Anglesey: New life saving coastal watch service is live

A new National Coastwatch Institution building started officially operating at Moelfre on Saturday, September 7.

The service had been previously located in a temporary station at Amlwch for about a year.

Before that it was based at Point Lynas for about nine years, but had had to relocate after its ownership changed. Based on various options Moelfre had been considered “the most suitable location” for the watch station in terms of visibility of incidents based on HM Coastguard and RNLI data.

Notorious for shipwrecks

Now, the new building, located on the grassy headland close to the Moelfre RNLI station, has been completed.

It is above an area of wild sea and rocks notorious for shipwrecks, and close to the area where the Royal Charter famously sank in 1859, and the Hindlea in 1959.

The station has been over a year in development and according to retired engineer Tony Boylan, the station’s deputy station manager, a “number of hurdles” including finding a suitable location, planning, leasing and legal issues all had to be overcome before the project could go ahead.

“But our presence in Moelfre has already prompted a lot of interest and curiosity, and we’ve have had a lot of visitors already,” Tony said.

The National Coastwatch Institute building has gone live on the headland at Moelfre, on Anglesey. (Image Dale Spridgeon)

Station manager Ged Trelford also said the people Moelfre had been “extremely welcoming”.

He said: “It took a while to get through the red tape, but we are here now and have a 10 year lease which is great.

“We have to thank Anglesey Council, local politicians, businesses and locals who have helped us.”

Royal patron

The NCI organisation was set up in 1994 to restore visual watches, following the closure of a number of small coastguard stations, its patron is Princess Anne and it’s run by a board of trustees.

The first NCI station opened at Bass Point on the Lizard, after two fisherman lost their lives off the Cornish coast – there are now around 60 stations across the UK.

National Coastwatch Institute volunteer watchkeepers gathered to mark the start of the new Moelfre station. Pictured Are Christine Howard, Anne Hiley, Colin Heath, Vicky Cooper, who received a certificate for five year\'s service, and Mike Thompson w

According to Ged, who is a retired teacher from Carreglefn, NCI watchkeepers are the “eyes and ears along the coast”.

“There is a lot of new technology and computerised systems aimed at improving safety at sea but there is no substitute for a human pair of eyes,” he said.

“We often see things happening at a local level and we can help speed up the rescue process long before it becomes a crisis.”

Their most common include incidents such as youngsters on rubber rings or dinghies unaware they are drifting out to sea.

“If we spot something like that we can get straight on to the coastguard and RNLI before it becomes a tragedy,” Ged said.

“We keep an eye on swimmers, kayakers and paddle boarders and we also help experienced fisherman or yacht crews who may have got into into difficulty, maybe having mechanical problems or a medical emergency.”

Optical equipment

To carry out visual and listening watches the volunteers use VHF radio, radar, high powered optical equipment, cameras, ship recognition systems and weather stations.

Volunteers are trained to act in an emergency and provide a vital link with the coastguard and rescue services, and they also keep daily written logs of events and weather conditions.

They observe passing ships and can act as a relay in mayday emergency calls.

They also keep an eye out for any suspicious behaviour at sea, which might indicate drugs or smuggling.

“We are in close and regular contact with a range of services including organisations such as boarder control,” Ged said.

The station can also acts as a safety information service for local vessels calling up for weather advice before setting out.

It also helps people on the shore who may have got into difficulty whilst walking coastal paths linking them up with emergency services.

"A lot of hard work"

According to Tony, who hails from Cemaes Bay, the culmination of the Moelfre project has all been down to “a lot of hard work” – but also thanks to a donation of £20,000.

“We would have not been able to complete this project without a very generous donation which came from one of our watch keepers Gwilym Evans’s brother Sir Anthony Evans QC,” he said.

“They wanted to do something to remember their late father Meurig Evans, and we have placed a plaque on the front of the building in his memory.”

“We’ve also had fantastic support from a number of local businesses,” he added.

Ged agreed saying: “We have been made very welcome in Moelfre.

“We hope we can be of service, it is a wonderful feeling to know you may have played a part in saving a life at sea.”

The organisation, which has about 25 volunteers, is now seeking more people to come forward.

“The more we have the better, we provide all the training although volunteers must pay for their own uniform,”

Ged said. “Age is no barrier, our volunteers range from teens to people in their eighties.

“People just need to commit to donating their time, and to be able to carry out the three hour watches and able use the equipment affectively, all training is given.”

Raising money

The station is also appealing for help to raise money for specialist equipment – it particularly needs high powered observation binoculars.

To mark the service going live, several of its volunteers gathered at the station over the weekend.

Ged presented a ten year service certificate to Mike Thompson and five year service certificate to Vicky Cooper.