Dad loved the sea. His mother came from Coverack, in Cornwall, and he spent many happy times there. He married my mother, Maureen, when he came back from his national service, and I was born a couple of years later. When I was five he bought our first boat, Stardust, a two berth sloop that sailed like a dragon! shortly after we joined the Medway Yacht Club. We spent my childhood years sailing as a family, first in Stardust, then Precocity (20' bilge keel, with 4 berths), Tintarella and finally Gwyn Alargh, a 30' ketch. We sailed her all over the Thames Estuary and to France. Dad was a Shorelline member for many years, right up to his death in December 2013. He was very committed to the RNLI and one of my childhood memories is going house to house with a collecting tin for the RNLI every year. With 5 brothers in the Navy or working in connection with the sea, my grandmother, Lilian May Collins, brought Dad up to respect the sea and this was passed on to me. Half of his funeral tributes went to the RNLI and I am setting up this fund to provide a longer term gift in his memory. Wherever he is now I hope he is safely anchored in calm waters and in good company. If you remember Dad with happy memories, as so many do, please support this fund in his name.