Oh do pay attention 007 RNLI London Events Office held a James Bond fundraising party on the River Thames aboard HMS Belfast on 25 September.

Guests disguised themselves as their favourite Bond characters - ranging from 007 himself to Jaws, Oddjob and Blowfelt. Familiar faces included actor Desmond Llewelyn (who plays Q) along with Connery and Brosnan look-alikes.

Vodka Martinis were served on the Quarterdeck as guests enjoyed a live jazz band playing popular Bond themes. Following a 'Casino Royale' where guests could win prizes such as helicopter and jet ski rides and a special edition Corgi Aston Martin miniature, the party continued at a local nightclub.

Uncle Albert drops in TV personality Buster Merryfield, also known as Uncle Albert in 'Only Fools and Horses', opened New Milton and district branch's RNLI Summer fete in August 1998.

The event, which was held in the grounds of the Cliff House Hotel on Barton on Sea cliffs, raised over £3,300 including a generous donation from Buster. Branch chairman, Ted Home, standing behind Buster in the photograph , introduced the actor to the crowds.

Fred Skywalker Scarborough lifeboat honorary secretary, Fred Normandale, along with his daughter Sarah, Glynn Simpson and Jackie Cunningham wing walked over Scarborough on 2 August.

The daredevils reached for the sky with the Crunchie aircraft team from Cirencester using two Boeing Steermans. This was part of a series events over the weekend which netted £10,000 for the RNLI.

Jack gets the ball rolling Crowds gathered to welcome football legend Jack Charlton and his wife Pat at the opening of the Seahouses (North Sunderland) lifeboat fete on Bank Holiday Monday.

The World Cup winner and former Ireland manager is shown here presenting a gift from the lifeboat crew to Captain George Alston who was retiring as branch secretary.

The fete was very successful and raised a total of £16,500 for lifeboat funds.

Ken tickles the crowds Lifeboat coffers were boosted by almost £23,000 during Hoylake lifeboat station's open days which were held over the August Bank Holiday.

The event, which has grown in both size and popularity over some 20 years, featured a huge variety of air displays including the Red Arrows and a wide range of stands and sideshows as well as RNLI stalls and collection centres - it really is all the fun of the fair and carnival time for Hoylake.

The event was officially opened by Liverpool comedian, Ken Dodd, who entertained the crowds and even gave away all of his 'lifeboat' tickling sticks.

Lining up for cash Line dancers from Quin in the Republic of Ireland, donned lifeboat clobber and strutted their stuff in July to raise cash for the RNLI.

The event was organised by the local line dancing team and raised over £1,200 despite the fact the fact that the village, in Co Clare, is 33 miles from the nearest lifeboat station at Kilrush.

Bottle openers Hard-working volunteers from Hertford branch are always looking for different ways to raise funds and 'win fundraising friends'.

One such friend of the branch is The Lord Haig public house which opened its RNLI charity bottle in August - producing £150.

The photograph shows publicans Keith and Carol Plume with branch officials armed and ready to smash open the bottle.

Victory for the girls Wives and girlfriends of Llandudno lifeboat crew showed off their skills during a charity football match against the local police squad in May.

The event was a double success for the ladies, not only did they beat the Police team 6- 4, but over £2,200 was raised for the lifeboats through sponsorship and collections.

Word has it that the policemen were dirty players, with more than half of them getting the red card - but it was all part of the fun and they did make amends by donating £50 to the collection.

...In Brief...

In October, Sandarstoad and Salson branch held a mock auction which included a three course meal, an auction of mystery parcels and star items donated by local companies. The star items (including a 26tn TV) raised £576 and the evening, which proved to be a great success, raised £1.280 - the biggest single profit ever made by the branch.

Hull and Beverley ladies lifeboat guilds combined to use the wedding marquee at the home of Mr and Mrs Bullock in September.

The wonderful array of smoked salmon canapes and sparkling wines were enjoyed by 135 guests - tickets and raffle sales raised Cl.262.

A cheque for £1 .000 was recently presented to N*whtv «n lifeboat by Newhaven Marina Yacht club. The sum was raised at a charity dinner held by the club in September, during which an auction and raffle took place.

Chew Valley branch held a very successful golf day in July at Farnngton Golf Club - raising £4,500 for the RNLI.

Thirty teams of four took place part in the event and sponsorship came from no less than 28 firms and individuals which included prizes.

Stephen Richards and Gareth Phillips, both aged 14, raised £144 for the RNLI by completing a sponsored bike ride from Mumbles to Duvant and back. The lads recently presented a cheque for the amount to Morton and Port Eynon station secretary and crew members.

Hunstanton lifeboat crew held a race night fundraiser in October, raising £635 for the lifeboats. As well as the sale of nine races and 72 horses, the event also held two very successful raffles.

Do Pontypridd branch have the youngest committee member? Fifteen-year-old Natalie James is the branch's flag day organiser under the keen eye of her father. Bill branch box secretary.

