A right royal occasion at PlymouthThe poor weather didn't dampen spirits when HM The Queen named Plymouth's new £2M Severn class lifeboat on 23 July 2003. The Duke of Edinburgh accompanied The Queen at Queen Anne's Battery Marina, Plymouth, as she named the lifeboat Sybil Mullen Glover.

Luckily, the rain eased off for the formal naming ceremony and the Royal Marine band kicked off proceedings with the theme tune to children's TV favourite Thunderbirds which brought a smile to the gathered guests, VIPs and soaked crew members. After the naming, The Queen and Prince Philip met benefactors, fundraisers and other supporters.

Plymouth Coxswain David Milford and his partner then cut a celebratory cake before the crew put the new lifeboat to sea for a short demonstration.

The lifeboat was named after distinguished local marine artist Daphne Sybil Clover who died in 1995 and left more than £800,000 to the RNLI. Her executors asked that her name be commemorated in some way and it was agreed that the bequest should be used towards the funding of Plymouth's new lifeboat. The remainder of the funding was kindly provided from other legacies and gifts.

Plymouth station is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year and Chairman Peter Nicholson presented the station with an RNLI bicentenary vellum at the ceremony. Since the station's foundation in 1803, Plymouth lifeboat crews have launched more than 1,500 times and saved the lives of 599 people.Royal honours We are delighted to announce that the following have been honoured by Her Majesty The Queen in her Birthday Honours, and have received an MBE for services to the RNLI.

Congratulations to: ' Ruth Clarke, for charitable service in Colchester (Honorary Secretary, Colchester branch).

• Richard Constantine, lately Coxswain/Mechanic, Scarborough lifeboat station.

• Iris Dunstan, for charitable service to the RNLI and the Pony Club (Honorary Treasurer, Redruth guild).

• Ted Powell, Honorary Secretary, Barry lifeboat station.An adventurous tale The extraordinary history of Captain Joseph Press, the man after whom the Joseph B Press lifeboat was named, is going to be featured in an exhibition at the Great Yarmouth Maritime Museum.

Captain Press travelled around the world in a wooden sailing ship back in the nineteenth century and the tale of his adventures will be on display at the museum from summer 2004.

The funding for the lifeboat came from the kind legacy of his daughter, Miss Elizabeth Press.Seaham lifeboat tribute A lifeboat tragedy that claimed the lives of nine people more than 40 years ago, is being commemorated A new cliff top road overlooking Seaham is being named George Etmy Lifeboat Way, after the vessel that capsized metres from the harbour off the coast of County Durham on 17 November 1962.

The lifeboat was launched to rescue the fishing boat Economy, which was caught in violent seas near Seaham, and within minutes the crew had rescued the fishermen.

The lifeboat was returning home and was less than 100m from safety when she was capsized by two huge waves. Donald Burrell, who had been fishing on board the Economy, wrapped one arm around the shaft of the propeller and tried to hold David, his nineyear- old son, with his other arm. A wave tugged father and son apart and out of the five crew members and five fishermen, it was just Donald who survived.

The lifeboat was eventually washed ashore, where she was repaired and went on to save more lives while stationed at Poole, until she was taken out of service in 1972.New subscription rates In his speech at the RNLI's Annual General Meeting (summer issue, p.10), Chairman Peter Nicholson spoke about today's tough financial climate and the RNLI's need to increase fundraising.

Shoreline Lifeboats Offshore One consequence of this is that the RNLI has decided to make a small increase in subscription rates.

The new rates, listed below, came into effect 1 September 2003.

is d Lifeboats Cl f& Governor Grade New rates Shoreline £20 €28 Joint Shoreline £33 €46 Offshore £54 €75 Joint Offshore £94 €130 Governor £66 €92 Joint Governor £116 €162 i Life Governor £1,500 €2,100Fowey Lifeboat rallyThe picturesque Cornish port of Fowey was home to an impressive and unusual display of old lifeboats during the last weekend of June.

This fundraising get-together, which is likely to become an annual event, featured 14 historic former lifeboats. They ranged from the steel-hulled Treffry (ex-Dover lifeboat which is now the local pilot boat), to the pulling boat Ryder, which is now based at Polperro but was stationed at Looe during her service career.

The majority of the lifeboats were built in the 1950s and 60s, and all of them were well maintained and in superb condition thanks to their very dedicated owners.

In fact, the former 1938 Lowestoft lifeboat Michael Stephens remains largely unaltered from her days of saving lives at sea. Her engine controls reflect the time period and are uniquely housed in the engine canopy.

An unexpected visitor was the RNLI's first ever twin-screw lifeboat, William and Kate Johnston, which made her appearance while returning from the Liverpool River Festival. She is celebrating her 80th birthday this year and, at 24m, is one of the largest lifeboats ever built. She was stationed at New Brighton, but is now at Chatham under private ownership.

During the Saturday afternoon the lifeboats were open to the public for viewing, and hundreds of people turned up for this at Albert Quay.

Throughout the day, Joseph Soar, a former 14m Watson class lifeboat, owned by ex-Salcombe Coxswain Frank Smith, took visitors on trips around the harbour as a fundraising exercise for the RNLI. At the end of the day, the old lifeboats paraded down the river to the harbour entrance and back again, making an impressive spectacle and showing some great speeds.

