The RNLI used to be really busy in the 19th and early 20th centuries when Britain had busy ports, a large merchant navy and many fishing vessels near our coasts, and then they really did need donations from the public. But now they are struggling to spend the income on their investments, and do not need public collections at all. With better boats and vastly improved satellite navigation modern commercial vessels do not get into trouble nearly so often and, if they do, the UK's Coastguard lift the crew off in helicopters. In the 1980s the RNLI became known as "the yachtsman's charity": it rescued lots of small yachts in the Solent and the Channel whose engines had failed or which had grounded due to tide miscalculations. On the Thames the Chiswick station rescues many dogs who misjudge the tidal current and, less glamorously, they recover the bodies of suicides from the Thames (about 20 per year). This is work which the River Police used to do until the Met's budget for their marine division was cut. All the staff at the three stations on the Thames are paid, they are not volunteers. But there is very little work to do apart from training and drills. I know because I used to work at Chiswick Pier Trust. The RNLI didn't and still don't pay for the moorings on the pier which they occupy, which cost money to maintain. The owners of the large houseboats effectively subsidise them through their mooring fees. It is a racket.
Una-Jane Winfield ● 2123d