Thank you for your excellent response to our request for your help in selecting the words to include on the RNLI memorial sculpture. Many of you favoured one of the five published quotations, though we also received a good selection of new material.

The firm favourite and winner was ‘With courage, nothing is impossible’, the motto of Sir William Hillary, founder of the RNLI. This perfectly captures the brave, selfless determination that makes ordinary people extraordinary volunteers; reflecting the very heart of our unique charity and the purpose of this new sculpture. We hope you agree.

Alongside the quotation and the names of the RNLI volunteers who lost their lives will be a poem by Nick Jenkins. The memorial will be completed in time for the RNLI Headquarters open days at Poole on 5–6 September.

Congratulations to Tim Stevens (Redruth, Cornwall), Janet Boyes (Hamilton, Scotland) and Jacqueline Griffiths (Morden, Surrey) who all receive a copy of The lifeboat story by Edward Wake-Walker. Their names were drawn first from the many entries supporting the chosen quotation.

Our next issue will feature the making and unveiling of the sculpture, as well as the stories behind it.