National Coastwatch celebrates NCI awareness day over the weekend of 6 June
A ROYAL OCCASION FOR THE NATIONAL COASTWATCH STATION AT ST IVES
It was a day of celebrations on Tuesday 6 May for the Cornwall volunteers who help save lives around the coast when Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal visited the National Coastwatch station at St Ives.
Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal is Royal Patron of the National Coastwatch Institution (NCI), a charity run entirely by volunteers. It celebrated its 30th anniversary of helping to save lives around the coast in 2024.
NCI St Ives opened in 1999 and in 2010 it received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (QAVS), the highest award given to voluntary groups in the UK, equivalent to an MBE. The station stands high on a promontory, allowing the volunteer watchkeepers to maintain a watch over the whole of St Ives Bay ranging from Godrevy lighthouse in the north to Clodgy Point in the south.
All 2,800 National Coastwatch volunteer watchkeepers help to keep people safe and save lives along the coast by maintaining a daily visual and radio watch of the coast, looking out for anyone in potential danger. They report any coastal safety-related incidents to HM Coastguard so that expert help can be sent, including the Coastguard Rescue Teams and helicopters, the RNLI, independent lifeboats and all emergency services.
It is one of 13 stations in Cornwall, all of which are on the South West Coast Path and are popular destinations for walkers keen to get their passports stamped as a record of their route.
The Princess Royal was received at the station by His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Cornwall, Sir Edward Bolitho. He presented NCI Chair, Stephen Hand who introduced Station Manager, Jonathan Mills and Deputy Station Manager Paul Edwards.
Jonathan escorted Her Royal Highness into the station’s watch room for a briefing about their work and the particular coastal safety challenges at NCI St Ives including the Stones Reef, moving sandbars and very strong tides which can pose a danger to swimmers. Duty watchkeepers, Margaret Neal and Nigel Mawditt were also presented.
NCI St Ives has a crew of over 50 fully trained watchkeepers who monitor all the coastal activity during daylight hours, with an emergency team on 24/7 standby.
After visiting the station, The Princess Royal attended a reception at the nearby Tregenna Castle Hotel. The reception and use of the facilities were generously donated by the hotel.
The reception was attended by around 60 NCI volunteers, as well as representatives from NCI’s Cornwall-based national office and nearby National Coastwatch stations at Cape Cornwall, Gwenapp Head, and Penzance. NCI Sector Managers Jim Jeffries, Kevin Wyre and regional Trustee Helen Simpson.
Also present were maritime search and rescue partners including HM Coastguard, RNLI and the RNLI lifeguards. The local community was further represented by Mayor of St Ives, St Ives Town Council, Devon and Cornwall Police and the local supporters of NCI St Ives.
The Princess Royal then unveiled a plaque to mark her visit to the station and presented epaulettes to Kevin Wyre, Sector Manager and long service awards to: 10 years: Susan Barraclough, Margaret Neal, Judi Haggerty; 15 years: Mick Haggerty.
The Princess Royal also presented the NCI Certificate of Merit, the organisation’s highest award to Karin Stratford of NCI Gwenapp Head for her prompt action over a concern for two people and a yacht in difficulties, resulting in a successful rescue.
Stephen Hand, NCI Chair, formally welcomed Her Royal Highness to NCI St Ives and thanked her for her visit.
“Your Royal Highness, as NCI Chair it is an honour to welcome you to NCI St Ives on behalf of the watchkeepers of this and three of the neighbouring Cornish stations.
“Your visit is the source of huge motivation and encouragement to our volunteers in their work of helping to keep people safe along this busy stretch of the Cornish coast and we are extremely grateful for the time and commitment that you give to NCI,” he said.
NCI Swanage Celebrates 30 Years
The National Coastwatch station at Swanage celebrated 30 years of helping to keep people safe and save lives around the Dorset coast on 15 April 2025.
It was the second National Coastwatch Institution (NCI) station to open and now forms part of a 61-strong network of stations at key points along the coastline of England and Wales. The station is on the site of an old Coastguard Lookout, and is sited at Peveril Point, with sweeping views across Swanage Bay and out to sea.
