During the RNLI's anniversary year, branches, guilds and supporters from all over the UK and Republic of Ireland celebrated in a number of novel and interesting ways - with many of the green fingered amongst them saying it with flowers...Watch out, Stan's about! Storm Force mascot, Stormy Stan just loves to get in on the action. The larger-than-life hero opened proceedings at Staithes Harbour fete in September and tried his hand at weightlifting with his new friends from Robbo's Gym. The day proved to be a great success with crowds flocking to the stalls, watching lifeboat and helicopter displays and listening to the Dormanstown Juvenile Jazz band.

An evening barbecue and fireworks display followed with the event's final amount raised topping £6,500.

Stan also turned up to anniversary celebrations the same month in Gloucestershire when the county's 11 fundraising branches came together to coordinate a special fete, picnic and proms - raising over £5,000. Lord Neidpath kindly allowed the branches to use the grounds of his beautiful historic house,which is set in the Cotswolds.

Attractions on the day included falconry, archery, morris dancers, craft fayre and stalls with Radio Gloucester broadcasting live from the event. The Gloucestershire Constabulary Band and the Cotswold Male Voice Choir gave a superb performance which was followed by a firework finale.Some more examples of how branches and guilds are encouraging individuals and groups to get involved with fundraising activities and events...Accidental help When 11 year old Lauren McBoyle of Colsterworth fell of her bike breaking both her wrists, she was understandably upset. However when people asked to sign her plasters she decided to charge them for the privilege.

Lauren had been present at her local Brownie Pack when Grantham Branch gave a talk on the RNLI and ways to raise funds. Lauren has already raised £50 for the branch, but hopefully her next fundraisng scheme will prove less painful! ANNUAL Cadet rescue For the past 10 years Honley and Brockholes branch have arranged an annual lifeboat pull to boost RNLI coffers.

Unfortunately the branch ran into some difficulty finding volunteers to help with the September event and, at one point, feared they would have to cancel altogether. Luckily the local newspaper, the Huddersfield Examiner, ran a number of articles appealing for willing groups and in response to the appeal, the Huddersfield Sea Cadet Corp at TS Highburton offered its services. The enthusiastic cadets pulled the inshore lifeboat for 15.5 miles in 7 hours - collecting the grand sum of £1,540 along the way.Festival friends The liaison between Peterborough branch and the organisers of the Peterborough Beer Festival started by chance in the 1980s when the lifeboat flag day coincided with the festival. Robert Amor, son the then branch chairman, Charles, asked if he could collect at the event.

Sadly, Robert passed away in 1989 but his good work continued. By 1991 the collection had grown to £1,200 and, as more and more people attended the festival each year, the money increased and the organisers, Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), thought it would be nice to purchase a lifeboat bearing the name Peterborough Beer Festival with the cash raised.

The first D class lifeboat bearing this name went on station at Redcar in 1997 - a second has been purchased but does not go into service until 2002. It is hoped that Peterborough Beer Festival 3 will be an Atlantic 75, since the money raised at the 1999 festival was over £11,000.

As a tribute to Robert who first cemented the bond between CAMRA and the Peterborough branch, a framed picture of him was recently presented by his parents to the Redcar lifeboat crew (shown above). The photograph, along with its dedication, will hang in the Redcar boathouse.

Having a ball The Royal Solent Yacht club held its annual charity auction and regatta on 29 and 30 May - raising a whopping £15,480 for RNLI funds.

The weekend event which also included a ball, a barbecue lunch following the yacht racing, and a prizegiving tea was a runaway success - even though Yarmouth crew members who were attending literally had to run away to a shout during the barbecue, leaving the wives with the cooking! VIPs and guests danced to the sounds of popular local band 'The Accelerators' until the early hours with the support of the Wight Diamond Roadshow.

Just the auction itself brought in £9,000 with the draw and tombola together netting almost another £2,000 for the coffers.Duckhams buy a new Atlantic 75 Duckhams recently announced that they would fund a new Atlantic 75 to replace The Alexander Duckham, which went recently retired after several years of active service.

In September, to thank previous crews of the old boat, Duckhams hosted a celebration at the two stations where the Atlantic 21 was based for most of its life - Falmouth and West Mersea. At each event, the Duckhams Brand Manager - Vikki Adamson, spoke of the bravery of the crew and handed over a special certificate and a copy of Duckhams Centenary Book. The new boat is planned for construction in 2002 and is likely to be named the Alexander Duckham II-we will keep you informed of progress Fred Olsen fund another Fred Olsen, who have been fantastic supporters of the RNLI for several years, are also very close to completing the funding of another Atlantic 75. In fact, Its probably more accurate to say that the passengers and crew of it's cruise liners are close to the fundraising target. On-board raffles, donations, and other events have raised over £65.000 over the past two years which is a fantastic effort by all concerned.

The cruise line also regularly donates a special cruise to a lucky competition winner from the Watermark catalogue, a prize that has proven itself to be highly successful in recent years.Turn odd shares into a donation Do you have a few odd shares floating around which would possibly not be worth the commission when sold? If so, the RNLI would like to hear from you. Our broker Charles Stanley Ltd specialises in selling small volumes of shares from UK registered companies.

