RNLI fundraising offices Scotland RNLI, Unit 3, Ruthvenfield Grove Inveratmond Industrial Estate Perth, PHI 3CL Tel: 01738 642999 Email: [email protected] Eastern RNLI, Magdalen Road, Hadleigh, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP7 BAD Tel: 01473 822837 Email: [email protected] Greater London RNLI, 20 Buckingham Street, London, WC2N6EF Tel: 020 7839 3369 Email: [email protected] South East RNU, Kennet House, River Way, Uckfield, Sussex, TN22 1SL Tel: 01825 761466 Email: [email protected] South West RNLI, Unit A, Longacre, Saltash, Cornwall, PL12 6LZ Tel: 01752 850680 Email: [email protected] Wales and West Mercia RNLI, 9 Drake Walk, Brigantine Place Cardiff, CF104AN Tel: 029 2045 6999 Email: [email protected] North RNLI, 18 Half Edge Lane, Eccles, Manchester, M30 9CJ Tel: 0161 7878779 Email: [email protected] Republic of Ireland RNLI.Airside, Swords, Co Dublin Tel: 01 8951 800 Email [email protected] Northern Ireland RNU, Unit 1, Lesley Office Park, 393 Holywood Road, Belfast, BT4 2LS Tel: 028 9047 3665 Email: [email protected] Tobermory story Side by side, a husband and wife team keeps the lifeboat at the ready and the funds rolling in In Tobermory, Strathclyde, a row of neatly painted houses leads down to the harbour and a gift shop, where Eilidh Wilshire is selling souvenirs to tourists. In an office next door, her husband John tends to some paperwork. Both are RNLI volunteers and, while they are not crew members, they play an important part in saving lives at sea. Eilidh is the Souvenir Secretary of the RNLI shop, which raised £10,500 in 2005 alone - enough to train an average of 10 lifeboat crew members for a year.

As Lifeboat Operations Manager, John runs the adjacent lifeboat station and musters the crew members for lifesaving rescues.

John and Eilidh's voluntary roles are very different from their trades. Eilidh runs bed and breakfast accommodation at their home on the hill overlooking the harbour. John is the green keeper at the local golf course and a wedding photographer. The pair were keen to help in any way they could, though, when the lifeboat station opened in 1990. The RNLI has always been one of my favourite charities, even before the station opened. I like seeing the funds go towards saving lives,' says Eilidh, who began by helping out in the shop and now runs it. John, a former fisherman, has always shared his wife's admiration for the Institution and began volunteering at the same time as her, initially as the Deputy Launching Authority. 'The lifeboat is part of the community and, although many boat users think they will never need it, they are glad of it,' he says.

Summer is a busy time for the pair in all parts of their lives. For John, the grass grows faster, there are more weddings to attend and, sadly, more requests from the Coastguard to launch the lifeboat. 'The summer brings outmore leisure boaters around the Isle of Mull and some of them get into difficulty around these parts,' he explains. Tourists, too, flock to Tobermory in the warmer months, from as far afield as Germany and even the US. This influx of visitors means that both Eilidh's bed and breakfast and the RNLI shop enjoy a boost. 'People from abroad are always interested in the lifeboat and they find it amazing that we're a charity,' says Eilidh.

'It takes quite some explaining to them that we are not Government funded, but then their hands go deeper into their pockets.' Some visitors are also surprised to see packs of Christmas cards on sale during the summer, but they are actually one of thebest-selling items. The same people come back every summer and buy them,' says Eilidh. 'It's a tradition. They are very organisedl'Tourists who are short of something to read usually leave happy too.

Eilidh has turned a small, disused building nearby into a secondhand bookshop. People can pick out a book from the unattended display and make a donation in return: last year's total alone was about £500.

In contrast to their paid jobs, which carry no staff responsibilities, both Eilidh and John coordinate a team of volunteers in their RNLI lives. Eilidh organises a rota so that the shop is covered throughout the day and John ensures enough people are available to crew the lifeboat day and night, should they be needed.

The Wilshires aren't alone in Tobermory in having jobs that differ markedly from their RNLI roles. The town's lifeboat crew members include a gravedigger, a school teacher and a joiner.

'In a small community like this, everyone has to pitch in to keep things going,' says John, who is originally from Buckinghamshire.

He moved to Tobermory 45 years ago to work as a fisherman, and met Eilidh, who has lived in the town all her life, at a dance.

The pair still love living on the Isle of Mull. 'We are happy here,' says Eilidh who, after another successful day at the shop, is about to head back to the bed and breakfast for some new arrivals. 'It's a safe place to live. We are both busy with our thing but the RNLI is something nice to in common.' As she locks the shop door, John joins her. Although he's finished the station paperwork, he may be called upon to authorise a lifeboat launch at any time.

