Keeping Watch

Welcome to Episode 8 of the second season of KEEPING WATCH - a fortnightly podcast for enthusiasts of lighthouses, lighthouse keepers, light vessels and other aids to maritime navigation.

This week our new co-host Mel makes her full podcast debut, when she talks with Russian born Vasily - a lighthouse lover and ALK member who moved to Europe with his family several years ago. He had been involved in a number of lighthouse projects in Russia, and so was particularly excited when the chance came to take part in a worldwide lighthouse research and mapping project organised by the Chance Heritage Trust.

The project focused on the work of the Chance Brothers Glassworks in Smethwick, a pioneer of British glass-making technology, which operated between 1824 and 1976, before finally closing its doors in 1981. The company became a production hub for lighthouse lenses, which were used in over 2,500 lighthouses around the world.

As you can imagine, records are lost, and of course lighthouse optics are modernised, replaced or installed in other lighthouses - so the project's aims were to map where the Chance Brothers lighthouse lenses ended up, and discover what they are doing now. Are they still in working lighthouses? Have they been decommissioned? How many can be visited today?

With around 2,500 lighthouses to map, the project pulled together lighthouse enthusiasts and willing volunteers throughout the world to explore these connections, and locate them all.

From the Cape Race lighthouse that received the SOS call from the Titanic, to the Longstone lighthouse from where Grace Darling and her father William launched one of Britain's most courageous rescues, the lenses that were made at the Chance factory in Smethwick ended up in some interesting places, and in close to eighty countries around the world.

Vasily was one of a number of ALK members who took part - and the result is an explorable online map that shows exactly where these lighthouses were located, along with photos, technical details, and the key information about their history that brings each one to life

Mel caught up with Vasily last week, who starts by describing his twin passions - of sailing yachts and lighthouses.

Link to the Chance Brothers Map: https://new.opengreenmap.org/browse/maps/6241b7a8d63fa5010056589b/map-view

Link to the list of the lighthouses on the Chance Brothers Map: https://new.opengreenmap.org/browse/sites?map=6241b7a8d63fa5010056589b This is one exciting story about Tory Island Lighthouse (see the Chance Brothers Map): https://new.opengreenmap.org/browse/sites/62ce053e88d2b90100788882 Link to the video with Vasilisin Lighthouse (with English subtitles) on YouTube: https://youtu.be/xYtvxzRFh-A?feature=shared Location of the Vasilisin Lighthouse on Google maps: https://www.bing.com/maps?osid=8bf09de0-1fcf-47f7-90e3-a05056a33594&cp=61.806144%7E35.686432&lvl=18.0&style=h&v=2&sV=2&form=S00027 LAMP Issue 103 with the Kurbatova lighthouse which I've mentioned (copy is here http://www.mayachnik.ru/node/1230 English text at the end of the page)

We're keen to talk with other former light vessel and lighthouse keepers and crew - as well as others currently working in the lighthouse service. Again, you can email me at [email protected].

Please spread the word to friends and family who might be interested in listening. And do like, follow or subscribe to this podcast so that you are notified when each new episode is published. A comment or a splendid review on your podcast platform of choice would be very welcome and really helps us to get noticed.

If you have an idea for a story you'd like us to cover, or an interesting person with a lighthouse connection we might interview, do please drop me a line. Or perhaps you are a fellow enthusiast and would like to contribute to the podcast either once or on a regular basis?

You can contact me at [email protected].

KEEPING WATCH is brought to you in association with the ALK - The Association of Lighthouse Keepers - a charitable trust in the UK dedicated to keeping lighthouse heritage alive.

Visit the Association of Lighthouse Keepers: www.alk.org.uk

Welcome to Episode 7 of the second season of KEEPING WATCH - a fortnightly podcast for enthusiasts of lighthouses, lighthouse keepers, light vessels and other aids to maritime navigation.

At the beginning of October I attended the Association of Lighthouse Keepers AGM and annual dinner just outside Cromer, in Norfolk. I was fortunate enough to be introduced to two former Trinity House lightvessel keepers - Terry Bullard and John Beamish. After the meal, the three of us headed to the hotel bar to talk about life as a light vessel keeper. We were joined by ALK founder, Neil Hargreaves, who had also served on the lightvessels.

I also introduce Keeping Watch's new co-host!

We're keen to talk with other former light vessel and lighthouse keepers and crew - as well as others currently working in the lighthouse service. Again, you can email me at [email protected].

