Appeal reaches £75,000 BBC Radio Cleveland's Lifeboat 2000 Appeal has now reached the target of €75,000 to purchase an Atlantic 75 class inshore lifeboat for Hartiepool.

The news was broken to thousands of listeners in February on the Breakfast Show by Chris Baxter and Caroline Davis. They were joined in the studio by station presenters to celebrate the amazing success story of the appeal reaching the target within a year of its launch last March. Val Nixon of the RNLI and Mike Craddy of Hartiepool lifeboat thanked listeners for their help and kindness shown through the duration of the appeal.

To celebrate the news and to thank BBC Radio Cleveland listeners, a special presentation was held at Hartiepool Historic Quay on 3 March. Presenter Matthew Davies hosted the event for over 100 listeners, who enjoyed songs from the Harttepool Male Voice Choir and music from The Candlelight Quartet. Following the cheque presentation there was a water display by the Hartiepool lifeboat crew in the marina.

Can-can girls were popular entertainers at a French Connection evening, staged by the Middelsex forum at the end of November - raising nearly 3,000 for the RNLI.

A church hall near Heathrow Airport was magically transformed into a French village, complete with shops, the local artist, bistro and pissior! One hundred and sixty guests in fancy dress (including Napoleon and Josephine! were served a sumptuous three course dinner with French wines.

Chelsea thanks RNLI Director Andrew Freemantle visited the Royal Hospital in Chelsea in March to present certificates of thanks to five Chelsea Pensioners, collected £10,300 at the London Boat Show January. Since 1995 the pensioners have raised marvellous £75,000 for the lifeboats at the Boat Show alone.

Soccer stars kick off appeal Soccer premier league personalities Roy Evans and Howard Kendall were in Portrush recently to help launch the appeal fund for the resort's new £1.8m Severn class lifeboat, which is due to go on station next year. Getting the appeal off to a fine start was a cheque for the magnificent sum of £28,500, handed over to the appeal chairman by representatives of the Portrush Raft Race committee.

The picture shows (from left to right) - Robin Cardwell, coxswain; Julie Humpries, crew member; Liz Steele, Coleraine Borough Council; Fay Scott, raft race committee; Terry Louglins, Guinness; Roy Evans, former Everton manager; Howard Kendall, former Everton manager; Lynn Rafferty, appeal organiser; Robert Corbett, appeal chairman and John Scott, station secretary.

Surprise, surprise! Julie Unite from Perth got the shock of her life earlier this year when she found out that she had won first prize in the 1999 RNLI National Car Draw.

Julie (centre), who is currently studying in Japan, made a special flight home in February to receive the brand new Land Rover from Andrea McArthur of Land Rover (left) and Maren Caldwell, RNLI national organiser, Scotland. Julie and her family had always bought tickets to support the lifeboats, as her father worked at sea for many years, but she said she never expected to win first prize.

Once again, the car draw proved highly succesful with the year's national total boosting funds by over £185,000.Youth group members from St. Peter's Church in Pembury raised £466 for lifeboat coffers in March by washing cars and selling home-made cakes.

The group of 14 youngsters presented a cheque to Peter Chartes, chairman of Pembury branch, and were treated to a film show and talk on the RNLI's work in return for their good deeds.

The fundraising efforts of Manor Park Holiday Village in Hunstanton led to a £4,000 cheque presentation to the town's lifeboat station earlier this year. Manor Park raises cash for worthy causes every year and the RNLI was chosen as its nominated charity for 1999. Caravan owner Roger Baker organised many events for the cause along with the park's race nights and bank holiday auctions.

Upon receiving the cheque Geoff Needham, RNLI deputy launching authority, said, 'It was quite overwhelming, they really have done us proud.' The 1st Mousehole Boys Brigade (left), took up mops buckets and brushes to clean Penlee lifeboat earlier in the year to raise cash for the Boys Brigade Lifeboats 2000 project.

The boys collected over £700 in sponsorship for the national appeal which aims to fund four Atlantic 75 lifeboats for the RNLI and has so far raised £28,300! This incriminating picture of Rab Rice, Larne lifeboat mechanic, and his 'girlfriend' was taken at the East Antrim Boat Club sponsored swim on Boxing Day 1999.

The event saw 23 swimmers from the boat club, local lifeboat and the Atlantic Challenge Group braving the icy waters to raise money for the Larne RNLI branch. Total sponsorship for the day broke all previous records, bringing in £3,600 - with, hopefully, a few pennies left over to buy the poor girl some new clothes...

The directors of Alston Limestone Company held a sponsors evening at the National Glass Centre, Sunderland, in December to raise funds for RNLI Whickham branch.

