Our John

Regular readers will know our John has been on reduced duties for the last few years due to major surgery.

Well this week John popped back to Poole Hospital for a little retune. We are pleased to say John is now home and recovering with his family ( pictured below)

John has been part of the team for 33 years and remains a great inspiration to us all.

90 plus years service.

Last weekend saw the presentation of a 20 year long service medal to Steve Lacey.




So in height order - left to right.

Mark Rodaway OBE, Rescue Coordination Centre Manager Portland

Ian Brown Station Officer Swanage

Steve Lacey who has also received a military long service medal.

John Bentham who has completed 30 years service.

Fly Tipping

Mr Bentham has only been on "light duties" since his operation and last week saw him return to the station to do some gardening.

Since the station was constructed John has enjoyed making the outside area look smart and tidy - working alongside the Town Council who cut the grass and trim the trees.
So with him missing its been something that has not been done too often.

During his stay in hospital a new drainage pipe was added which now settled has caused some hollows so John found some soil and started to fill them and remove the stones to avoid damage to the Council's mower.

Sadly someone took his actions as "Fly Tipping" and reported his actions to the District Council who wrote to John asking him to account for his actions.

Like a scene from the film " The Great Escape" his actions of dumping soil in the hollows were foiled and he may end up in court!

Thankfully District Councillor Gary Suttle stepped in pointing out that most "fly tippers don't tend to hang around to ensure the pile of soil is carefully flattened and stones removed. Here we have someone recovering from major surgery doing some good around a building they are part of. A letter of apology will be on its way."

Well done John, you have only been back a couple of weeks and caused problems - leave the trees to Council please.

'Fly Tipper  Bentham'
...this time being awarded by the UK Chief Coastguard for his work on the 2008 Napoli Incident.

He's on his way back and he's got a couple of tasks

Another welcome visit to the station today by John who readers will know has been quite ill for about 18 months now.
The MCA have been very supportive in John's recovery and not rushing him to return to front line duties.
So now he is feeling a little better it was time to give him a couple of little jobs.....!!!

We have a lot of old photos in a box...no good in a box and certainly no good when you do not know who the photo is of. So having served for 31 years John will go back and name who he can and put the photos in some sort of order.

Job number two, how do you mark 2012 and especially the Queen's Diamond Jubilee year.....?
We have lots of history going back to 1842......?
I wonder if over the years the team has been out on every day of the year......?
One of our new team members has provided a large diary.......

Bingo.....give John all the records, the diary and that's one amazing project.

"Every day of a year" a unique record of incidents on every day of the Coastguard year.

We will see how he gets on.

Someone had a birthday

We missed something very important this week and on behalf of the team we must apologise for this.

John Bentham had a very special birthday on the 8th and his daughters arranged for this very special cake to mark the occasion.

Readers will know John is still on the mend and slowly returning to life in the team, supported by the team and the MCA.

We also would point out that any similarities between the bold character above and Pip our old Sector Manager are purely a coincident.

So....sorry John, Happy Birthday.

Great photo

Trev-Rich Photography took a great photo yesterday.

50 years Service

Last night family, friends and partner agencies attended a presentation at Swanage Bay View.

The 1st presentation was to Paul Brassington. Paul retired from the team 18 months ago after 7 years service. Paul's medical skills as a Paramedic came in very handy on many occassions.

The next presentation was to me for twenty years service to the Coastguard. The presentation was made by Norman Smee the Coastal Safety Manager (South).

Following my presentation, John Bentham was presented with his Clasp to his Long Service Medal for 30 years service. This presentation was extra special as John has been so ill recently.

Finally the team then presented a frame picture to Pip Hall our old Sector Manager who left us last year and moved to Devon.

On behalf of the team can I thank everyone who attended and to all our supporters.

Another step forward

Over six months since his last visit to the Station, John returned to the station and caught up with the team.

On strict instructions to sit still, not touch anything and drink tea it was a great moment to have him back on board.

Name John Bentham

Age 21+

Position in team Deputy Deputy Station Officer

Qualifications - Currently off line having been in hospital for over six months

Nickname JB

Role in team - When back in action, chief sweeper, gardener, making stuff, action hero (only has one speed - mega fast) tyre changer and currently holds the team record for the number of visits to the Gurkha restaurant self service section.

John......he's back

The very special person at yesterdays incident was "our John"..... Readers will know that John has been very very poorly in fact he has been in hospital for over 4 months. In March he had some major operations in Southampton and Poole hospitals and this was a very worrying situation for his family and friends. Well last week, the hospitals finally had enough of him and decided he could at long last come home. Its going to a bit longer before John will be able to join in with the team but just to have him back at home is a huge relief to us all. Thank you to many of you for your letters and notes of support, these were passed on to family. So imagine the surprise of the IRT yesterday when they were on the beach along comes John to check them out !

Our John

Visited our John this afternoon to see how he's doing after his 2nd visit to hospital.

Still along way to go for him but he was laughing and joking in his usual manner which was great to see.

It will be sometime before we see him back at the station but in the meantime we continue to keep in touch and support where we can.

Party

Well we couldn't let such an important event pass and not have a party? So the team went on mass to Poole Hospital to visit John. We are pleased to say he had a better day today and was very pleased to see his friends. We took him a cake but sadly hes not eating much at the moment, but that didn't stop other members of the team digging in.