Please spread the word to friends and family who might be interested in listening. And do like, follow or subscribe to this podcast so that you are notified when each new episode is published. A comment or a splendid review on your podcast platform of choice would be very welcome and really helps us to get noticed.

If you have an idea for a story you'd like us to cover, or an interesting person with a lighthouse connection we might interview, do please drop me a line. Or perhaps you are a fellow enthusiast and would like to contribute to the podcast either once or on a regular basis?

You can contact me at [email protected].

KEEPING WATCH is brought to you in association with the ALK - The Association of Lighthouse Keepers - a charitable trust in the UK dedicated to keeping lighthouse heritage alive.

Visit the Association of Lighthouse Keepers: www.alk.org.uk

Welcome to Episode 6 of the second season of KEEPING WATCH - a fortnightly podcast for enthusiasts of lighthouses, lighthouse keepers, light vessels and other aids to maritime navigation.

This week we meet David Fraser, who served for the Northern Lighthouse Board - the NLB - at a number of Scottish lighthouses in the 1970s. In fact, his career spanned three services, David having joined the army on leaving school, and he then spent 30 years in the Northern Constabulary, serving across the Highlands and Islands, after he left the lighthouse service.

Now David has published his memoirs, the profits from which he uses to support people and families affected by motor neurone disease - the brutal condition that David's wife Isabel sadly died from.

So having completed tours of duty in Germany and Northern Ireland, David left the army at the age of 23, and joined the NLB in 1973, which is where we pick up the conversation.

Just a quick heads up - We spoke over the phone, and the mobile signal deteriorated from time to time. I have edited out most of the interference, but there are a handful of patches where I'd like you to fill in a missing word or two.

Listen to David talking about where and when the lighthouse service fitted in to his career.

We're keen to talk with other former light vessel and lighthouse keepers and crew - as well as others currently working in the lighthouse service. Again, you can email me at [email protected].

Please spread the word to friends and family who might be interested in listening. And do like, follow or subscribe to this podcast so that you are notified when each new episode is published. A comment or a splendid review on your podcast platform of choice would be very welcome and really helps us to get noticed.

If you have an idea for a story you'd like us to cover, or an interesting person with a lighthouse connection we might interview, do please drop me a line. Or perhaps you are a fellow enthusiast and would like to contribute to the podcast either once or on a regular basis?

You can contact me at [email protected].

KEEPING WATCH is brought to you in association with the ALK - The Association of Lighthouse Keepers - a charitable trust in the UK dedicated to keeping lighthouse heritage alive.

To purchase a copy of David's book, please contact me at [email protected]. Copies are £10 each, and all profits support MND sufferers and their families.

Visit the Wick Heritage Museum: www.wickheritage.org

Visit the Association of Lighthouse Keepers: www.alk.org.uk

Welcome to Episode 5 of the second season of KEEPING WATCH - a fortnightly podcast for enthusiasts of lighthouses, lighthouse keepers, light vessels and other aids to maritime navigation.

If you are based in the UK, you'll be aware that Royal Sovereign lighthouse - off the Sussex coast - has been decommissioned and is in the process of being removed. You may have seen footage or images this week of its red and white lantern tower dismantled and standing on a temporary platform ready to be brought ashore to Shoreham in the next few weeks.

Later in this season, we have a special episode dedicated to Royal Sovereign, with a look back over its 50 year life span, and we'll be talking about how the lantern tower itself has been saved, and about the exciting plans for its future.

This week though we are indebted once again to former keeper Peter Halil, for allowing me access to his wonderful audio and video archive. I've chosen Peter's interview from the early 1990s with Tom Whiston, who served as a keeper between 1949 and 1986.

As well as some wonderful memories of his career, including the colleagues he worked with, the hobbies that keepers took up, and some of the treacherous storms he endured, Tom was also - I believe - the penultimate Principal Keeper at Royal Sovereign - and was first posted there even before it was lit, whilst the platform and tower were being constructed at Newhaven.

We're keen to talk with other former light vessel and lighthouse keepers and crew - as well as others currently working in the lighthouse service. Again, you can email me at [email protected].

Please spread the word to friends and family who might be interested in listening. And do like, follow or subscribe to this podcast so that you are notified when each new episode is published. A comment or a splendid review on your podcast platform of choice would be very welcome and really helps us to get noticed.