Eilidh hasn't completely left the fundraising behind her for the day, either: back at the house, a lifeboat collection box takes pride of place in the residents' lounge. For the Wilshires, charity really does begin at home.From east to west There has been a lifeboat station at New Quay in Ceredigion, west Wales, since 1864 when the town had a thriving shipbuilding industry. This beautiful area attracts visitors from all over the world and three international visitors loved New Quay so much that they decided to stay - they signed up as volunteers at the lifeboat station. They are: Hanna Nuutila from Helsinki, Finland; Annalisa Biaanchessi from Luxembourg; and Fabio Fattoruso from Pompeii, Italy.

Hanna and Annalisa both have close connections to the sea, Hanna having completed a Marine Mammal Science degree and Annalisa an Ecological and Environmental Sciences degree with Communication and Media. Hanna works for the Sea Watch Foundation, monitoring the sightings of the marine mammals while Annalisa coordinates the management of Cardigan Bay's Special Area of Conservation. Fabio is a local youth worker who has just started a teachertraining course. He has a diploma in Art, a degree in History and a Communication and Media degree from the University of Florence, where he and Annalisa first met.

All three, with Paul Shaw, a local building worker who joined the crew at the same time, are thoroughly enjoying being part of the team at the station. Annalisa comments: The seafaring and life skills I've acquired are a real bonus - and compensation for the cold hands and feet that are a feature of winter training exercises!' When onboard the lifeboat Hanna, Annalisa and Fabio treble the crew's linguistic abilities. Between them they can speak Italian, Dutch, German, French and Finnish as well as English - perhaps their next skill will be to master Welsh!Pirates of the ... Solent! Thousands of visitors flocked to the Southampton Boat Show in September, which, this year, had a pirate theme. The RNLI displays included Severn class and Atlantic 85 lifeboats and plenty of opportunities to discover more about crew training, sea safety and MOB Guardian (the RNLI accident alerting technology pictured below). One of the Boat Show's sponsor's, Meridian TV, has also generously featured the RNLI and its Train one, save many campaign in its news programmes.

Atlantic helmsman honoured An RNLI helmsman who put his own life on the line to rescue two men and a teenager from the motorboat Kasam on 22 January 2005, is to receive national recognition for his bravery.

Appledore Helmsman Gary Stanbury has been chosen for the Walter and Elizabeth Groombridge Award 2005 for the most outstanding service performed by the crew of an Atlantic lifeboat. (The Award was established in 1988 in honour of Walter Groombridge, Station Administration Officer at Brighton 1970-80, and his widow Elizabeth's name was included after she too had passed away.) Gary has already received the RNLI Bronze Medal for Gallantry for this rescue (see the Lifeboat Autumn 2005 for full details).'Cruise' training The RNLI has received outstanding support over the years from two respected cruise companies, and 2006 has been no exception.

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines has supported the RNLI for over 40 years. Their latest donation to the RNLI is a £60,000 mobile training unit, pictured, which will be used to deliver training to crews all around the coast.

Wendy Hooper-Creenhill, PR Manager at Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, comments: 'We're absolutely delighted that we are now directly contributing to the vital training of volunteer lifeboat crews.' Thanks to the generosity of its passengers and crew, Page & Moy has collected over £50,000 for the RNLI since 1988. It has also donated holidays for Lifeboat Lottery prizes (see page 18.) Recently it has gone a step further, with the RNLI now receiving 10% from any holiday sold through Page & Moy advertisements in the Lifeboat - see page 34.

Queen's birthday honours Congratulations to the following members of the RNLI family honoured by HM The Queen in her (80th) Birthday Honours: For service to the RNLI Member, Order of the British Empire (MBE) Mr John Covier - Sidmouth and district branch Chairman Mr John Race - Former Teesmouth Coxswain Mrs Pauline Thompson - Penarth branch President For service to the shipping industry Commander, Order of the British Empire (CBE) MrWHliam Everard - RNLI Council and Operations Committee member For service to the community Member, Order of the British Empire (MBE) Mrs Anne Cowan - Great Yarmouth and Gorleston ladies guild Vice President Miss Margaret Marcus - Papa Westray guild PresidentOh deer! Good-quality, up-to-date pictures of rescues are vital in increasing awareness of and encouraging support for the RNLI but they are notoriously difficult to come by. The RNLI's Image Resource Unit has completed work with Pentax to provide a waterproof digital camera to every lifeboat station and some lifeguard units.

Some of the resulting shots have already caught the headlines.

In June 2006, a 'deer' little story came out of Arbroath when Helmsman Allan Russell spotted a roe deer struggling in the harbour and launched the lifeboat to save it from drowning. The SSPCA helped transport the deer to East Seaton, where she was released back into the wild. The resulting pictures were snapped up by the media, including Grampian TV.

(There is still time for crew members to enter the first RNLI crew member photographer of the year competition.

Full details are available from lifeboat operations managers.).