Support our volunteer crews It was an excellent idea to enclose the two eye catching Support our volunteer crews window stickers with the Spring 2003 issue of the Lifeboat.

Until a few years ago we used to have Support the RNLI stickers on our boat Lyonesse. They disappeared when I had to fit new glazing.

Lyonesse is the former Brede class, Merchant Navy ON-1087. We were so fortunate as to buy her from the RNLI in 1990. Shipwrights in Newhaven did a fantastic job in refurbishment, leaving the exterior and wheelhouse as original as possible. She then went to her new home: Port Delfzijl, in the Netherlands.

We use Lyonesse for holidays on the long row of islands north of Holland and Germany. Also she tows boats from the Delfzijl Nautical College, where I am a teacher, and acts as watchdog during many regattas on the Eems estuary and Northsea.

The boat and engines are still in great condition and have never given serious troubles. Of course, we support the Dutch and German lifeboat organisations, but I am especially proud to be an RNLI Offshore member. Promoting the Institution in the northeast corner of the Netherlands may have limited effect, but it all helps, I hope! CerGerritsen.The NetherlandsThe reason why I'm a governor...

Many thanks for the article on Coxswain Mark Sawyer and the Eastbourne crew in the Summer 2003 Lifeboat.

This rescue epitomises why I'm so proud to be a governor and why our crews, who risk their lives so selflessly.

deserve the very best equipment to carry out their work in such a potentially hostile and unpredictable environment.

Their bravery never ceases to amaze me.

Julian Cooch, LancashireWhere does my money go? Thanks again for an excellent issue! I have an enquiry regarding personal donations...

Can you assure me categorically that any bequests I make to a particular station will actually reach that station's funds? I ask because it came up in discussion recently when discussing the closure of the RNLI Mersey shop.

I'll wait to hear from you in due course.

Thank you again.

Jack Chapman, Woodbridge Under Trust Law the RNLI is legally obliged to ensure that the donation is spent in accordance with the donor's wishes. This may be achieved by one of two ways: firstly, if a donation is received to benefit a station it is used to offset the general running costs of the station i.e. electricity, rates, training etc.

Secondly, a donation may be used to purchase a particular item of equipment, which is arranged at headquarters through our personal donation section.

Both types of donations are monitored and recorded by a dedicated staff member in our finance department. It may interest you to know that the balance of all such restricted funds at the end of 2002 was around £55.6M.Military cutbacks! Thought you might be interested in this one for the next issue of the Lifeboat magazine.

We've heard of military cutbacks but this takes the biscuit. A kite assisted rescue helicopter.

The photograph was taken recently during an exercise between the Port Talbot lifeboat D-550 and an RAF rescue helicopter. A sail surfer passed close inshore and the result was this photograph.

Mel Cooper, Port Talbot_Mayday, mayday... job well done! I was very interested in the report on Eastbourne lifeboat and the rescue in October 2002 of the yacht Paperchase, as I moor my own boat in Sovereign Harbour.

I applaud the efforts of the crew, they certainly deserve the awards they received. And I take comfort in the knowledge that we have such a fine lifeboat and crew on hand if we are unfortunate enough to need their help in the future.

To return the compliment I have enclosed some photos of Poole lifeboat in action on June 6, 2003.

I was on board the charter boat NatWest from Poole, fishing in the Poole Specimen Hunt competition.

During the last hour our skipper noticed this craft in immediate danger of sinking. As we were fairly close to the casualty we were able to up lines and go to their assistance. We managed to secure a line to the bow and, by slowly towing the craft away from the cliff face, we were able to keep her afloat until the lifeboat came to the rescue and took over the job.

I hope this report is of some interest to you and look forward to the autumn edition of the Lifeboat*.

David Clark, Polegate East SussexI write to express my disappointment on reading that the RNLI has resorted to street recruitment for new RNLI members. As the article itself alludes to, this practise is highly unpopular with a large proportion of the public. I would have been far happier to see local radio and newspaper advertisements. These do not cost the vast sums of a TV campaign and would also not have involved the damage to image that the hard sell (people on commission) street campaigns bring with them.

When collecting, I have noticed the deterioration in the public response when other charities have been holding similar campaigns in the vicinity. In response to this we have made efforts to emphasise the volunteer status of our collectors but, sadly with the RNLI also adopting this approach, this will be a harder case to make in future.

Andrew Hustler Fundraising organiser Norwich Sharon New, supporter recruitment manager, says: One of the main concerns about the RNLt's recruitment of new members on the street, is that the fundraisers are paid and not volunteers. However for the long duration of this campaign (five months), it is only possible to use full-time fundraisers, who work up to six days a week. The fundraisers are not paid on commission.

As a way of monitoring the success of the campaign, we have been calling our newly recruited members, welcoming them to the RNLI and asking for their views on how they were recruited. The vast majority of calls have been extremely complimentary and some people even said that they approached the fundraiser themselves! We have found that of the 4,000 people recruited so far, most are delighted to have been asked to support us in this manner, and also to be offered the opportunity to support us regularly.

This method of membership recruitment is a part of the RNLI'sfundraising strategy, and its success is closely monitored to obtain the best long-term results..