If you have an idea for a story you'd like us to cover, or an interesting person with a lighthouse connection we might interview, do please drop me a line. Or perhaps you are a fellow enthusiast and would like to contribute to the podcast either once or on a regular basis?

You can contact me at [email protected].

KEEPING WATCH is brought to you in association with the ALK - The Association of Lighthouse Keepers - a charitable trust in the UK dedicated to keeping lighthouse heritage alive.

Visit Peter Halil's YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/peterhalil

Visit the Association of Lighthouse Keepers: www.alk.org.uk

Welcome to Episode 4 of the second season of KEEPING WATCH - a fortnightly podcast for enthusiasts of lighthouses, lighthouse keepers, light vessels and other aids to maritime navigation.

If you listened to Episode 3, you'll remember we heard a lovely BBC Radio Kent interview from 1988 with Jim Bowling, who was then principal lighthouse keeper at North Foreland lighthouse.

We were able to listen thanks to Jim's son Colin, who lent the recording to us. A few weeks ago I met up with Colin and his wife Lin in Ramsgate, and he shared his memories of his childhood and upbringing in various lighthouses - including a stint at St Mary's lighthouse, near Whitley Bay, where he could only get to school at low tide.

He also shared his own memories of his father - including when Jim and assistant keeper Arthur Holmes were paid a visit from a Page 3 glamour model for a Daily Star article about people who have to work over Christmas.

Believe me, you're in for a treat. I hope you enjoy it.

The full interview on YouTube: Part 1: https://youtu.be/Z6WLXUbXwhE Part 2: https://youtu.be/_sizpJiv4Lo Part 3: https://youtu.be/3Xgw2NcXfVA

If you haven't had the chance to listen to the radio interview with Jim Bowling, then do go back to Episode 3 and listen to it.

It makes me wonder just how many other sons and daughters of keepers there are out there with stories of their own. If you know one, or are one yourself, then I'd love to hear from you. You can get in touch at [email protected].

We're also keen to talk with other former light vessel and lighthouse keepers and crew - as well as others currently working in the lighthouse service. Again, you can email me at [email protected].

Please spread the word to friends and family who might be interested in listening. And do like, follow or subscribe to this podcast so that you are notified when each new episode is published. A comment or a splendid review on your podcast platform of choice would be very welcome and really helps us to get noticed.

If you have an idea for a story you'd like us to cover, or an interesting person with a lighthouse connection we might interview, do please drop me a line. Or perhaps you are a fellow enthusiast and would like to contribute to the podcast either once or on a regular basis?

You can contact me at [email protected].

KEEPING WATCH is brought to you in association with the ALK - The Association of Lighthouse Keepers - a charitable trust in the UK dedicated to keeping lighthouse heritage alive.

Visit the Association of Lighthouse Keepers: www.alk.org.uk

Welcome to Episode 3 of the second season of KEEPING WATCH - a fortnightly podcast for enthusiasts of lighthouses, lighthouse keepers, light vessels and other aids to maritime navigation.

This week I'm really pleased to be able to share with you a wonderful BBC Radio Kent interview from 1988 with Jim Bowling, who was then principal lighthouse keeper at North Foreland lighthouse.

This was Jim's final posting before he retired, following a 47 year career as a lighthouse keeper with Trinity House. It was Jim's son Colin who got in touch to lend us a recording of the interview, and he also managed to find a separate recording of Jim giving a guided tour of North Foreland at around the same time.

The full interview on YouTube: Part 1: https://youtu.be/Z6WLXUbXwhE Part 2: https://youtu.be/_sizpJiv4Lo Part 3: https://youtu.be/3Xgw2NcXfVA

I don't know what you think, but to me Jim sounds like such an honourable and gentle man - and I would have loved to have met him. I mentioned that his son Colin also found me a recording of Jim conducting a guided tour of North Foreland some time in the late 1980s.

Although the quality of the recording itself isn't great, it's still a fascinating record of how the lighthouse operated at that time. So please bear with the echo and background noise, and listen to Jim showing visitors around his lighthouse.

Since he got in touch I met up with Colin and his lovely wife Lin - and we talked about his childhood and upbringing in various lighthouses - including a stint at St Mary's lighthouse, on the north east coast, where he became a national news story as the boy who could only attend school when the tide was out. He also shared his own memories of his father - including when Jim and assistant keeper Arthur Holmes were paid a visit from a Page 3 glamour model for a Daily Star article about people who have to work over Christmas.

