Corporate fundraising When would you think of all these things together: a car, a train, a cruise ship, a bank and a shop? Are they perhaps all the items you need for a perfect holiday? In fact they are all things that the RNLI corporate fundraising team deals with day-to-day as it continually develops partnerships with companies throughout the UK and Republic of Ireland. Aiming to position the RNLI alongside wellknown brands and to raise awareness among different audiences, corporate fundraising helps raise funds by donations.

These may be money, such as donations made when credit cards are used, or goods, such as cars or holidays donated for RNLI lottery prizes. Corporate sponsorship is also sought for particular projects or activities, an example of this being the 2004 sponsorship of Offshore News by Admiralty Charts & Publications.

The corporate fundraising team is always looking for new opportunities, so if you or one of your friends or family are a national company director and would like to help in some way, then please contact Tizzy Perkins, Corporate Fundraising Manager, on 01202 663295 or email [email protected] of the road BRITANNIA - RESCUE Britannia Rescue and the RNLI would like to announce that the RNLI/Britannia Rescue road rescue scheme has been discontinued as from the end of May 2004.

Thank you to everyone who has supported this scheme.

Current RNLI/Britannia Rescue policyhotders will continue to receive their 15% discount on renewal of their policy each year.

The RNLI would also like to thank Britannia Rescue for their support over the past few years and for generously sponsoring Lifeboat Lottery prizes, providing three Suzuki Ignis cars.

Support the RNLI on holiday Holidaying in Italy, the Egyptian Riviera, Budapest or Tallinn has never been so easy.

The RNLI now has an agreement with the Italian travel company Domina to offer wonderful hotels to all our members at really favourable prices and to make a donation to the RNLI. For every booking you make, 5% of the cost of the holiday will go to the RNLI.

The full range of holidays on offer can be found on the website www.dominadirect.com. To access this site, log in as [email protected] and use the password 'lifeboat'.

Domina is all about an individual style of travel. Book your accommodation via Domina and then take advantage of low cost flights. Domina tells you which airport you should fly to and how to book your flights. Just send your holiday request or enquiry via the electronic booking form on the website or email [email protected].

Culture, history, shopping, spaghetti, wine, pizzas or ice creams; it's all easily available through Domina - and you'll be helping the RNLI as well.Olsen Cruise Lines - to the rescue Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines turned the tables by coming to the rescue of the RNLI in April, The second prize winner of the regional Grand Prize Draw mentioned in the spring issue of the Lifeboat was very disappointed when it looked as though her holiday was lost. Mrs Sheldon had won a seven-day Mediterranean cruise, but unfortunately the cruise was cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances.

Fred. Olsen is a long-time supporter of the RNLI, with passengers and crews raising thousands of pounds every year. The latest project, a First Aid Mobile Training Unit, went on service in January this year. On hearing of Mrs Sheldon's plight, Fred. Olsen immediately offered an eight-day Scandinavian cruise on its liner Black Watch. The RNLI is very grateful to Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines for its very generous and timely support.Oceans apart What would you pay for the opportunity to have a week on a floating country house, cruising around Scotland's beautiful Western Isles, seeing some of the unique sights of the Hebrides, with world-class luxury, impeccable service and the warmth of a Hebridean welcome? Well, this was the 'lot' on offer at an auction at the Central London Committee's Lifeboat Banquet at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich.

Mundy Cruising (www. m u n dy cru i s i ng. co. u k), a leading arranger of luxury cruises, teamed up with Hebridean Island Cruises (www.hebridean.co.uk) to offer this wonderful cruise.

And the winners? Definitely the RNLI with a magnificent £5,800 raised.

Thank you for such a luxurious amount.Captain Noah and his Floating Zoo come to the rescue Students at Dover College collected a record breaking £6,000 recently. A performance of Captain Noah and his Floating Zoo certainly helped to raise this wonderful amount. Excellent ticket sales at a concert by the junior department, together with a group of singers called the Beachcombers, boosted the amount raised. Further money was collected when both the junior and senior school pupils took part in a 15-mile sponsored walk from Sandwich to Dover. Headmaster Howard Blackett said: 'The pupils, parents and teachers have worked really hard to make this contribution to such an important charity.'Captain Croc gets snappy Pontin's staff and mascot on the new launching trolley with the Burnham-on-Sea crew Photo: Ian Beech Images With safety being their number one priority, and knowing that the RNLI volunteer crews are out there keeping people safe, Pontin's holiday company had no hesitation in donating £4,000 for a new launching trolley to the recently opened lifeboat station at Burnham-on-Sea. This was the latest in a series of large gifts donated by Pontin's staff and guests from their eight centres throughout the UK, the closest to Burnham-on-Sea lifeboat station being the Brean Sands centre. Special guest on the day was Captain Croc, the Pontin's mascot, who saw some jaw-dropping action when the lifeboat crew headed out to sea on exercise after being launched from their new trolley.Christies Leas il to :he Isle of Man A very successful Antiques Valuation Day, organised by the Peel ladies lifeboat guild, was recently held by a group of five experts from Christie's, South Kensington. They gave up their time and travelled at their own expense to the Corrin Hall in Peel, where they gave their opinions on the hundreds of items brought in. The value of the items ranged from just a few pounds to around £9,000 for a painting and the amount raised on the day for the RNLI was just over £2,000. Well done ladies and grateful thanks to Christie's.

