Shetland and Orkney celebrate Coastguard 200 milestone

Shetland and Orkney teams have marked Her Majesty's Coastguard's two hundred year anniversary this month, with two events bringing together the 14 Coastguard Rescue Teams on the Northern Isles.

Alex Dodge, Senior Coastal Operations Officer for the area, said they had decided to organise two events to ensure 'everyone could make it' and that volunteers on both sets of islands were fully included in celebrating two centuries of their local communities supporting – and working or volunteering for – the Coastguard.

Coastguard staff and volunteers alike were also presented with a special Jubilee medal.

In Orkney, a scrumptious cake was baked by the daughter of one of the Coastguard Rescue Officers as the teams came together at one of the bases to enjoy some food, each other's company and share stories past and present of some of the more memorable moments. They were joined by Alex and Coastguard Chaplain Tom Ebbens.

Senior Coastal Operations Officer Alex Dodge helped to organise the celebration for the Area 1 teams


In Shetland, the teams were invited to enjoy their celebrations on board a well-known local ferry, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience of being passengers. Alex said it was 'wonderful' to see Coastguards from across the years come together in a celebration of a rescue service that is only possible because of the volunteers in it. Alex and Tom again attended, joined by fellow Senior Coastal Operations Officer Donna-Claire Hunter.

"It was really wonderful," Alex said. "Everyone enjoyed themselves - and by doing an event in both Orkney and Shetland, everyone could make it.

"We're very proud of our service and we're delighted we were able to enjoy the day."

Coastguard Chaplain Tom Ebbens cutting the spectacular cake made for the Orkney teams

And the Shetland teams met on the local ferry at Lerwick for their event

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pictures from Orkney







Pictures from Shetland








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