As the marathon is next month I thought I'd post a reminder and some more information about my charity.

In rural America, there is a class of citizen-hero willing to risk life and limb for neighbors in need. The volunteer fireman has always been willing to put it on the line in an emergency, but now they also must undergo extensive, time-consuming training to master the increasingly sophisticated equipment even the poorest fire districts now consider essential.

That same combination of bravery, compassion and -- to a certain extent -- thirst for adventure is also at the heart of another class of volunteer -- the members of the Royal Natonal Lifeboat Institution. (R NLI).

As an island nation, the UK has always had a close relationship with the sea. For a sea-faring people, lifeboat societies were a necessity, providing assistance in maritime disasters. In 1824, Sir William Hillary recognized the need to organize the societies into a coordinated body. The RNLI was born.

Set up around the coastlines of the British Isles, the RNLI is an all-volunteer operation.Over 200 stations exist in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Since 1824, over 125,000 lives have been saved as a result of rescue efforts by RNLI crews. .

The boats patrol waters out to 50 miles from shore and each crew averages three rescues per month. Every six weeks the crews perform training missions, keeping abreast of seamanship and rescue procedures.

While their efforts are similar to those of the U.S. Coast Guard, the RNLI crews make up for their lack of fulltime training by concentrating on areas close to home where they have intimate knowledge of the waters and coastlines.

My own Grandfather helped keep a lifeboat station in rural Wales, this station no longer exists.

Why donations are needed now more than ever.

As our use of the sea for pleasure increases so to do the demands on the RNLI, 2005 was again the busiest year in its history in many regions.

In 2000 the RNLI had sufficient reserves to sustain four and a half years of operations and was considered by some to be a 'wealthy' charity. In January 2006 the free reserves will sustain only eleven months operations

For the last 4 financial years we have received less income than the cost of our lifesaving operations, however our costs do include building lifeboats and lifeboat stations as well as developing new services e.g. Thames lifeboats, our lifeguards and hovercraft, and not just running existing services.


Income from donations and legacies is not keeping up with the increasing demand for our services; to continue expanding and improving our lifesaving services we urgently need public support particularly as the Lifeboat service receives no government funding.

We have expanded our life saving services on the Thames, introduced RNLI Lifeguards in the South West of England and built a much needed central training facility – the Lifeboat College. Meanwhile demand for all our rescue services continues to rise steadily.

It has taken the RNLI 182 years to accumulate the assets, so generously provided by public support, which enable it to provide the safe reliable service of today.

Gareth