February - villagevoices.org.uk

From Shingle Street CoastguardWe’ve had no incidents this month soI thought I would tell you instead howthe coastguard has changed over thepast 30 years.In the meantime, the breaches bouyequipment was phased out but we werestill classed as a search and rescueteam.I joined the coastguard in 1976 andat that time we did rough weatherwatches. This meant that when thewind reached force six a watch wouldbe set until it abated. The watches usedto be of six hours duration. My firstwatch was from midnight until 0600.You can imagine how boring that was,pitch black and nothing to see!They then changed it to four hourwatches in the daytime, loggingshipping movements in and out of theRiver Ore.Get snapping!After a few years the watch time wasreduced to three hours and we did footpatrols along stretches of the beach.In 2003 we were supplied with avehicle and this made the job far moreinteresting as we now cover a largearea from Orford Quay to BawdseyFerry and up the east side of the RiverDeben up to Woodbridge.I hope you have found that of someinterest, until next time, safe passage.Roy Clark for Shingle StreetCoastguardIt sounds a long way off, but February 2009, whenwe hope to hold our next Village Voices photographycompetition and exhibition, will soon come round. Somake the most of the growing hours of daylight to getout and about start taking pictures of local interest.www.villagevoices.org.uk February 2008 page 15