The Chairman, Maureen Williams welcomed members to the August meeting.

The trip to Stratford on Avon in July had been enjoyed by all the members who went and reports of adventures that members had undertaken was interesting. One of the highlights seemed to be going through the lock leading out onto the river, most members never having gone through a lock before.

Members were reminded to sign up for the 50th Anniversary lunch to be held on October 26 at Clarence Park Village also the Christmas Party which will be held at the golf club once again in December.

The speaker for the morning was Frank Austin from the RNLI who gave a very informative and interesting insight into the work undertaken by these fantastic volunteers who risk their lives daily under the flag of the RNLI.

Mr Austin informed the meeting that the RNLI was started in 1823 under the name of 'The Royal Society for the Prevention of Life' but in 1824 this was changed to 'The Royal National Lifeboat Institute'.

Pictures of the old days when life jackets were very cumbersome with blocks of cork to keep crew members afloat but were deadly if a member of the crew had to jump into the water gave rise to much thought. Later the life jackets were changed to kapock but as you can imagine they soon soaked up the water.

Lifeboats were crewed by men who had to row the heavy boat to rescues. All boats were either pushed by hand or pulled by horses to get them into sea. A boat could weigh 11 tons or so and were therefore difficult to handle and sometimes lifeboat crew had to row for many hours through heavy seas.

Some coastal areas had no slipway and pathways had to be dug to be able to launch the boat which was time consuming and very tiring. There was no radar or radio communication at that time enabling people to pinpoint the rescue site.

An interesting fact was that if the maroon rockets are sent up to alert the crews to the lifeboat station. One bang means the coast guard is needed but two bangs means the lifeboat is to be launched.

Mr Austin had pictures of some of the 7 lifeboats which Blue Peter viewers had paid for over the years from their appeals, this brought back memories to members.

One benefactor paid for a new boat 'Mabel Alice' at Newlyn which cost £1.2 million, he also paid for a new lifeboat station to be built and then paid for a new lifeboat for Scotland which was named 'Charlie Brown' after his favourite character.

Crew are trained in all aspects of rescue at a start of the art training centre in Poole in Dorset, they also have a special pool to practice ditching into the water.

Mr Austin had marvellous photographs of the many boats which have attended rescues which made his talk all the more interesting.

How lucky we are to have such a service around our shores and lakes. Not only is it used for rescues at sea but also 5 boats have specially trained crews on board to help with victims of flooding for which Tewkesbury can be thankful when the RNLI came to their help when they had the dreadful flooding a few years ago.

Members enjoyed a most interesting and enjoyable morning.

The vote of thanks was given by Joyce Dawkins.

The next meeting will be held on Thursday, September 15 when the speaker will be Rebecca Edmunds with 'Tales for the Crown Court'.

The Guild meet on the third Thursday of every month at Clarence Park Village, Worcester Road, Malvern Link at 10.15am. Visitors are always most welcome

MAUREEN WILLIAMS