By Nicholas LeachTrials for new boat A new experimental B class lifeboat. Fast Inshore Boat 1, has started trials and engineers say that early indications are very promising.

The hull is a scaled-up and modified version of the Atlantic 75 and this new lifeboat is planned to be in service by the end of 2004.

RNLI Principal Engineer Rob Cantrill says: The requirement was for a lifeboat which was fast, had a fourth crew member, carried radar, and had better casualty provision.

'The Atlantic was getting heavier and slower. The FIB1 is a faster boat, going up to 35 knots, and is just much more capable.'New type D class on service A new lifeboat with up-to-date technology is in service, for the first time, at Eastbourne lifeboat station.

Inshore Boat 1 is the first of a generation of inflatable boats. It is a new type of D class, which has been a successful part of RNLI search and rescue for 40 years.

Eastbourne was chosen for the launch as many of the station's 90 call outs each year involve rescues around cliffs in the area, where speed and manoeuvrability are essential.

Lifeboats Operations Manager Captain John Banfield says: 'The new inshore lifeboat is significantly faster than our current D class, travelling up to 25 as opposed to 20 knots. This extra speed, coupled with the more responsive handling, means we can reach people in danger that much quicker. Often minutes can be crucial, and getting people to hospital in less time really can mean the difference between life and death.' Other improvements include a chart plotter and a global positioning system that gives crews accurate readings of their position.

Mr and Mrs Wiseman, from Middlesex, have donated the boat to mark their fiftieth wedding anniversary. The boat will be named Joan and Ted Wiseman SO.Saving more lives The RNLI will be able to rescue more people with the welcome addition of a new lifeboat station at Burnham-on-Sea, Southend.

The final stamp of approval came from the Trustee Committee at their meeting in July. The station is expected to be operational from the end of October, when the RNLI will take over the service currently provided by the Burnham Area Rescue Boat (BARB).

RNLI's Operations Director Michael Vlasto says:'BARB approached us with a request that we consider taking over their "sea going" lifeboat search and rescue operations. I am pleased to say that the decision has now been made and we can build on the excellent reputation that BARB has established.' The Burnham Area Rescue Boat organisation will continue to run their hovercraft alongside the RNLI's two lifeboats: an Atlantic 75 (above) and a D class inflatable (right).Final battle Three of the RNLI's very own lifeboat engineers have been crowned world champions after beating 27 teams from across the globe in the final of Channel 4 television's Full Metal Challenge.

The team from Poote, who call themselves the Aquaholics, faced a gruelling series of challenges in which contestants battled each other using giant, high-powered vehicles. They dropped only two points throughout the competition, and have put their success down to their eight-wheeled monster vehicle called Octopus/).

The programme makers gave the team a budget of £2,000 and one month of evenings and weekends to build their ultimate dream machine. Range Motors also donated thousands of pounds worth of equipment and their mechanics gave a lot of help. A set of guidelines formed a basis for their design but, over and above this, their creativity was limitless - and much blood sweat and tears went into the construction. This 300 horsepower mean machine would win no beauty contest, but it certainly earned the respect of the spectators and the other contestants for its great strength, manoeuvrability and speed.

The team consisted of Design Engineer Adam Kyte, Marine Engineer Martyn Pitman and Hovercraft Operations ManagerTony Stankus.

Following the event, Tony said: 'After such an action-packed, adrenaline-boosted day, the medal ceremony was just a blur and the whole thing was over all too quickly, but the images that will last forever in my mind will be Adam bursting through the straw bales in Grand International to regain the lead and Martyn getting airborne in his record breaking first round of Rollercoaster.' The team would like to thank all their helpers and sponsors, primarily Range Motors in Poole. No RNLI funds were used to build the machine.

For more information, visit the show's website at: www.fullmetalchallenge.comNew Lifeboat Support Centre August saw the start of building work on the new Lifeboat Support Centre in Poole The steet skeleton that will form the basis for this purpose-built warehouse facility is now under way.

The new warehouse will incorporate up-to-date storage systems to support the expanding role of the RNLI.

It will provide new accommodation for the design office and be home to fundraising items.

The centre will also incorporate the new Electronics Repair Centre. The warehouse has been built with extra capacity to allow for future developments.

It is hoped that the Lifeboat Support Centre will be completed by May 2004. Winner websitesIf you want to become a lifeguard, or are interested in beach safety and rescue information, RNLI incident data and news, then log onto our award-winning websites.

The Beach Safety and Beach Rescue websites have been named 'site of the week1 by New Media Age magazine, and are jam packed with useful tips, factfiles and games.

To view these great websites, log onto www.beachrescue.org.uk£ollege praised by famous yachtsmanOlympic medal winner and former world sailor of the year, Ben Ainslie, laid the foundation stone for the new Lifeboat College on 3 July 2003.

He was joined by four RNLI crew members from different parts of the United Kingdom and Ireland, representing the crew members who will be among the first to benefit from the college.

Speaking of his involvement in the project, Ben said: 'I once said that my greatest strength is that I never give up.

That is something that I am very proud to have in common with the RNLI. In my line of work, and as an RNLI Offshore member myself, it is great to have this level of confidence in an organisation that is dedicated to saving lives at sea.

'This college, where the crews and others will be trained, is therefore very close to my heart. This is a very proud day for me and I wish the Lifeboat College every success.'.