Partners at the Show More than 10,000 people queued at the RNLI stand at the Southampton Boat Show in September 2004. They were able to see the technology used to save lives at sea on a Severn class lifeboat.

Two of the RNLI's specialist suppliers, McMurdo and Raymarine, joined in at the Show to help recruit new members. McMurdo provide the pyrotechnics on lifeboats and Raymarine the navigational equipment. They both allowed a membership recruiter to work on their respective stands and by the end of the week they had signed up 93 of the 746 new members recruited.

A big thank you to Corinna Canning, Marketing Communications Manager from McMurdo, and Fiona Pankhurst, International Marketing Communications Manager from Raymarine, for facilitating this.

Raymarine mcmurdo Milking it Robert Wiseman Dairies, a national company selling billions of litres of milk to UK supermarkets and smaller retail outlets, featured the RNLI on their milk cartons during their charity month, October 2004. The company runs special edition milk cartons throughout the year and selects various events to focus on such as Mothers Day, or sports events such as the Olympics.

From its origins on a small farm in East Kilbride over fifty years ago, Robert Wiseman Dairies has grown to be a leading liquid milk processing and distribution company. The RNLI would like to take this opportunity to thank Robert Wiseman Dairies for their kind support.

Stop Press The RNLI is pleased to have established a partnership with Co-operative Funeralcare, the UK's largest Funeral Director. Their Funeral Pre-Payment Plan will benefit RNLI supporters whilst raising valuable funds for the lifeboat service. Please see the advert on page 41 and the spring 2005 issue of the Lifeboat for full details.link spee The TV, telephone and internet company ntl ran an advertising campaign in October 2004 showing its work with the RNLI and prompting donations.

Over the next three years, ntl will be implementing a new 'wide area network', or WAN, providing high-speed connections between the RNLI headquarters in Poole, all 233 lifeboat stations and six beach lifeguard centres, and Coastguard rescue coordination centres. This will mean that Coastguard requests to RNLI lifeboat stations will be sent almost immediately, without waiting for a dial-up connection to be made, enabling the RNLI to react more rapidly and deploy lifeboats even faster.

The RNLI-themed advertising campaign appeared in the Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph, Computer Weekly, CommsNews and Director Magazine.

ntligent thinking: «fm] .1 » ••pbcrrum -'"' • '"y*1 .-.(—i: RMLI liiafcfua and 200 CHI ntl: 1 To find out more call oaoo 002 99001Around the coast - in more than 80 days Summer months are far away now but memories of some wonderful days spent at lifeboat stations are still with the thousands who visited. There were open days, gala days and even some lifeboat weeks. There were children's competitions and treasure hunts, sea safety demonstrations, souvenir stalls. Here is a selection of highlights from around the coast. All are important for the local community to see lifeboats in action and share in the funSouth Lyme Regis lifeboat week raised an extraordinary £30,000 from their many and varied events. These included the Red Arrows, an RAF Falcons parachute display, conger coddling, a tug-of-war against the local Coastguard unit, a greasy pole, swimming and bathtub races, children's fancy dress, and demonstrations with the Coastguard helicopter and local Fire Service.

Raft races and face painters were part of the lifeboat week at Swanage and it ended with a great lifeboat day. Visitors were able to see their Mersey and D class lifeboats, and a hovercraft and the prototype of the newTamar class lifeboat were also on show.

The two Poole lifeboats, the Police boat and the Coastguard helicopter were also on hand to demonstrate a coordinated rescue.

Scotland Six thousand-plus people attended Anstruther's lifeboat gala and helped to raise £8,500. Classic cars, a motorcycle club, drumming belles and pipers kicked off the event with a procession. Three famous guests, and children's favourites, Dennis the Menace, Gnasher and Stormy Stan turned up to entertain the children (and some adults!) See page 43.

North Stormy Stan was busy during the summer as he also turned up to the lifeboat day at Staithes and Runswick lifeboat station. The Whitby and Ryedale Primary Care Trust reported that Stormy was in good health after they took his blood pressure. It's good to know that he'll be in fine form for the new fitness tests being planned for lifeboat crews.Berwick-upon-Tweed's lifeboat fete got off to a dramatic start when the inshore lifeboat was launched for real, to a windsurfer reported to be in trouble near the mouth of the River Tweed. Crowds watched as the lifeboat launched and a Sea King helicopter, also en route to the fete, was diverted to the incident. Despite an extensive search of the area, nothing was found and the call was logged as a 'false alarm with good intent'.

The fete was then opened by the Mayor, and a large crowd saw rescue demonstrations combining the skills of the RAF, Fire Service and local Coastguard.

Stormy Stan also fitted in an appearance in his busy schedule. The enjoyable and successful event raised nearly £4,500.Skegness lifeboat station flag week broke all records this year with over £5,800 being raised for the RNLI. The week ended with visitors being able to see both scale models of boats and the full size lifeboats in action.

East Members of the Kettering branch spent a great day at Cromer lifeboat open day and, in a fluke moment decided that 'It could be you!' to be plucked from Sheringham's lifeboat (see above).

Ireland The damp weather didn't put off a steady stream of over 400 visitors to Castletownbere's brand new Severn class lifeboat Annette Hutton. As well as the local people of Beara, holidaymakers from many parts of Ireland came aboard along with overseas visitors from the UK, France, Denmark, Norway, Holland, the US and Australia.