A charity auction was held offering many items including autographed Sunderland and Newcastle United football shirts and other north east sporting memorabilia. Mr Jones, company manager, presented a cheque for £1,500 to Whickham branch chairman, Mrs Riley.

North Kessock lifeboat crew received a late Christmas present in February when Inverness Choral Society presented them with a cheque for £2,100. The singers performed their annual 'Carolothon' in December to help swell lifeboat coffers and to fund further charity concerts.

From a great height The old heave-ho Trainee firefighters from the Devon Fire and Rescue service (pictured below) chose the RNLI to benefit from the public service element of their course.

The tough and energetic group towed their historic fire engine all the way from Torbay lifeboat station to Torquay, raising £2,000 as a result.

On a cool Sunday morning last September, RNLI North East region held its sponsored abseil from Number Bridge with some 200 supporters participating, including 100 members and friends from the 1 st Heckmondwike Scout group in West Yorkshire.

The event proved to be a real money spinner, raising over £9,200 for the lifeboats. The above picture shows Whitby lifeboat crew members ready to make their descent.Sitting pretty MFl Homeworks stores on the south coast joined forces to help the RNLI with a donation of furniture worth £900. Poole lifeboat crew members were delighted to receive 25 chairs from Vijay Mistry, regional sales manager, who was joined by managers from the participating Poole, Christchurch and Southampton stores.

Vijay and the three other MFl Homeworks managers decided to take action following a previous visit to present the crew with a £1,000 donation and speaking to crew members about the need for furniture at the station.IB * Lifeboats Offshore Bishop Skinner Advantage, the official RNLI Offshore insurance scheme for boat owners has raised a tremendous £12,000 in its first year. In addition to the donation to the RNLI, Offshore members are also entitled to a 10% discount on most marine policies operated by Bishop Skinner. 'We set the scheme up to provide a first rate service for Offshore members as well as raising funds for the RNLI' said James Vaughan, corporate relations manager 'and clearly the demand over the last year has demonstrated that it is working well on both counts!' For more information call Bishop Skinner direct on 0800 783 8057 James Vaughan International Coatings Ltd, who manufacture the International range of maritime paints have become the title sponsors of Offshore News for the rest of this year. International and the RNLI have had a long association together and this is a further example of this well known company supporting the fundraising activities of the RNLI.

And finally, a special thanks to both our bankers HSBC and to De Vere Hotels, who were both very generous in their financial support for a recent RNLI conference held in Manchester.Mini money maker! Bangor branch secretary, Mark Roberts, has lent his unique 1275cc Mini Moke to RNLI fundraising efforts in North Wales.

The Moke has been completely re-spayed, flagged in RNLI colours and carries a range of equipment used by the service. Mark said, 'It's become an amazing attraction. Kids love it for the gadgets it carries and dads love it for the nostalgia of the 1970s...' Mark and his Moke are shown left, together with Rhyl lifeboat crew members and the Dean of St Asaph Cathedral, after the Dean dedicated the car to the service of fundraising.

It went on to raise more than £4,500 in just a few weekends and is scheduled for a busy summer season.

Photo: Glynn Moms Line dancers Royal visit The sister of Calverton ladies guild chairman is part of the dance outfit, Sue's Stetson Stompers, which offered to hold a sponsored line dance to boost branch funds.

The event proved to be a great success, raising over £2,000 from one Saturday morning.

Photo: Malt 'n' Salt Oban Distillery recently handed over a cheque for £14,000 to RNLI Oban branch as its share of the popular Malt 'n' Salt weekend held last Summer.

Stalls were set up in the distillery and the money taken from tours was donated to the lifeboats. At the same time the local lifeboat was moored up in Oban Bay and open for the public to go on board and have a look around, The distillery's parent company, Diago, generously double up the sum raised by the distillery over the weekend.

The Princess Royal made a point of visiting the RNLI stand during a visit to the National Boat, Caravan and Leisure Show at the Birmingham NEC in February.

The photograph shows Princess Anne greeting Jacky Clifford, chairman of Erdington branch.

The nine day show raised over £10,000 for the RNLI from donations and the sale of merchandise, and the stand is built and run by local volunteers under the organisation of Jacky and her husband, Chris.

Photo: Post Studios Record breakers Earlier this year the Louth branch of the Vintners Federation of Ireland broke all records by raising £6,100 for the Clougher Head lifeboat at its annual ball.

The money was collected through a raffle and auction, which took place at the ball. Suits you! 7,000 starting in 2000 A Union Flag jacket was just the thing to make master of ceremonies, Steve Stanton, look the height of sartorial elegance. He wore the jacket, made and donated by David and Jenny Ames of Bridlington, at a Christmas event he organised for the Royal Yorkshire Yacht Club.

