Open Day

The open day yesterday was well attended, about 250 people I reckon in total. It was good to see everyone getting involved. Lots of interested people, lots of tea, lots of biscuits and lots of questions.

The top five questions of the day were:-


Q1. Will you still be operating the Lookout at Peveril Point?

A. No and Yes! The lookout at Peveril Point will stay; manned by the volunteers of the National Coastwatch; http://www.nci.org.uk/ a fine group of hard working people who give up their time for the community. Many visited yesterday, and thanks to them for coming over. (Don’t worry chaps we’ll still be over to see you!)


Q2. How many full time Coastguards are there in Swanage?

A. None. We are all volunteers. Two team members are on Immediate Response (The IRT- Team) while the other 11 are there as a Back-Up Response Team – (BURT). Under Coastguard rules we are not officially allowed to work to a rota, so we work to an ‘agreement’ amongst the team, this produced monthly.


Q3. Will you still keep your boat down at the Lifeboat Station?

A. Well we don’t have a boat, the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) http://www.rnli.org.uk/ - http://www.swanagelifeboat.org.uk/ - http://lifeboatscrapbook.blogspot.com/ are a separate charitable body that are requested by the Coastguard Operations Room to respond. We work in close contact with them and will continue to do so. The main difference between us and them is that we make better tea. – I hope I haven’t started a tea war now!


Q4. How much do you get paid?

A. Well we receive a small amount for our time, it’s basically the national minimum wage, so £5.73 an hour. This covers training and kit maintenance and of course rescues; extra hours such as Carnival week and the open day yesterday are normally unpaid. No one on the team does it for the money! Last month I took home just under £35. One chap has asked not be paid and this allows us to run with 13 team members rather than the normal 12 – I won’t name him, but he’s a damn good bloke.


Q5, (A 5 year old lad sitting in the Rescue Vehicle) ‘What does the ‘Alert’ button do?... and can I press it?’

A. Well from the grin on his face I think he already knew what the alert button did ! (Blue Lights and Sirens!!!!) and the fact that he asked probably indicated he already knew what I’d say. ‘Best not Adam - it’s a bit loud!’