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Coastwatch gets permanent sea front building

BBC Simon Booth in his Coast Watch uniform of a white shirt and black trousers, at a desk with radios, in front of screens with maps and tide times onBBC
Simon Booth manages the Minehead Coastwatch, which is part of a team including HM Coastguard and RNLI, working to keep people safe

Minehead's voluntary Coastwatch team now has a permanent structure after using a temporary trailer since last winter.

Describing themselves as the "eyes and ears" of HM Coastguard, volunteers monitor the coastline visually, as well as with radar and cameras, so that they can alert the emergency services of any issues.

The service can see out of the new building across the Bristol Channel to Wales, up to the town's North Hill and to neighbouring coastal villages.

Manager Simon Booth said the site, just in front of Butlins, is now a "container specially designed for us".

The new Coastwatch station building on Minehead seafront. It is small building, raised slightly off the ground. It has white windows and is painted red and blue.
The new station is a permanent structure on Minehead seafront

Since last Christmas, the volunteers have used an "information trailer", which is normally used by the charity to travel around the country, as its operational base.

Mr Booth said the new building is "a much more permanent structure that is actually fastened to the floor and can't be blown away".

"It's obviously much more comfortable to do all the functions that we have to do," he added.

Mr Booth said the new station was "fully accessible", featuring a ramp up to the door and lowered windows and desks, in an effort to deepen its pool of volunteers.

The beach at Minehead with a few people sat or walking on the sand. The tide is in and you can see North Hill in the distance.
Coastwatch looks out across the Bristol Channel from Minehead

Two volunteers will be in the building at a time, watching out for potential issues out to sea or on the coastline.

"One will be manning the radios and the screens. They will be listening out for any chatter and distress signals," Mr Booth said.

"The other person will keep a visual watch... we have high powered optics which assist in getting a much better picture about what is going on there - it's a visual and listening watch."

Any incidents are reported to HM Coastguard, which then decides on the next step.

Speaking about the importance of having a permanent home on the coast, Mr Booth said: "We're right in the high season at the moment. It gets quieter in winter but that still doesn't detract from the need for us being here.

"We desperately need to be open seven days a week."

He added there will soon be cameras in Watchet, Lynton and Porlock for the team to monitor.

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