They collect together small share units until they have enough to sell cost effectively on our behalf. Last year alone, this scheme raised £8,000. If you can help, please contact Tizzy Perkins today on (01202) 663212.Lewis drops in Actor Kevin Whately, known to many as Inspector Lewis of television's Inspector Morse, took time out of his busy schedule to open the Seahouses lifeboat fete on August 30.

Kevin, together with his actress wife Madeline, brought the sunshine with him which helped to attract huge crowds and make the day a roaring success. The ladies of Seahouses guild, who organised the event, were delighted with the outcome - a boost of nearly £12,000 to lifeboat coffers.

Caribbean queens St Agnes ladies guild won top prizes with their Cornish Caribbean display in the local village carnival recently - receiving cups for the best charity group float and the best music and dance.

The carnival is followed each year by lifeboat day, in which the village branch has raised £20.000 in the last 10 years in addition to its usual fundraising.

Kayaking for cash A group of kayaking instructors arrived at Poole in September to present the local lifeboat crew with money raised during a tough three-day expedition promoting safe sea kayaking.

The presention was an novel one - instead of the usual cheque, the team handed over a kayak made out for £1,300.

Over the top Daredevil gran, Barbara Page, threw caution to the wind in August by abseiling 325ft down Blackpool's fastest rollercoaster and raising over £1,000 for the lifeboats in the process.

Barbara, a member of Blackpool ladies lifeboat guild, is chairman of the Fylde and District Federation of Townswomens Guilds and hopes her stunt will also help convince people that the organisation is about more than knitting and jam making - she's certainly convinced us!Photo: Courtesy of Newsguest Oxfordshire Ltd.

Football clubs by foot John Pope, committee member of the Rushden branch, completed a sponsored walk in August, raising £411 for lifeboat coffers.

He walked 26 miles from Peterborough United football club to Rushden and Diamonds football club in seven and a quarter hours. John encountered some bad weather on the way and got a soaking but finished in good shape with only a couple of blisters.

A class of its own John Long recently retired as second coxswain of the Barrow lifeboat. In order to relieve his withdrawal symptoms, the crew built him his own 'lifeboat' as a retirement present.

John discovered that his one-man 'solong class' lifeboat is a great fundraiser - at the recent station gala a large sum of money was raised from taking pictures of children sitting in the boat and the branch now intend taking it to presentations at local schools.

Inland lifeboat Shoppers in Didcot town centre got a surprise June when they were greeted with a D class inflatable lifeboat.

Didcot branch decided to put on the display to help raise awareness and mark the RNLI's anniversary but they also ended up collecting some £140 in donations. Landlubbers and children were able to don lifejackets and wet weather gear to give them a taste of being a lifeboatman - without getting wet! SCI funds an Atlantic Peter Hindley, Chief Executive Officer of Service Corporation International (SCI) recently drew the winning ticket in the company's national raffle in aid of the RNLI.

The raffle along with many other fundraising activities was topped off with a generous donation by SCI Corporate funds bringing the grand total to £61,500 - enough to fund an Atlantic 75 for West Mersea lifeboat station.

Committee cheque In September members of the Pembrokeshire 175 Anniversary committee visited Cardigan lifeboat station to admire the new Atlantic 75 lifeboat Tanni Grey and to present a cheque for £7,000, part of the final balance of the Welsh fundraising appeal to purchase the boat.

The cash had been raised from a very successful garden party in Pembroke Castle, which raised £4,000, together with generous donations from local firms and individuals....In Brief...

Sundersttiid mid Sclsim lira IK h joined forces vuih t'liulson, Kriilr .mil Piirlej1 brunches in July tn hold a fundraisng event in Ihe Whilgift centre. Croydon.

The event railed a total of £4.260 11.400 of which was from souvenir s;ile In Jul Uherslon branch, in Cumbria, held a part} at the home of its vice-chairm.in t i celebrate Ihe RNLI's 175th anniversary.

I) I version is a small branch but raised some £4.701) in 199S and over £1.500 in 19W. The branch have given support to the Barrow hlehoiit siaiinn o cr the |;IM mo ears. Jonutinj: o ei 11.IXKI.

Beckett ham branch held a coffee morning on 7 September in the grounds of St Pauls church.

Kent -raising! 1.655 in 1'/, hours! A team of students from Queen's College Tau num. iMted KM I HQ on 17 September to present a cheque for £700 which was raised during an expedition to Ihe Arctic Circle. The team was the youngest CUT from a British school to complete such a lough challenge, w'ith their ages ranging from 1510 18. The expedition took Ihe canoeists along the Muonio/Torino river though Norwaj via the Fjords into Finland - completing a gruelling 40km every day.

The ladies of Carmarthen and River Tow guild receniK held another successful annual luncheon at their local boat club, collecting over £1.000 for lifeboa I coffers.

hkkham branch were once again ai the Gateshead flower show on 31 July and I August -co Meeting over £740 for RNLI funds.

Graham and Steven Davey from 1 1 1 1 , 1 1 1 1 1 completed the Three Peaks challenge in JuK. raising £2IOfor the Institution.Thcchallenge took them 2.1 hours from the ascent of Ben Ne is up in the descent of Mount Snowdon. taking in Sear ell Pike on the way.

Hull ladies lifeboat guild recently organised a fashion show, at a local hotel, raising £500 for the lifeboats. Guests enjoyed a very professional show given by 'County Classics' and Trio'.

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