Guess who ate all the doughnuts??

Thank you also to the St Albans team who kindly covered the patch whilst we went over to see John.

Our John

Today is a very special day for the Team and for one member in particular.....John Bentham.

30 years ago today, John joined the Swanage Coastguard Team and since then he has been the back bone of the team. John has given so much not only to the team but the families and lots of people in Swanage often putting them 1st.

Normal John has one speed, that's super fast ....whether fitting tyres or sweeping the station, you just see him running past.

So on behalf of the team congratulations to John for 30 years of dedicated Service to HM Coastguard, with a Chief Coastguard Commendation and a Letter of Thanks for his work at MRCC Portland during the Napoli incident not forgetting the many lives he has helped save in and around Swanage you can not ask for much more out of a wonderful team member.

Now sadly something we haven't told readers is that John is unfortunately quite ill at the moment so today will not be quite as we planned, so we would ask you all in joining us in wishing John a good recovery, he might be off for a bit but the Team is doing its best to look after him.

Kit Night

Kit night is not just about the equipment, there is cleaning of station and now the warmer weather has arrived two of the team have decided to tidy up around the back of the station.

John and Dee were busy filling in holes and gathering up sticks and rubbish so the grass can get established.

There was talk of a fountain, picnic bench and bbq.........keep you posted

Your No1

1st job of the year and Messrs Bentham and Kitching form the advance party to Studland...

1) Keys......found on the side in the garage
2) PPE.......check
3) Lights....check
4) Sat Nav....we haven't got one
5) Radio.......Heart or Radio 2?
6) Bacon Sandwich.......Eric and Tom finishing those...

Lets go......

Gucci Goggles

Uvex Ivo

Well they look like ‘Gucci kit’ but they’re actually cheap but effective UVEX goggles. Nothing really special about them apart from they are blue and orange.

Why do we need them, quiet simply eye protection. The downwash of air from the helicopter is immense and any debris or sand etc . is blown at a 100mph into your face. If you wear contact lenses like me it’s even more of a problem. At least with these on you can see the helicopter - albeit only just sometimes. They are great on the cliff, especially chalk cliffs, where the updraft of dust kicked off by the cliffman comes flying into your face.





Helicopter at very close quarters


Googles are also worn when driving in stakes for the stake holdfasts at the top of the cliffs. The worry here is shards of metal flying off, ….and if you’ve ever seen Special Agent John Bentham knock in a stake you’ll know why. I have NEVER seen something hit with so much force. Who taught him to do that! Even the sledgehammer was wincing in pain.

John Bentham

Some of you may remember that John was awarded "A letter of Thanks" from the Chief Coastguard in 2008 for his work at MRCC Portland during the Napoli incident.

I'm pleased to say, just before the opening of the station John was presented with the letter by Rod Johnston.

John's role was to sign people in and out of the building and generally look after the security of the building during the operation.

Well done John, we are proud of you.

Picture Suzie Hall

Mr Bentham

In what could be considered our "2nd" podcast, Mr Bentham (No 3 in charge) shows us what happens when his pager goes off....
Thanks to Coral for sending this in......perhaps hes just getting excited for Christmas?
Children, please note that the Swanage Coastguard team condones any sort of "bouncing on the bed" its dangerous!

The Trailer - Part one

Due to the lack of space in the station, the trailer was taken to be stored at the Swanage Middle School.

Whilst this gave us the space, it wasn't easy to use the trailer, and whilst covered, the weather began to take its hold and the condition of the trailer deteriorated.

Clearly looking like this we couldn't use it, so we decided to bring it back on station.

So once again, attached to the vehicle, lights checked, off we went to return it to the station. A little service by Avenue garage found it was fit for purpose, just its appearance wasn't very good.

Having been washed and cleaned, and with the help of a lifeboat mechanic who kindly found some paint the trailer was handed over to......yes you guessed it, Agent Bentham and Austen, who then spent several weeks, rubbing the metal work down and painting it again.

The story will continue.

Kayak Patrol

It was a sunny evening last night so I went for a stroll ....well actually I went for a kayak accross the bay.

I would go out more often but it's bit of a pain getting these things to the beach, they are actually quiet heavy and awkward to move, especially with all the other equipment, ....paddle, buoyancy aid, radio, spray top, throw rope, etc etc. If only someone in the team could design something to make life a bit easier.......cue Special Agent Bentham who we believe is working on a prototype launching trolley.

What's the round black bit at the front of the kayak?? Well it's a 'dry hatch' where you put stuff that you want to keep dry, the only problem with this one is that it leaks!!

John Bentham

Many of you will know John from his tyre and exhaust expertise, however perhaps you did'nt know that John is our longest serving member in the Swanage team having joined in September 1980.

Last year when the MSC Napoli was beached off Branscombe beach, little did we expect it would involve us, but an urgent request for support had John disappearing down to Weymouth for nearly two months.

Having been temporarily promoted to Station Officer, John was given the job of security of MRCC Portland, signing in and escorting all visitors around the building during the day.

As always John carried out the role to the highest standards, meeting alot of people during the two months, in recognition of his hard work the Chief Coastguard has awarded John with a 'Letter of Thanks', in his 2007 awards

On behalf of the team, well done John we are very proud of you.