Ferry good idea! Pictured above are 'Hobblers' - the ferrymen who bring visitors over to St Michaels Mount from Marazion between April and the end of October.

They each carry a lifeboat collection box on board and last year collected £1,135 from passengers.

There was a rumour, unsubstantiated, that they had threatened to throw passengers overboard if they did not contribute! Neptune Ball The RNLI Neptune Ball, held on 6 June at Cardiff City Hall, proved not only to be tremendous fun but also a financial success raising over £14,000 - £2,000 more than the original target needed to fund a D class lifeboat for Morton and Port Eynon station.

Penarth lifeboat crew members stood by outside with their D class lifeboat while guests were greeted by the Goat and Goat Major from the Royal Regiment of Wales. Neptune sat on his throne as champagne flowed and The Royal Regiment played stirring sea shanties. Honoured guests were led into dinner by the Goat and Goat Major where they ate and thrilled to the sounds of Moira Lewis playing the harp.

Dinner was followed by cabaret, speeches, dancing and a prize draw for fabulous prizes including portable televisions and music centres.

Exe-cellent result! A cheque for £11,500 was recently handed over to the Exmouth lifeboat from the Combined Water Sports Clubs of the Exe - covering the cost of the station's brand new D class lifeboat which had just been delivered.

Over the past 16 years the combined clubs' River Exe RNLI fund has collected a total of £60,000, mostly through an annual draw and ball, which paid for the station's previous lifeboat, Clubs of the River Exe, a launching tractor and several other smaller items.

The organisation represents nine clubs based on the river including Cockwood, Starcross, Topsham, Lympstone and Exmouth. Chairman Rodney Turner, who presented the cheque, commented, 'We, as local water sport clubs are very pleased to provide this much needed and valuable equipment. There is, and I am sure there will continue to be, a great demand for the inshore lifeboat, which has our full support.' The new lifeboat, which has already been launched on service several times, was named Spirit of the Exe at an official ceremony in August. (See news pages).

In Brief WHEN Ann and Tony King sent out invitations for their Silver Wedding celebrations, they only requested presence - not presents! Instead they asked guests to contribute to the Tynemouth branch which raised some £450.

OVER £2,000 was raised by South Bristol branch during May and June. Collections took place at local supermarkets and at The Matthew departure weekend where £1,000 was raised and an inscribed Corn Street nails replica, made by branch member Neil Gow, was presented to the crew. Thanks to all those who gave so generously.

A BARBECUE held by West Wight branch at Yarmouth Sailing club on 19 June was very well attended in spite of adverse weather conditions and raised £383 for Institution funds. Both Yarmouth and Lymington lifeboat crews attended and the Yarmouth lifeboat was open for viewing. Entertainment was laid on for children and adults and the evening finished with games of rounders. The event was enjoyed by everyone and many people asked if it would become an annual event.

Big swim The Basingstoke branch of the British Sub-Aqua Club held a sponsored swim in aid of the lifeboats and raised £1,169 - the largest single donation received by the RNLI Basingstoke branch.

Trophies were presented to the under 18s who took part and a shield was presented to Paul Stewart, the club's training officer, for raising the most money - over £200.

The photograph shows the sponsored swimmers with RNLI Basingstoke branch chairman, Nigel Honan, in the centre with box secretary, Joan Webb.

Barking for brass Cuchulainn the Irish Wolfhound and owner Julie Burden, are keen collectors on Peel branch flag day. When Julie, whose husband is a crew member of Peel lifeboat, invites members of the public to contribute no one ever refuses - Cuchulainn must have them all licked into shape! Inland revenue Daventry and District branch members and friends raised a total of £2,245 at this year's annual Braunstone Boat Show held on the Grand Union Canal at Braunstone, Daventry over the Spring bank holiday weekend. The three day event is fast becoming one of the premier narrow boat shows in the country and although it is an inland waterways gathering, the branch always manages to attract plenty of attention.

Photo: Don Bellham Bikeathon James Danvers, ten year old son of llford branch chairman Paul Danvers, suggested to his little sister Emily, that they help dad raise funds by entering the llford Recorder Bikeathon. This year's Bikeathon, organised by local the newspaper, saw some 235 adults and children saddle up to raise money for charity.

James and Emily entered a special five and a half mile course for children, raising over £100 for the RNLI between them and winning Emily a £100 voucher for cycle equipment. No doubt she's already practising on her new bike for next year's event! Pulling a bird! Denis Twomey, RNLI area organiser for the South West, and 74 students from Bristol University Air Squadron recently managed to pull a 65 tonne Hercules aircraft a mile along runway 24 at RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire.

The students raised a staggering £1,800 in sponsorship which pleased the local hard working Wooton Bassett branch (pictured with Denis, left). Denis offered to buy the drinks if the aircraft became airborne but thankfully didn't have to 'shell out'.

Shake it all about Sheringham lifeboat guild held their second very successful line dance at the Regal Assembly rooms in Sheringham on 4 April. For the people who don't know what a line dance is we are told by the branch press officer that it is a cross between The Shadows and Bucks Fizz! Their next dance is on 31 October - why not go along if you are in the area? First event Hard working members of the newly reformed Great Dunmow and district branch raised over £1,600 on their very first fundraising event. The above photograph shows flag day officer, Noel Brady and Peggy Kentish doing their bit on the day - collecting at their local supermarket as part of a nationwide Tesco Day' which was held over the May Spring bank holiday.

Director's cut Brian Miles, RNLI Director, was guest of honour at the silver jubilee celebrations of Wilton and District branch. The party was held in July in the grounds of Wilton House and Cdr Miles cut the anniversary cake in front of 160 guests including the Earl of Pembroke and Salisbury MP Robert Key. Music was supplied by the Wilton and District youth band and local businesses donated raffle prizes.

