punches, the mill's deputy he* d of punlic Relations. AixompAmeo By nuuReen L . oisphu A?H visits c.o-ORdiiutoR. emi*ARkeo on A whiRlwmO toiiR of the Republic of iReL nd in octoiH-R it. v. s A f rest time, visit to iweUno foe Both of them… / Well what do you think of Ireland?' we kept being asked. 'It's wonderful, but it's also very hard to say when you work for the RNLI', was my reply. Immediately we set foot in a lifeboat station - we were RNLI; the people were RNLI; the surroundings were RNLI; it was the same organisation, speaking a similar, if not exactly identical, language! Despite ten years with the RNLI, I had not been to Ireland before and was impressed by the commitment and dedication of the people we met. Claire Brennan, the national organiser and I had conspired with divisional inspectors, Colin Williams and Ian Canavan to hold four media workshops in the evening, at different venues. The aim was to persuade the lifeboat stations to appoint volunteer press officers who would report news of lifeboat services to their local media. Despite the distances involved, only three lifeboat stations were not able to send people to these meetings.

Some of the delegates had driven for 2 to 3 hours to get there and were returning the same night - after, of course, some further in-depth conversations in the bar after the formal proceedings! First experience - very little sleep! In the daytime, Maureen and I took the opportunity to visit as many lifeboat stations as we could to view the facilities for displays and signage - part of Maureen's remit to make lifeboat stations more visitor friendly. Such was our programme - visiting 15 stations, in three and a half days and 750 miles - that we only managed to have one proper meal! Second experience- very little food! What of the stations? As you would anticipate - each one different, each beautifully clean, each welcoming.

There was the 'upside down' slipway at Baltimore with the 24 ton Tyne suspended above the crew room...

the gleaming Trent sitting in Ballycotton harbour opposite the oldsoon- to-be-replaced 'shed' from which the crew launched on the Gold Medal service to the Daunt Rock Lightship in 1936. There was Courtown, a boathouse sold by the RNLI in 1925 and brought back in 1990; the garden at Arklow with its pretty wrought iron gates, magnificentvisitor- friendlyeverything- inits- place stations like Wicklow and Youghal (to name but two), the brand new station complete with launching davit at Galway and the even newer, yet-to-be-confirmed Sligo Bay. Third experience - admiration for all those involved who work tirelessly to keep it all looking and functioning so well.

Outside the RNLI environment we had many other experiences. We marvelled at colour-washed houses of amazing hue; exclaimed over the women 'power-walking' along the country roads; gasped at the eccentric way the Irish exercise their Jack Russell terriers as they chase the cars, pedestrians and cyclists; gritted our teeth and other parts of our anatomies, over the bumpy roads and infamous potholes in our Nissan Micra; looked wistfully at distant mountains which we did not have time to visit; pondered soberly at the 'Site of Ambush' - a Republican monument to an attack on the terrible Black and Tans; felt parochial in contrast to the European outlook held by most people; and scratched our heads over the occasional Irishness: - 'I can't find my room', I complained gently in one hotel. 'None of the rooms have numbers on them'. 'Oh to be sure they don't', was the reply, 'it's the one next to the staircase'...

Would we return? 'Tomorrow!' we both decided ..