the RNLI's AGM and Presentation ot/ards The Barbican, in the City of London, was once again the venue for the RNLI's annual meetings - held this year on 15 May. The morning AGM allows the Chairman to present his review of the year's activities to the Governors, and in the afternoon awards are presented to long-serving fundraisers and gallantry medals awarded to lifeboat coxswains and crews.

In his first speech to the RNLI's governors as Chairman of the Institution David Acland DL revealed some disturbing findings from a recent survey of those who go to sea for pleasure.

In his address at the Institution's AGM at the Barbican, City of London, on 15 May 1997 he acknowledged a high level of responsible behaviour among commercial fishermen and the majority of leisure users, but went on to say that it was disturbing to find that 'nearly one in five leisure users seldom or never check the weather forecast, and more than one in four ignore tide tables and charts before they set out.' Another sobering statistic to emerge from the survey was that a quarter of all leisure sailors questioned and almost half of the fishermen said that they had been involved in at least once life-threatening situation at sea.

Relief Last year's AGM had reported an unprecedented increase in the number of calls for help, which had leapt up to 7,400 from just over 6,000 in 1994 - a rate of growth which would have doubled the workload of the lifeboat service in fifteen years had it continued.

It was something of a relief, the Chairman said, that the 1996 total launch figure had fallen back to 6,389, but last year was still the second busiest ever, and the long term trend was still upwards.

The rapid increase in 1995 had been attributed partly to a small, but significant, proportion of sea- users who had failed to prepare properly and overlooked safety precautions. These tended to be the people for whom a lifeboat was the first rather than the last resort when something went wrong.

Mr Acland acknowledged that the Sea Safety Initiative, which had been running for more than two years, could not be the main cause of the fall in lifeboat launches, but he reported that there were very encouraging signs that the literature was being widely read, and that its messages were getting through.

The new SEAREM database also provided the means of getting closer to the real causes of accidents at sea, and with every RNLI or Coastguard incident now recorded and available for analysis on a central computer it would be possible to identify areas of need.

The Chairman pointed out that the RNLI's ultimate success would always be measured by the number of lives saved -1,291 in 1996 - but as well as this immediate proof the RNLI was continuing to improve its service, with ever faster response and even more extensive cover.

Introduction 1995 also saw the successful introduction of the newest classes of all-weather lifeboats, the Severns andTrents.

It had taken longer than planned to put them on the coast but, Mr Acland said, the RNLI made no apology for that. The boats had to be right before they were exposed to the full rigours of station duty.

Twenty -one Trents and six Severns were in service and their coxswains and crews could not speak too highly of them. Their speed and ability had enabled them to carry out services more quickly and at greater distances than their predecessors. Already the Severns at Valentia and Harwich and the Trent at Eyemouth had been on services to fishing vessels in gale force conditions 50, 80 and 100 miles out to sea.

Even at 25 miles out -just half the RNLI's declared range - the new boats would arrive 25 minutes earlier than an Arun, and it did not take that long for a vessel to sink or for someone in the water to die of cold.

However, the Chairman pointed out that the vast majority of services took less than ten miles of the shore, and that the RNLI's speedy response in this area was also improving. Twenty-four of the rigid inflatable fleet were already the faster Atlantic 75s, and in the past two years the number of stations operating an inshore lifeboat as well as an all-weather boat had risen from 54 to 63.

Last year four new stations had been established in Ireland, with an all-weather boat at Achill Island and inshore cover provided at Galway, Fethard and Kilrush.

The next target, the Chairman added, was to extend the 25-knot capability to slipway-launched boats, and he reported that work was already in hand to design such a boat.

With any new design, he pointed out, there was one thing which had to be born in mind: a boat must serve the crew, not the other way round.

The RNLI was extremely fortunate in attracting coxswains and crews whose seamanship and ability to cope with emergencies afloat were second to none, but its job was to make full use of their inherent skills by providing them with the tools to make their inherently hazardous work as straightforward as possible.

Training Training had an essential and growing part to play if crews were to make full use of modern lifeboats, and the high attendance at training weeks at Poole and Cowes and at mobile training units was very encouraging.

The need for crew training at lifeboat stations was just one of the factors behind a programme to improve shore facilities over recent years.

A boathouse had to be more than just a shed these days, it housed boats and equipment worth tens, if not hundreds of thousands of pounds; it needed to offer the fastest possible means of getting a lifeboat to sea; it must provide a means to get dry and warm when the crew returned and it should, where possible, include a crew room suitable for training. During 1996 some 45 major capital shore works had been carried out, with the same number of upkeep and maintenance projects.

When looking at just some of the major items of expenditure during the year, said Mr Acland, was it possible to appreciate the size of the lifeboat service operation: new lifeboats and equipment, £17m; lifeboat station construction and improvement, £4m; lifeboat maintenance and running, £16m; crew, station, inspectorate and training costs, £10m.

Volunteer However, once again, this annual bill had been met thanks to the efforts of the fundraisers and generosity of supporters.

Volunteer commitment was the foundation on which the RNLI had been built, and it was the success and enthusiasm of the fundraising teams which ensured the future of the Institution.

Last year a warning had been sounded about falling legacy income, and although this had recovered from 1995's decline it was still below the peak levels of earlier years and the longer term trend was still likely to be downwards.

The 1996 accounts also showed that £4.5m of expenditure had been deferred to 1997 due to unavoidable delays in the boat-building and shoreworks programmes, which meant that the year had ended with a surplus of £7.3m.

Mr Acland was also able to report a turnaround in the fortunes of the RNLI's Sales company - which had made a satisfactory profit during 1996 - and that the commitment and enthusiasm of volunteers in adopting improved systems had made a large contribution to this success.

The concern expressed at last year's meeting at the increases in membership subscriptions had been unfounded, and the Chairman was able to report that members and governors had not only accepted the increases but that many were giving considerably more.

The renewal rate remained close to 90%.

One particular group had responded extremely well to the recent Offshore membership initiative. Since its launch in January 1997, nearly 6,000 yachtsmen had joined and, as statistics show that pleasure craft are the most frequent cause of a lifeboat launching, it was pleasing that this had been recognised by responsible yachtsmen.

However, last year's statistics also showed that as well as 3,400 launches to pleasure craft there were more than 900 to fishermen, over 800 to swimmers and 400 to people cut off by the tide. The RNLI was truly an emergency service for the whole of society.

In addition to the formal proceedings of the Annual General Meeting and subsequent questions from the floor the morning' s programme also included a Special General Meeting which passed several amendments to the RNLFs charter and Bye-laws.

These were mainly concerned with reflecting current practice: reducing the number of members of the Committee of Management; removing the requirement for the Deputy Treasurer to be a member; and to provide a mechanism for disposing of property following a recently imposed requirement by the Charity Commissioners.

The Bye-law changes dealt with introducing a fixed term membership for Committee of Management members; introducing a membership review committee and tidying up the age requirements of members to reflect current practice.

This year's RNLI AGM and presentation of awards for gallantry recieved almost unprecedented exposure on television and radio and in local and regional newspapers, many of whom emphasised the results of the survey of sea users.

Facilities for the press are now laid on the day before the meetings at St Katherine Dock, near Tower Bridge, so that film and recorded interviews are available ready for the big day - although this year many radio interviews went out live early on the day itself..