Cdr Miles announced that since his previous visit in 1988 the branch had raised a incredible £50,000 for Institution funds.

Corporate fundraising update French Corporate Fundraising Manager, John Farnhill left us in July for pastures new.

We wish him every success in his new job.

The Harbour Account - Good news for savers! Interest rates increased on our new savings account. The top rate is now 7%. Launched in the Summer issue of The Lifeboat, the Harbour Account has got off to a good start.

When 2,000 account holders are recruited the Royal Bank of Scotland will pay us £50,000. We will receive ongoing commission of the equivalent of 0.25% of the balances as at the 30 June annually. A safe haven for your building society windfall profits.

The Lifeboat Credit Card Relaunched with improved terms and conditions. If the average spend exceeds £2,400 per annum there will be no annual fee. Balance transfers from other credit or store cards will qualify for the 2% rebate offer of up to £60. You can even have your photograph on the card, a valuable security feature. If you have not got a Lifeboat MasterCard now is the time to apply.

Ring me on (01202) 663295 or write for further details.

Single Service Sugar Promotion (Heinz) - Launched 31 st July. An onpack promotion, send £2.75 and the sugar packet to receive an RNLI bus.

We receive 50p per bus, sold and £1 for every purchaser who joins the model manufacturers collectors club.

The single serving of sugar should be available with your tea or coffee in your local restaurant or cafe.

Global Challenge BT Global Challenge - The race finished in the early hours of the morning of the 16th July in Southampton.

Group 4 was the winner of this, the last leg, arriving at 02.06.58. This means that she is the overall race winner. The winner for us was Toshiba Wave Warrior, as the sponsorship money pledged should raise £150,000 for the Institution. Wave Warrior crossed the finish line second at 03.39.46.

All credit to the crew, ably skippered by Simon Walker. Particular thanks to our leggers - Angela Morris (nicknamed the "Mega Legger" as she took part in 3 of the 6 legs), Chris Gaskin, Haydon Scott Edwards and Jack Goldie. Well done chaps! (All the crew were called chaps whether male or female). See the news pages for more details.

Inland rescue The first lifeboat day to be held at the Shires Family Adventure Park near Wadebridge, proved to be a big success with around £200 raised for RNLI funds - plus a rescue operation was completed on dry land without a crew member in sight.

'A little girl came up to us, crying her eyes out and explaining that she had lost her parents,' said Wadebridge branch secretary, Ron Heath. 'We liaised with Terry Sanding, the park's owner and with the aid of mobile telephones we had reunited the family in a matter on minutes. We pride ourselves on our speed of recovery - on sea or land!' Branch members sold souvenirs and raffle tickets and one of the park's shire horses (pictured above with Glen and Neil Squires and Angela Hurst) paraded around the site flying the RNLI flag.

Morecambe walk Blackpool ladies lifeboat guild held a sponsored walk across Morecambe Bay on 14 June to raise funds for the Institution. The walk was led by the Queen's Official Guide, Cedric Robinson and was highly successful with over 200 people taking part - coming from the Widnes guild, Cumbria, Yorkshire and from all over Lancashire - and raising over £3,000.

There is still sponsorship money coming in from the event and the Blackpool guild would like to thank everyone who took part and gave support. It was an excellent day which was enjoyed by all and the guild hope to hold another walk next year.

Cash peak A team representing the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Junior Organisation (RICS JO) recently attempted the three peaks challenge - climbing Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon, the three highest peaks of Scotland, England and Wales within 24 hours.

Team members, Fiona McCulloch, Brett Williams, Paul Mellor and Justin Marshall (pictured left to right at Ben Nevis) completed the challenge over the 28 and 29 June in a time of 23 hours and 41 minutes.

Fiona, chairman of the RICS JO commented, It was a real team effort to finish the walk within the 24 hours and we would like to thank all our sponsors for their generous support.' The organisation have been fundraising for the last 12 months and have raised £7,000 (including £3,000 from the challenge) which will be split equally between the RNLI and organisation's internal charity, Lionheart.

Not all submissions received for the Autumn 1997 issue are featured and may appear in a future issue.

More top boxes! In the Summer 1997 issue of The Lifeboat Cardigan branch threw down the gauntlet and asked if anyone could better their top collecting box which brought in £619 between July 1996 and March 1997.

Rochford and Wakering branch can boast £1,499 for the same period, which was collected from staff and patrons at The Rose and Crown in Rochford, and Basingstoke branch's top box collected over £756 from members of The Ex-Services Club mainly thanks to the efforts of club member Gerry White.

Opening the box Bartley Sailing Club lent its support to the RNLI's Birmingham lifeboat week with the opening of its lifeboat collection box which contained £720 - all in loose change.

Last August the club decided to see how quickly the pedestal collecting box could be filled to the brim by members and visitors. A whisky gift set was offered as a prize for the person correctly guessing the value of the contents when the box was emptied.

Bar manager, Richard Wright, encouraged members to donate when buying drinks by giving them all their change in coppers and several club members sold redundant equipment to boost box funds. Towards the end, the box became so full that it could no longer accept coins and it took several people to lift it! Top filler Richard Hill (left), a regular at the Manor House Inn in Ditcheat, Somerset, is an enthusiastic RNLI supporter - with his powers of persuasion he manages to maintain a constant flow of donations from friends and other regulars.

Castle Cary branch first left a collection box at the pub two years ago and since then the box secretary has to empty the overflowing 'lifeboat' every 8-9 weeks.

Thanks to Richard's efforts, the total sum collected over this period is over £522..