VIEW FROM THE TOWER!

Station Manager Interview For this Blog entry we interviewed Colin Church, Station Manger of NCI Gosport, to find out more about NCI and how the Gosport station operates. Q. We know that the NCI Gosport station overlooks the harbour entrance at Fort Blockhouse, but when did it first open ? Colin. The station opened in 2008 and has been in continuous operation since then, apart from a brief hiatus due to the covid lockdown. Q. How many volunteers man the station ? How many are there at any one time ? Colin. We have about 60 volunteers - more formally called ‘Watchkeepers’ - at Gosport. We open the station at 9am each day with two watchkeepers on duty; they hand over to another two at 12.30pm. In the summer months another two come on duty at 4pm; they close the station at 7.30pm. We have an online rostering system so that watchkeepers can choose what days and times they wish to be on duty. On average each watchkeeper will be on duty about three times per month. Q. Can anyone...

NCI - The Beginning   It seems like a good idea in this first post to describe how NCI itself started. To be brief, the first station opened in October 1994, but to set the scene you have to look back a few more years. Up to 1991, the Coastguard operated and maintained a comprehensive network of manned lookout stations round the coast of the UK. By the end of 1992 however, following a period of rationalisation and modernisation, most of these had closed. The seas round the UK can be capricious, dangerous, and take vessels and lives. In 1994 it took two more – two local fishermen who drowned near the recently-closed lookout at Bass Point. One can only imagine how feelings – sadness, anger, resentment perhaps - ran in the local communities. But the people there did something remarkable; instead of making protests they made history, trying to ensure that this sort of tragedy would not happen again. Following well-supported public meetings they obtained funding from generous don...

Welcome ! Welcome to the NCI Gosport Blog ! It comprises a series of articles from Watchkeepers at NCI Gosport, based on their experiences of what they see at hear while on watch in the lookout tower at the harbour entrance. We hope to post new articles from time to time. Just to be formal, please note that these are personal statements and do not necessarily reflect the official view of NCI Gosport or NCI nationally. However, we hope that you find them interesting and useful.