The flashy jacket caught so many admiring glances and comments that Steve decided to auction it for lifeboat funds at the end of the evening.

Following some lively bidding, the jacket was knocked down to £160 by Captain Norman Woodhouse (pictured above). A further £50 was added when unsuccessful bidder, Philip Wright, discovered that Steve had pinned a Wright Homes advert to the back claiming that they had a sponsor! Having enjoyed wearing his patriotic apparel for the Millennium celebrations, Norman intends to give it another airing at the Proms in the Park later in the year.

Remember New Year's Day 2000? Now imagine it without the hangover, a distinct spring in your step and an accepted first proposal of marriage - together with the prospect of spending the next two years walking around the country in aid of the RNLI! This was the exact story at New Brighton lifeboat station when Martyn King and Alison Shaw stepped out on their epic journey to cover 7,000 miles of coastline and visit every lifeboat station along the way. The couple financed their walk by selling many of their possessions, giving up their home and abandoning the comforts of a hot bath, clean bedding and dry clothing.

Anyone wishing to make a donation to Alison and Martyn's fundraising effort can do so at any Post Office. The account details are: RNLI Round Britain Walk, account number 46 067 3289.Iuring a recent collection at Tesco in Five Ways, branch collected in donations from generous customers.

iti-i imu h branch, toiiclher w itli the assistance of the West Kent Battalion of the Boys' Brigade, held a collection in March at Churllon Athletic football ground. The Valley, for the home match against Queens Park Rangers - Churl ton wen! on to beat QPR by two goals to one and the branch raised £1.258! A small group of lifeboat supporters from Locking, near Weston-Super-Mare, recycled just over I (XI tonnes of newspaper over the past live years which swelled lifeboat coffers by £2.900.

The tundraising friends of I i illii'lii guild at The Kings Arms in Bridlington have been working hard throughout the year. During the Christmas period ihey raised over £ 1.000 with some unique ideas.

including a swear box. hamper raffle and a 'swearathon'. Ace collector. Phil Ibbolson. was very successful with his personal 'gob shut' event - much to everyone's surprise he communicated throughout the day by showing curds and managed to raise a further £231.

Material remnants donated 10 ilrauntiHi, Cro dc and District branch by a local More have been used by Audrey Brock and Joan Sabin to make bedspreads, cushions, tea cosies and knitting bags.

They have raised some £500 over the past three years.

I .miMtnili and Keai'slv) branch took pun in a hugely successful jazz jamboree I'M-rimi! which was promoted by local band leader and journalist, Fred Shawcross.

Former greats from the Ted Heath Band and John Dankworth Orchestra played alongside Fred and his local ] . i / / group to a packed and enthusiastic audience of 300 juzz fans. The evening raised just over £ I .(XX) for the I i feboals.

Celbridge Scouts and Guides from Co. Kildare in Ireland recently did 'bag packing' in their local Teseo supermarket - raising £1.275 for Nurlh Kildair branch.

David Mitchell, who has in the past raised cash for lifeboats with his slide shows and lectures on his iraveK at sea. gave a free show in February at the Arts Centre in Greenham Common. Newbury in aid of RNLI V-Mlmr) and District branch. The subject of his talk was 'From Tahiti to Hong Kong around the Ring of Fire' which helped to raise £1,087 in donations with a further £100 coming from souvenir sales.

Two-year-old Eleanor Armstrong of Grantham.

recently visited Skegness lifeboat to present a hand held Dragon searchlight to the crew. Eleanor is a Storm Force member and is also the youngest member of the ,i .nitli.im branch. She raised (with some help from mum!) almost £150 from the sale of Christmas goods last year, which covered the cost of the searchlight.

The 64th City of Dundee Rainbows and Brownies recently held a coffee morning selling goods the girls had spent weeks making. The event raised £ 1.000 for llrmitilm Ftm lifeboat.

Newly reformed Bt'iiNYft and District branch got off to a Hying start - raising £5.000 in its first year.

BenHeet Motor Yacht club held a fun day last August.

which boosted branch funds by £1.853 and the local Mahal Indian restaurant donated £227 from a curry evening. Other events included qui/. nights and darts matches. The branch also received an anonymous donation of £1.000 from a generous local resident. Still in its infancy, the brunch welcomes new members to lend a hand - anyone ink-rested should contact Nick Ford on 01268 753360.

In March UrlHicId branch organised a most successful annual luncheon at the Civic Hall. Lichlield. The event.

which has been held annually since 1969. was attended by Regional Manager Elaine Close, and raised £1.740.

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