CHRISTIE'S'Order, order!' Girvan lifeboat station had a very special visitor when the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Rt Hon Michael Martin MP, arrived to donate a cheque for £1,181 to the station. This was the second time that the Speaker had decided to donate the proceeds from the MPs' official Christmas cards to the RNLI.

Dressed to impress in his Speaker's attire, Mr Martin said: 'The work done by the RNLI is much appreciated and I hope that my visit makes others aware of how important it is to support them and of how hard it is to fundraise.1 MP George Foulkes also attended and said: 'I would like to join the Speaker in praising the work of the volunteers of the RNLI. They do a professional, courageous and dangerous job and this is a superb opportunity to thank them for all their hard work.' Mr Martin visits his brother in Girvan and often takes a look at the lifeboat while he is there.

This time he was able to look around the station as well. Coxswain Roddy Leitch commented: 'A great time was had by all and I'm delighted that he presented this cheque to us. It's a good job there's a reinforced floor in the boathouse as I lost count of how many people were in there!' The Speaker's cheque was certainly the order of the day! Yak Paddling Challenge Another challenge - another environment - another first. This challenge is to be the first to solo circumnavigate the UK and Ireland by sea kayak. In total it will be over 4,950 miles, taking around 26 weeks to complete. The ambitious project is Sean Morley's biggest challenge yet.

Sean is a serving police sergeant and is no stranger to challenges as he has already completed several record-breaking paddles.

Alongside the physical challenge of the circumnavigation, Sean has set himself another challenge: to raise money both for the RNLI's Lifeboats 200 crew training appeal and for The Marine Conservation Society, the UK charity dedicated to the protection of the marine environment and its wildlife.

Every day's paddle is risk assessed, taking into consideration the weather forecast, sea states, tidal movements and Sean's own physical and mental condition, always erring on the side of caution. The Coastguard is kept fully informed of his intentions each day and he carries essential safety, navigation and communication equipment. With the help of the RNLI, he has also deposited food and equipment at strategic points along the route, allowing him to restock the supplies he can carry in the kayak's watertight compartments.

Sean started his challenge in Falmouth, Cornwall, on 3 April and has since continued clockwise around the coast. Updates about his progress can be found at www.expeditionkayak.com.

A special 'thank you' to all the sponsors who have made this expedition possible. Their generosity will ensure that Sean's two chosen charities receive the maximum amount possible.

Good luck with the rest of the trip Sean!Every little helps Once again, RNLI fundraising teams were given the chance to collect atTesco stores nationwide.

Branches and guilds around the country planned their collections to make the most of the opportunity. With only one twoday collection occurring at the stores each month, the RNLI is extremely grateful that, for over 10 years, Tesco has provided this wonderful opportunity. Due to the fantastic generosity of Tesco staff and customers, the RNLI raised a superb £336,573.53 this year, far exceeding the amounts raised in previous years. Tesco says that Every little helps' and this is certainly true as the 'little' amounts raised atTesco stores over the years have all added up to more than £1M. A huge thank you to all the Tesco staff and customers and for all the hard work put in by RNLI fundraisers in stores around the country.Thousands of people braved driving rain and unseasonally cold temperatures to take part in the 24th London Marathon in April.

Crowds lined the 26.2 mile course to cheer on over 32,000 competitors, including almost 100 runners raising money for the RNU. These ranged in age from 23 to 73 years old, the latter being the Chairman of Canvey Island branch. Crew members from Calshot, Hayling Island and Youghal lifeboat stations joined in, braving the wind and rain, which is something they're more familiar with when out on a shout.

Someone else involved was Richard Mills, an RNLI member who works for the company that marks the course of the London Marathon each year. A huge amount of organisation goes on behind the scenes to make sure that everything is in place before the race, including marking out the treble blue lines that the racers follow.

On the day of the marathon, Richard's job is to follow them around the course and remove all the blue lines. No time records were broken that day - his team finished nearly ten hours after the first starter, but while he was going around the course he saw someone in an RNLI running vest and decided to donate his pay for the day and round it up to £150. Richard commented: 'I've long been a supporter of RNLI - probably for over 40 years! As a small child my parents used to take me to RNLI stations whenever we went on holiday and I've continued that tradition with my two children ever since.' Thank you, Richard, for your generous donation.

The money raised from the marathon is still rolling in and it is hoped that it will reach over £100,000. Many thanks to everyone who took part for your marathon effort.The name's Bond...

