wishing to help should contact branch secretary, Miss Peggy Smith on (01705) 252909 - you will be made most welcome.What is the first fundraising idea that comes to you if you're an avid diver - a 53 mile walk from Snowdonia to Aberdovey lifeboat station? Starting from a point just North of Dolgellau, this is exactly what members of the Second City Diving Club completed in just two and a half days during the 1996 August Bank holiday - raising cash for the RNLI.

The group, including RNLI area organiser James Bradbury, set off into the heart of Snowdonia, and continued South up to the summit of Cader Idis - finding out what their muscles were for and successfully finishing at Aberdovey station on the third day.

Jem Gotch, treasurer of the club presented a cheque for £1100 to James Bradbury at the Dive '96 show on 12 October 1996.

Pile of pennies Jeff and Tina Kelly, proprietors of The Albert in Llandudno invited customers to donate to their lifeboat penny pile. The pile, which was demolished in July by Llandudno lifeboat crew members, raised £325 for lifeboat funds and together with other events, almost £1000 was handed over to the local RNLI branch by the pub.

Starting them young! Eleven month old Adam Sheahan pictured left, has to be one of the RNLI's youngest fundraisers. He spent a day with his grandma, May Perkins, when she went out collecting on behalf of Hertford fundraising branch. The minor money minder insisted on clutching the collection box during the whole round - he even had a tight grip on it after he had fallen asleep! Daniel Wilson, right, grandson of Filey branch chairman, thoroughly enjoyed joining Filey lifeboat crew - if only for five minutes! The branch invited the public to dress up in lifeboat gear for photographs which were then sold in aid of the RNLI.Eddy and Sid present the quids Funnymen Little and Large presented a cheque for £1,100 to Blackpool lifeboat crew 24 August 1996. The money was raised from an angling competition organised by Blackpool Boat Anglers at their festival on the 17 and 18 of August.

Blackpool lifeboat guild kept busy during the festival and the following weekend with fundraising activities including a souvenir stall, bouncy lifeboat, demonstration boat and balloon race. On Sunday 25 August, the guild also had a lifeboat push on the Promenade raising some £400.

Home roadshow Hugh Scully, presenter of television's Antiques Roadshow, and wife Barbara helped organise an antiques valuation and garden fete at their home together with Falmouth fundraisers on 26 August.

Hugh arranged for experts from BBC television and radio to attend - namely John Bly, Michael Newman, Christopher Spencer and Graham Bazley.

The event started around 10.30am and included various stalls and marquees, a licensed bar, refreshments, a barbecue, a helicopter fly-past by RNAS Culdrose, music from the Constantine Silver Band and the antique experts who worked right through the day.

The 2,500 visitors helped realise £10,000, which was shared equally between RNLI Falmouth branch and the Young People of the Village of Mawnan, at the request of Hugh and Barbara - sales of RNLI souvenirs and Volvo draw tickets raised a further £1,400.

Not all submissions received for the Winter 96/97 issue are featured and may appear in a future issue.

Twenties 'fashionation' Glenbeigh models with David Savage of Astec Communications following the RNLI House of Elliot fashion show The Burgh Island Hotel, Bigbury Bay, Devon was the setting for a 1920's fashion show and tea dance in aid of the RNLI. Television presenter, Jill Dando was guest of honour and arrived by helicopter on the island. Other guests were transported to the island, which is cut off by tide twice a day, by the world's only giant sea tractor.

The hotel's art deco ballroom and Palm Court, with it's Peacock Dome was the setting for the afternoon which featured fashions from the TV series. House of Elliot. David Fitzgerald of Westcountry Television was master of ceremonies for the occasion.

The show was presented by models from the Glenbeigh model agency and was followed by a tea dance when guests were serenaded with 1920's music provided by band, Pennies from Devon whilst eating Devonshire cream tea. For the more adventurous, Astec Communications laid on helicopter trips around the island sanctuary.

Following traditions set by Noel Coward, Agatha Christie and the like, guests were served cocktails on the terrace before leaving the island.

Mrs Jean Rogers of Glenbeigh model agency presented cheques totalling over £2,000 to Mary Jenner, RNLI area organiser for South West region.

Floating ducks! When it came to thinking of a theme for their carnival float last Summer, the ladies of Fishguard and Goodwick lifeboat guild, went quackers and used the name of a past fundraising activity, 'duck race'.

The ladies, pictured right with the beaks, had a very successful 1995 raising some £14,000.

Run for his money Clive Morris, Port Talbot crew member pictured wearing an RNLI tee-shirt, ran from the RNLI regional office in Cardiff to the lifeboat station at Port Talbot raising £1,250. He was waved off by office staff Vicky, Linda and Sue (pictured left to right) - the other male pictured is Jim Foulke who accompanied Clive on his bike..