Younger sister Samantha also helps out and at the local town carnival parade in July, the bucket collections, together with the sales of souvenirs and produce raised nearly C400.

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In order to keep administration costs down, contributions will not usually be acknowledged Every contribution is considered and we do try to be as fair as possible.

So keep those articles coming in - yours could be featured next time.

Arbroath takes the trophy Arbroath crew members returned home triumphant in July after beating 12 other teams, from organisations al) over the north-east of Scotland, in an RNLI challenge fundraising event.

The competitive field sports day which was held at Ballindalloch Castle featured five events - archery, mountain biking, clay pigeon shooting, riverrafting and target shooting.

The event raised over £13,000 for the Scottish lifeboat training appeal.

Lifeboatmen of steel In September, British Steel Community Awards presented a cheque for £12,000 to Redcar lifeboat station, where two of the crew members are British Steel employees.

The station's Atlantic 21 lifeboat has recently been undergoing a major refit at the Inshore Lifeboat Centre at Cowes - the donation from British Steel has been used to cover the cost of two brand new engines as part of the refit.

Coast to coast Tynemouth lifeboat Coxswain, Martin Kenny, and his son Jonathan recently undertook a coast to coast walk in aid of the Tynemouth lifeboat appeal - collecting over £500 in sponsorship money.

They completed the 200 mile walk in 9 days and 5 hours, setting off from St Bees on 10 July and finishing at Robin Hood's Bay on 19 July.

Apparently, they have just a few aches and pains but many stories to tell from their tripl Selling like hot cakes Schoolgirl Robynne Stenner cooked up a novel way of helping the lifeboats. Ten-year-old Robynne, together with her family, helped the Midsomer and Radstock branch to man the stall at the Bath and West show in May. Such was her enthusiasm, she decided to do her own fundraising.

As a result she baked some cakes, with sister Helen producing some posters, and set up a stall at school to sell her wares - which raised over £45. The photograph, right, shows Robynne with her sister handing over the cash to Malcolm Curtis, landlord of the White Hart, home of the local branch, and Chairman George Noden.

Brighton breaks record Brighton branch has exceeded its previous records by collecting over £1,908 at Asda in Brighton marina between 30 July and 2 August - last year's figure was £958.

Squadron leaders The Royal Yacht Squadron, which has several RNLI Committee of Management members among its numbers, has been instrumental in a considerable amount of fundraising.

Michael Campbell. Vice-Corn mod ore of the squadron and Crew Training Appeal patron, wrote to members to form a syndicate to fund crew training at Yarmouth lifeboat station.

The response was so positive a second syndicate had to be formed to fund Weymouth and the Earl of Portsmouth even decided to sponsor Portsmouth lifeboat station entirely. Some members also made donations to other stations including Bembridge.

Each syndicate has seven or eight members and will bring in £20,000 over the next five years. Tax reclamation will create around another £8,000 which has been put towards training at Cowes.

Therefore the total raised for the Crew Training Appeal through Michael Campbell's squadron fundraising is £68,000 In addition, two of the squadron's staff took place in the London marathon last year and were sponsored, largely by members, to the tune of £11,500.

Invest in our future? The Harbour Account, a postal investment account operated by The Royal Bank of Scotland, offers both you and the RNLI a great deal- There is a very competitive rate of interest and a guaranteed £50,000 donation to the RNLI from the Royal Bank - but only if 2,000 accounts have been opened by the middle of next year.

So how close are we to reaching this target at present? Sadly, we could be doing better. Only 450 accounts have been opened to date, so we need some real help if we are going to be able to generate the 1,550 accounts required in order to claim the £50,000 bonus.

Anyone can open a Harbour Account, you don't need to be an RNLI member, or an existing Royal Bank customer and you can start with an investment of just £500.

The account offers tiered interest rates, so the more you invest, the higher rate of return you can achieve and with only 30 days notice required to reach your investment, your savings are never far away.

If you would like to obtain an information pack, call (0800) 121121. If the RNLI doesn't achieve 2,000 accounts, it will still receive 0.25% of the total balances at the end of each year - not bad, but not quite the same as £50,000! A few shares can go far For a couple of years the RNLI has been offering a scheme whereby it can benefit enormously from small batches of shares, that probably would cost more for you to sell than they would ultimately be worth.

We have teamed up with a specialist broker who aims to sell these shares in the most economical way and then only charges us a fraction of the normal commercial cost for the sale. In the majority of cases the RNLI does very well out of the exercise. In fact in the last year or so, over £8,000 has been raised with the help of Charles Stanley Ltd.

So, if you do have any shares, which fall into this category, the RNLI would welcome the opportunity to try to turn them into valuable income. For more information please contact Tizzy Perkins on (01202) 663295 or write to her at Corporate Relations, Royal National Lifeboat Institution, West Quay Road, Poole, Dorset. BH15 1HZ Farewell Nigel French, corporate relations officer, left the RNLI in October to join the charity, Canine Partners for Independence.

We all wish him well..