Peter Bond When you think of Bond, most of you will think of James Bond - 007 with shaken, not stirred, vodka-martini cocktails. But the RNLI's real Bond is Peter Bond, Morecarnbe's D class lifeboat. Instead of a car with machine guns hidden behind the radiator grill, the one that springs to mind in this connection is a Nissan Micra, squeezed into a garage and surrounded by items to sell at car boot sales.

Partial house clearances, rooting around in sheds and garages for unwanted items and even, with a bit of stealth (now this is more like James Bond), finding discarded garden tools and a gent's bike in a skip are all part of the efforts that Anne Bond and her 'wonderful circle of friends and the bric-a-brac network1 go to in order to raise money for the RNLI. Anne has also done several talks about her work and has written short articles for a local magazine. These have led to further publicity, which in turn has led to even more money being raised. Over time, Anne and her many friends and helpers have collected enough money to provide the inshore lifeboat named after her late husband.

As Anne, her friends and the bric-a-brac network continue to work through this year's car boot season, they will be able to reflect on the lifesaving role that Peter Bond and her crew are playing in the waters around Morecambe and they can certainly smile when they know that, for the RNLI, the name's Bond... Peter Bond.

e 'nspired by this story, please contact the RNU's personal donations team to talk about the best target for your fundratsing efforts.It's a dog's life...

Hjalti is the newest crew member to benefit from the crew training appeal, undertaking first aid training with one of the mobile training unit trainers, Steve Ford. Hjalti's showing great interest!The Polar Challenge a gruelling team race to the magnetic North PoleThe start The finish 76°37'N 101°45'WPolaris Mine 78°35.7'N 104°n.9'WMagnetic North Pole Distance 290 miles Equipment Ranging from 90kg sled and skis, thermal top, pants, socks, gloves - in fact thermal everything - to tent, stove, fuel bottles, snow shovel, medical kit, communication system and firearm.

Scenery, weather and wildlife Beauty and extremes of an icy wilderness, ice fields, temperatures down to -40°C and risk of attacks from polar bears.

Qualities required Self discipline, team discipline, physical and mental fitness.

Fitness requirements for polar travel are described as 30% physical and 70% mental.

The teams M,K! people! Well, competitors taken from Tough Guy and Iron Man 2003 at least. Oh, and three girls who thought it would be fun!RNLI staff members Clare Kavanagh and Philippa Thompson, along with friend Jocie Robertson, have become the first all-female team to take on the Polar Challenge. The intrepid trio, dubbed the eg arctic angels, set off on their challenge, not just to complete the 290-mile trek to the magnetic North Pole, but also to raise £10,000 in sponsorship for the RNLI in the process.

Sponsor eg solutions stepped in to fund the entire cost of the race, including the equipment and training needed to survive the sub-zero conditions.

With weekly gym training and weekend outdoor race training leading up to the real thing, the women had to think about building their calorie intake as well. Being likely to lose about 10% of their body weight during the Polar Challenge, it was useful to carry a few extra pounds before they started the race so that their bodies would use up fat reserves rather than muscle during the Challenge.

Having completed their training, the day finally came when they set off. The following excerpts from Clare's diary provide some indication of the tough challenge ahead of them.

'How did I get myself into this? Woke up this morning trapped in my sleeping bag: the zip was frozen solid and I had a dusting of hoar frost round my face. Once I'd managed to unfreeze the zip, the unpleasant task of getting up and dressed in temperatures of -35°C started. First task of the day is to light the stove. No bacon and eggs today for breakfast -just porridge. At least we've figured out how to cook it without burning it now! I'll spare you the details about how we go to the loo - suffice to say, it takes practice...

'There are only eight of us left now, from a starting number of 21. Most have left due to joint and frost injuries. Unfortunately Jocie was struggling to cope with the extreme conditions and had to return home. Luckily, Phil and I are still feeling fit and well (if you ignore the nasty rash that's developing on our legs)...

'We've had a great day today. The ice conditions were perfect, the sun is shining and it actually feels warm. We have managed to eat and drink enough due to the fact that we haven't had to wear our big mittens all day so we can actually get at our food easily.

The only thing that has dampened our spirits is the knowledge that due to the gap between us and the lead team now being four days, we are being pulled off the race.

It's an empty feeling, after all the work we've put in...

'The past few weeks have been fantastic.

We have overcome extreme discomfort, cold temperatures and emotions - all of which has made us stronger. There have been moments when I have been scared and I know the others were too, but we pulled through together. Being pulled off the race due to a series of events beyond our control has left us all with a feeling of disappointment and sadness at not being able to achieve our original goal. However, it has been an experience I will never forget and one that I am sure will have a profound effect on me. Thinking about it, apart from not reaching the finish, we have succeeded on so many levels - physical training, planning and teamwork, giving our best in extreme circumstances and adapting to new challenges every moment of every day. And all that on a diet of burnt porridge and rehydrated soya... not bad.1 It was certainly a victory for the eg arctic angels to have taken part and for the RNLI to have benefited from yet another marathon challenge..