Across the country, 2,800 NCI volunteer watchkeepers help to keep people safe and save lives at sea by maintaining a daily visual and radio watch of the coast, looking out for anyone in potential danger. They report any coastal safety-related incidents to HM Coastguard so that expert help can be sent. This assistance comes from the Coastguard Rescue Teams and helicopters, the RNLI, independent lifeboats and all emergency services.
Martin Jones, Station Manager at Swanage, said, “We’re tremendously proud to have achieved this milestone and we look forward to the next thirty years. Our dedicated team of nearly 70 watchkeepers keep watch 364 days a year, during daylight hours (as we are all volunteers, we allow ourselves Christmas Day off!). An even more impressive way of thinking about it is to consider that we’ve kept watch for around 100,000 hours. Over the past thirty years we have logged somewhere in the region of 360,000 vessels; assisted with and instigated responses to numerous incidents and we’ve definitely been instrumental in saving lives.”
Martin continued, “We’ve had several notable highlights during the last thirty years. In 2012 we were awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (QAVS). Now known as the King’s Award for Voluntary Service, KAVS is awarded to voluntary groups for their contribution to their communities and is often referred to as the MBE for groups.
“In 2021 we were privileged to be visited by our Royal patron, HRH The Princess Royal. and in 2024 we were awarded the High Sheriff’s Award which recognised our contribution at improving safety in Dorset.”
The National Coastwatch Institution (NCI) began life in December 1994 when its first station opened at Bass Point, in Cornwall. It was formed following a tragedy where two local fishermen lost their lives. Since then the organisation has grown and there are now over 2,800 trained volunteer watchkeepers at 61 stations from Fleetwood on the West Coast round to Filey on the East Coast.
The Swanage station can trace its history back to at least the 1870s when it was a coastguard lookout. Shortly after the Cornish station at Bass Point opened, NCI founder, Captain Tony Starling-Lark was invited to Swanage with a view to open an NCI station in the former coastguard building. Instrumental in this meeting was the late Ian Surface BEM, who was also the officer in charge of the Auxiliary Coastguard team in Swanage. Ian quickly gathered a team of volunteers, including members of his auxiliary team, and the second NCI station, in the country, was opened.
Like all NCI stations, Swanage is staffed purely by volunteers and receives no external funding. In addition to their watchkeeping duties, the volunteers are responsible for raising the Station’s running costs, which are around £14,000 each year. To achieve this the Station relies on the generosity of its local community and the general public.
NCI St Agnes Head receives Civic Award
Congratulations to all the crew at NCI St Agnes Head on receiving a prestigious Civic Award from Truro City Council.
The annual awards recognise local volunteers who have ‘gone the extra mile’ and NCI St Agnes Head representatives were at the packed event in March. It is organised jointly by Truro City Council and Truro Old Cornwall Society.
Paul Caruana, Truro Civic Awards coordinator said: “It is with great pride that I nominate NCI St Agnes Head Station Manager and his team of volunteer watchkeepers for their unwavering commitment to the National Coastwatch Institution ‘Eyes Along The Coast’ who keep a vigilant and watchful eye on the safety of our local mariners and coastal-path users alike.”
The extensive refurbishment of the off grid station is being achieved with the generous support from the community and businesses.
Pictured are (l-r) Ian; Sally; Mark, Station Manager; Kevin; Kathy; Andy and David, Helen (front right), Regional Trustee for Cornwall.
“The volunteer members of NCI St Agnes Head, with the help of a Cornwall Council grant and absolutely amazing generosity from other local organisations, have been able to replace the roof, replace the windows and door, install a high velocity wind turbine and new internal desks. We also have three solar panels on the outside of the building, which were provided as a donation from Natural Gen, a local off grid company, for which we were very grateful, and supported by the superwind wind turbine (Purchased via Cornwall Council Grant),” added Paul.
An official ceremony to thank the community and celebrate the station’s refurbishment will take place later in the Spring.