News

On Wednesday 6 February we were delighted to welcome 22 pupils, and their teachers, from Our Lady & St. Patrick’s Primary School to the Lookout.

They are all working on a project about “Our Coast” and combined the day with a visit to the Lifeboat Station.

The children enjoyed using our binoculars and were given information on our role from Watchkeeper's Glynn and Mike who were on duty.

We suggested that if they produced some pictures as a result of their visit there would be a prize for the best.

On the evening of 28th January at Bitton House, Station Manager Eddy Stephenson & his wife Tricia were guests of Teignmouth Town Mayor, Councillor June Green, at her recognition reception.

Nominated by Deputy Mayor, Councillor Robert Phipps, Teignmouth NCI were among a number of local organisations and individuals that were recognised for their contribution to the community.

The certificate confirming this prestigious award will be displayed in the Lookout.

Teignmouth NCI Watchkeepers carried out a total of 16,650 hours of service over 365 days, including Christmas day during 2018.

During the 2 snow storms, we only closed for 3 watches in total across both storms.

We undertake 3 watches per day with 2 Watchkeepers on each watch. During July and August, we undertake an additional 4th watch between 18:00 and 20:00hrs.

After a long campaign NCI has reached an agreement with HMRC that will ensure that the Institution VAT payments for the previous three years will be refunded.

This agreement also means that future VAT incurred as part of our Search and Rescue role will be recoverable.

In August Teignmouth’s NCI was one of three local charities to benefit from Waitrose’s charity box scheme.

Shoppers receive a token when they shop to enable them to donate to a charity of their choice.

Each month Teignmouth Waitrose partners have £1000 to split between the charities.

Our station manager Eddie Stephenson received a cheque for £500 from the (Community Matters Partner) Liz Wilson.

Our thanks go to the Waitrose partners and all the shoppers who gave us their support

Wednesday 12th September was a very successful day at Teignmouth NCI having been assessed for and retained our DFS with positive comments from the assessor.

The DFS (Declared Facility Status) is required by HM Coastguard for an NCI Station to be fully integrated with the UK Search and Rescue (SAR) organisation.

The Assessor spent all day observing the skills of the Watchkeepers as they performed their duties.

All in all an excellent day - well done Teignmouth NCI.

It is with great sadness that I have to report the passing on Tuesday July 31st of my webmaster colleague Dave Pickman.

I started the Teigmouth Coastwatch website in 2014 and was absolutely delighted when Dave joined as a watchkeeper later that year and very quickly joined me to form “the webmaster team”.

Dave was a professional programmer and although he had never been involved in websites, his skills rapidly overtook my amateur efforts. Without Dave’s input the website would be a pale shadow of what it is today.

I will try to keep the flame burning but it is a big task and I will sorely miss Dave’s input.

John

Leading environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy has this week announced that Teignmouth Town Beach and Shaldon’s Ness Cove have retained their Seaside Awards for 2018.

The beach side information boards proudly display the Seaside Award notice and the Bathing Water Quality status of Excellent. This is monitored by the Environment Agency from May through September.

Teignbridge’s beaches have once again been recognised as being amongst the best in the UK as our neighbour Dawlish Warren celebrates a 20th consecutive year of receiving the coveted Blue Flag award.