Getting the Christmas lunch just right is a concern for most, although the Christmas meal can fall by the wayside completely for any of the 4,500 RNLI volunteer lifeboat crews who are ready to drop everything, including the Christmas turkey, to respond to emergency calls at sea.
For the last 17 years RNLI lifeboats have been called out to rescue people in distress at sea every day of the Christmas holiday period. Between 24 December 2006 and 1 January 2007 RNLI lifeboats were launched a total of 96 times rescuing 81 people.
Plus the RNLI played a crucial role during the summer 2007 floods.
The charity receives no UK Government funding and relies on donations to keep going. RNLI SOS day on 25 January 2008 encourages people to raise money in any way they can.
Anne Maton, Fundraising Manager for the RNLI suggests:
For a free RNLI SOS pack full of fundraising ideas, log on to www.rnli.org.uk/sos or call 0845 121 4999.