Another Dog Incident

The Swanage Coastguard IRT were called out along with Swanage Inshore Lifeboat (ILB) to a dog fallen from cliffs near Old Harry Rocks.

http://www.mcga.gov.uk/c4mca/mcga07-home/newsandpublications/press-releases.htm?id=0D8CCA9CCF3DCFE1&m=12&y=2010

It appears the owner had lost the dog in the morning and for some reason had not notified the Coastguard or Police at the time. Passing walkers heard the dog this afternoon and called the Coastguard as there was concern the dogs owner had also fallen. The IRT arrived on scene and due to the location decided it was safer to request the ILB to recover the dog.

Thankfully the dog had no injuries and was reunited to a very relieved owner at the lifeboat house.

This is the 9th (ninth) dog incident this year for the team, some have not had a happy ending. Again we ask owners of dogs to keep dogs on leads when near the cliffs, and should you lose you dog near the cliffs please report it to the Coastguard and Police straight away.

Always worrying

Always worrying when you type in 'HM Coastguard Logo' into Google Images and the first page shows this....Is this really the 20th most viewed photo to do with the subject line?



So I clicked on it.

Oh yes now I remember.

Mince Pies

Been to checked the station after training the other night. Christmas cards on the table for various people, life jackets come back from testing its looking good.......hold on.

Boxes of mince pies ! Clearly after my banning order someone thinks its funny to leave mince pies everywhere. Even on the desk two empty foil trays, ha ha very funny team.

On the operational front.....well not a lot going on (which is a good thing). We try and keep it simple in December and only do the minimal to keep things ticking over at the station.

Training Night

Training night last night, and another chance to get familiar with the new cliff harnesses.  Although we have had them for a few weeks now we won't put them into service until we're ready; nobody wants to be on a cliff top late at night with a casualty stuck half way down, wind and rain howling,  panicking about how the harness fastens together.
It's kit night next week so we'll probably take the opportunity to swap the harnesses then.

Also in a busy training night we had a debrief on last week's Christmas meal, tested and approved a pack of mince pies kindly brought in by the DSO and had a visit from the main man Father Christmas courtesy of the Rotary Club.

Christmas Tree

Its that time of the year where the christmas tree will be coming out of the cupboard and dusted down. Last year readers might remember that "Gareth" was selected as the fairy for the top of the tree...........who will be selected this year?

Christmas Crackers

As Ian has already posted, it was the Coastguard Christmas meal on Saturday, so for the benefit of those colleagues who couldn't make it, and for our general readership (hi to you both ...) I thought I'd share some of the jokes from the crackers...

Q: What does the word minimum mean?
A: A very small mother

Q:What did the beaver say to the tree?
A: Nice gnawing you

Q:Why did the witch put her broom in the washing machine?
A: She wanted to have a clean sweep.

Seriously folks, this is as good as it gets, so I'll stop there. But at least in these environmental times its good to see that even bad jokes can be recycled and re-used.

Team Award

It was the annual Coastguard Christmas dinner last night and that meant the awarding of the "Swanage Coastguard of the Year" award.

The award is presented in memory of Mike "Spike" Williamson who passed away in 2004, the award is given to team member who has contributed the most to the team.

Now normally its a team decision, however to avoid the risk of a recent football voting scandal, the DSO and I decided we would make the important decision.

This year the award was given to two team members.

Eric - When Eric isn't away on holiday, his commitment to the team has been great this year especially during the day when our IRT coverage is a little short. Eric always turns up with a smile and normally a joke which helps the team get on with the task.

Gareth - Poor Gareth (and Mrs K) get put on a lot living next to the station, alarm activations, checking the building, chasing off youths playing on the building are just some of the things Gareth has done. But its when the pagers go off and you get there to find the truck out of the station, kitted up and ready to go which is one of the main reasons for his award this year.

But lets not forgot the whole team, this year had been our busiest ever and its a credit to all of them that our work continues in the town.

Working Together

The good thing about Swanage this week was everyone working together.

Whilst we got a small amount of snow compared to some parts of the country people enjoyed themselves and to my knowledge stayed safe.

Last night the IRT were out assisting South Western Ambulance as they could not get their ambulance up one of the steepest roads in Swanage, so asked if they could use our 4 x 4.
The patient was transfered from home to the truck, down the hill and then transferred to the waiting ambulance all in a matter or mintues.

Southborne Team Search

The Southborne Team (Bournemouth) were out yesterday in a search operation which looks like it ended well.

Well done chaps.

Visits

The IRT have been assisting Police tonight with transporting a health care worker around Swanage making visits to elderly residents in the town.

Whilst this is not a normal Coastguard incident we are very proud to assist the community using our 4 x 4 vehicles.

All round the country Coastguard teams have been assisting their communities in similar ways and with temperatures over night again going to be in minus figures, teams could again be out tomorrow.