A NEW HOME FOR HOLBROOK COASTGUARD

Holbrook Coastguard Rescue Team are celebrating moving to their new home at the Royal Harwich Yacht Club on Saturday 14th May at 12 noon when they will raise the Coastguard flag on the RHYC’s flagpole outside the building.

The Holbrook Coastguard Rescue Service provides the UK’s coastal search and rescue capability, as part of Her Majesty’s Coastguard, from Ipswich Wet dock to White Bridge at Manningtree.

The Royal Harwich Yacht Club is providing the Coastguard Rescue team with a training base, which can also be used for incident de-briefs. The Coastguard Vehicle will also be stored at the Yacht Club.

Peter Creasey, Station Officer of the Holbrook Coastguard Rescue Team said:
“Holbrook Coastguard Rescue Team was set-up in 1996. We’re called out around 55 times each year and being able to muster the team at the Royal Harwich Yacht Club’s Woolverstone site will be greatly assist our response.

“I’d like to thank the Royal Harwich Yacht Club for accommodating us.”

Tony Vagg General Committee Member of the Royal Harwich Yacht Club said:
“The location of the Holbrook Coastguard at the Royal Harwich Yacht Club, sees two key maritime related organisations operating in harmony to further water sports being safely enjoyed by many on one of the prettiest estuaries on the East Coast”

-Ends –


Notes to Editors

  1. The principal guests are Mr Ken Rolls RHYC Commodore and Station Officer Peter Creasy and other members of the Holbrook Coastguard Rescue Team.

  1. There will be the opportunity to take pictures of: the formal handover and raising of the Coastguard flag on the RHYC flagpole; presentation of HM Coastguard plaque to the RHYC Commodore and a group photo of the Holbrook Coastguard Rescue Team, representatives from the RHYC and the Coastguard Rescue Vehicle

  1. Coastguard Rescue Officers come from all walks of life. They are people who have chosen to serve their communities and the public by giving their time, skills and effort willingly and without salary.

  1. The teams are fully trained and equipped to carry out search and rescue operations around the coast of the UK who can be called out by the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) at any time of the day or night, in all weathers, to respond to those in trouble or missing, to seek confirmation or further information of a report, or to participate in a joint response to an emergency
The main things that the Coastguard Rescue Service does are to:
    • Carry out rescues of those trapped or injured on cliffs or in mud and provides a limited water rescue capability;
    • Carry out searches for missing persons often in conjunction with the Police;
    • Carry out coastal and inshore surveillance and intelligence gathering on behalf of the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC);
    • Provide emergency mobile communications including relay and remote radio site operation;
    • Provide incident response and on-scene co-ordination as required by the MRCC;
    • Report the presence of pollution and other hazardous objects on the shore to the MRCC;
    • Carry out duties as required by the Receiver of Wreck;
    • Assist local authorities and the other emergency services when requested in relation to counter pollution, flood relief, missing person searches and other emergencies;
    • Carry out accident prevention and safety education activities and specially targeted prevention initiatives;

  1. The Royal Harwich Yacht Club established in 1843 and now with its HQ on the southern shore of the Orwell river downstream of the Orwell Bridge, at Woolverstone, is one of the East Coasts key Yachting clubs, offering a venue for Dinghy and Yacht racing and cruising – it has its own clubhouse with restaurant, a marina, moorings and dinghy park and offers an extensive programme of RYA approved training courses as well as many social events.

  1. Stay safe - before heading out on the water get trained, check weather and tides, wear a lifejacket, avoid alcohol and keep in touch

  1. Follow us on Twitter. Find us at MCA_media

Popular posts from this blog

Label your kit at the coast

Image
Kayaks. Canoes. Paddleboards. What do they all have in common? They’re quite often found on the coastline or drifting out to sea. And if we don’t know who they belong to, we can spend time searching for an owner when they’re home safe and sound. So please help us to help you. Label your kit so that if you do get separated from it, and it turns up somewhere, we can get hold of you. In recent weeks, our Coastguard Rescue Teams have found numerous items such as kayaks and canoes drifting out at sea or abandoned near the shoreline. Unfortunately, some of the items we have found have not had their owners’ contact details written on them nor been reported as missing to the Coastguard. As a result, it makes it difficult for us to find out who it belongs to and also means we can never be completely sure if someone is safe or in the worst case, in trouble at sea. This can place a huge strain on our resources especially during the busy summer period when we have to call upon our Coastgua
Read more

A short history of HM Coastguard

Image
Today HM Coastguard is a world leader in maritime search and rescue. Looking back almost 200 years, the goods, which now travel by road, were carried by hundreds of small ships. Year in year out dozens of ships and hundreds of lives were lost within sight of the coast. Public shock and dismay at the tragedies drove forward the creation of national life saving organisations. Though it’s beginnings lie in those decades HM Coastguard originated not to meet the dangers of the seas but to combat a threat to the country’s economy and security – smuggling. As soon as medieval taxes were charged on imports and exports, people began smuggling. By 1743 th e estimate was that half the tea drunk in Britain was illegally imported and shows that smuggling was highly profitable. Smugglers have often been romanticised but the reality was brutal. Local people lived in fear, with violent reprisals on informers and the murder of revenue officers, while corruption enabled smugglers to evade harsh p
Read more

BOSCASTLE FLOODS: TEN YEARS ON

Image
Boscastle Flooding 16 th August 2004 The storms of Monday 16 August 2004 saw three weeks worth of rain fall in one day. The resulting water began to be funnelled down the valleys surrounding Boscastle and soon the steep roads became rivers. By the time that the water reached the picturesque village, it had picked up enough momentum to become a raging torrent, sweeping into buildings, washing cars away and felling huge trees. Graham King runs the Witches Museum in Boscastle and was also the station officer for the Boscastle Coastguard Rescue Team at the time of the floods: “ My museum is situated next to the harbour near the river ,” says Graham “ and I can see the coastguard equipment store from there. Initially I was concerned that the vehicle and equipment were going to become stranded but I soon began to realise how quickly the situation was deteriorating and called Falmouth Coastguard ” From that point on the villagers and tourists stranded in flood waters were he
Read more