West The five stations on the Isle of Man all had fun and hugely successful events. Many were planned to coincide with the start of the Manx Grand Prix motorcycle racing fortnight, to maximise the numbers of people attending.

Three of the stations each held a round of the Isle of Man Lifeboat Challenge beach moto-cross motorcycle races. At Port Erin this was combined with a raft race, lifeboat and Coastguard demonstrations, go-kart rides, a merry-go-round, a bouncy castle and face painting for the younger children.

In total, the events raised over £2,000.

At Ramsey, the lifeboat crew were in full swing, collecting with the X boat in the main street, when their pagers went off.

Rushing back to the station, they launched and took the casualty in tow and were back in time for the lifeboat day to be officially opened. What better way is there to show the public what the RNLI is all about? The climax of the day was the motorcycle sand racing by the Ramsey Motor Cycle Club, with the world moto-cross champion competing. A wonderful day was had by all and a fantastic £3,059 was raised - a record for Ramsey.

In a similar vein, Peel organised a 'Honda day' during the TT races and, combined with their flag day in the same week, raised over £2,000.

Included in the events at Douglas was their second annual lifeboat pull; a competition in which teams of six people pulled the Sir William Hillary, the Tyne class lifeboat, over 50m, the fastest pull being 36 seconds.

Stormy Stan, the Fire Service, St John's Ambulance and the Coastguard were also present.

And finally, at Port St Mary, the lifeboat and other local services all gave demonstrations and there were performances by local musicians, singers and dancers. One of the many attractions included The Lifeboat Princess competition.

A fantastic £9,300 was raised from various stalls, draws, raffles and sponsorship and cash donations from local businesses.

A marvellous amount of effort and commitment from hundreds of volunteers around the coast goes into events such as these, whether large or small. Not only do they raise awareness of the lifeboat service but they also raise large amounts of money for the charity.

A huge thank you to all the volunteers involved in raising such impressive amounts, directly helping the lifeboat crews to save more lives at sea.Remembering our loved ones In 2003,68% of the RNLl's fundraised income came from people generously leaving gifts to the RNLI in their Wills. These important legacies are all remembered in Books of Remembrance, ensuring that they will not be forgotten.

The Books were started in 19% and there is a separate Book of Remembrance for each subsequent year. With a page for each day, the names of people who died on that day and left a bequest to the RNLI are recorded. One Book is kept on display in a glass cabinet in the museum at the RNLI headquarters in Poole and visitors are welcome to check for their relative's entry.

Legacies are a vital source of funding for the RNLI. If you would like to know more about how to remember lifeboat crews by including a legacy to the RNLI in a Will then please contact John Marshall, Legacy Enquiry Officer on 01202 663032 or email: [email protected]'s epic journey After a journey of 1,400 mites on foot, RNLI fundraiser Martyn King says the hard work is only just starting. Having completed an epic mission visiting every lifeboat station around the coast of Ireland, he is now collecting the funds raised from people who have generously supported him.

Martyn, from Cheshire, is no stranger to RNLI fundraising efforts. He completed a walk around the coast of the UK mainland with his partner Alison, again visiting lifeboat stations on route. Alison has since sadly passed away after being diagnosed with a brain tumour during the UK walk. The pair managed to complete their task in 2001 and married before Alison died in 2002.

'Watching her soldier on gave me more strength,' said Martyn, who finished his Irish walk in August 2004. 'It is a strange feeling at the end of a walk of this magnitude as my life over the past three months has been centred around walking to Irish lifeboat stations and how to stop my feet from hurting so much!' Martyn has a fundraising target of £2,500 for this walk and is already planning his next fundraising journey. In two years time he hopes to walk the length and breadth of England. He added: 'I have seen many lifeboat stations around the coasts and many of the associated crews, and I have great respect for them and their families.In celebration Birthdays, weddings, anniversaries. Are you looking for an imaginative and inspirational gift for these celebrations? Instead of giving presents to people for their special occasions have you ever thought of donating some money to your favourite charity? This is exactly what an increasing number of people have done to the benefit of the RNLI.

In Dromineer, Ireland, twins Paul and Evelyn celebrated their 40th birthday and asked their friends to donate money to the RNLI and another charity, Starfish, instead of buying gifts.

As a result, the RNLI at Lough Derg was given €800, which was hugely appreciated by all the volunteers at the station.

Another 'special' birthday was celebrated by Margaret Williams of Cowbridge. She asked friends and relations to make donations to the RNLI and the £100 collected helped with the purchase of some training equipment for Porthcawl lifeboat station.

And in September 2004, Abbey Tunbridge and Graham Vale had their wedding day in London. It had a distinctive nautical flavour as Abbey and Graham had first met whilst sailing around the world in the Clipper yacht race in 1998. A boat cruise down the RiverThames, a reception on the CuttySark, and a wedding cake with a yacht, desert island and sea creatures on it, all added to the nautical theme. The RNLI has been able to celebrate too with a superb Photo: Comre-pur donation from guests of nearly £2,000.

If you would like to consider this idea for your special day or celebration then please contact the Supporters Helpdesk on 0845 121 4999..