You'll be pleased to learn that I recorded our conversation, and you can hear it in the next episode of the podcast.

Please spread the word to friends and family who might be interested in listening. And do like, follow or subscribe to this podcast so that you are notified when each new episode is published. A comment or a splendid review on your podcast platform of choice would be very welcome and really helps us to get noticed.

If you have an idea for a story you'd like us to cover, or an interesting person with a lighthouse connection we might interview, do please drop me a line. Or perhaps you are a fellow enthusiast and would like to contribute to the podcast either once or on a regular basis?

You can contact me at [email protected].

KEEPING WATCH is brought to you in association with the ALK - The Association of Lighthouse Keepers - a charitable trust in the UK dedicated to keeping lighthouse heritage alive.

Visit the Association of Lighthouse Keepers: www.alk.org.uk

Welcome to Episode 2 of the second season of KEEPING WATCH - a fortnightly podcast for enthusiasts of lighthouses, lighthouse keepers, light vessels and other aids to maritime navigation.

This week we meet Scott Tacchi, a Trinity House Lighthouse Technician based in south west England - I guess in many ways Scott is the modern day equivalent of a lighthouse keeper, although by his own admission his role is a far cry from that of the full time keepers in the days before solar power and automation.

So what does a Lighthouse Technician do? And how did Scott become one? I met up with him online to find out, but I started by asking him about his unusual surname.

Scott's Instagram Page: https://www.instagram.com/keeping_a_lighthouse/

Please spread the word to friends and family who might be interested in listening. And do like, follow or subscribe to this podcast so that you are notified when each new episode is published. A comment or a splendid review on your podcast platform of choice would be very welcome and really helps us to get noticed.

If you have an idea for a story you'd like us to cover, or an interesting person with a lighthouse connection we might interview, do please drop me a line. Or perhaps you are a fellow enthusiast and would like to contribute to the podcast either once or on a regular basis?

You can contact me at [email protected].

KEEPING WATCH is brought to you in association with the ALK - The Association of Lighthouse Keepers - a charitable trust in the UK dedicated to keeping lighthouse heritage alive.

Visit the Association of Lighthouse Keepers: www.alk.org.uk

Welcome to Season 2 of KEEPING WATCH - a fortnightly podcast for enthusiasts of lighthouses, lighthouse keepers, light vessels and other aids to maritime navigation.

Now following the final episode in our first Season, we were contacted by David Jones, a former lighthouse keeper who lives just a couple of miles away from me at Dungeness, in Kent. David was born and brought up in Dungeness, and it turned out also to be the first lighthouse where he was stationed, following his National Service and then training at the Trinity House depot in Harwich.

Yes ... National Service - believe it or not, David began his Trinity House career back in 1956 - and after Dungeness he went on to serve at the Hanois, Casquets, Portland Breakwater, the Needles, Beachy Head and North Foreland.

We pick up our conversation from where I asked David how he came to consider a career as a lighthouse keeper in the first place.

Dungeness Old Light website: https://dungenesslighthouse.com

If you have a family connection with any of the names David mentioned then he would love to hear from you - you can contact me at [email protected], and I'll forward your details on to him.

Please spread the word to friends and family who might be interested in listening. And do like, follow or subscribe to this podcast so that you are notified when each new episode is published. A comment or a splendid review on your podcast platform of choice would be very welcome and really helps us to get noticed.

If you have an idea for a story we could cover, or an interesting person with a lighthouse connection we might interview, do please drop me a line. Or perhaps you are a fellow enthusiast and would like to contribute to the podcast either once or on a regular basis?

You can contact me at [email protected].

KEEPING WATCH is brought to you in association with the ALK - The Association of Lighthouse Keepers - a charitable trust in the UK dedicated to keeping lighthouse heritage alive.

Visit the Association of Lighthouse Keepers: www.alk.org.uk

Welcome to KEEPING WATCH - a fortnightly podcast for anyone and everyone interested in lighthouses, lighthouse keepers, light vessels and other aids to maritime navigation.

In this final episode of Season 1, we meet two former lighthouse keepers - Barry Hawkins, who served at many of the best known lighthouses in Wales and the South West of England between 1980 and 1997 - including Wolf Rock, the Skerries and St Anns Head. And Jack Hayes, whose career with Trinity House started shortly after the war, and included terms at Souter Point, Longships, Round Island, the Nab Tower, Orfordness and Bishop Rock.

His recordings form a unique and personal archive of film footage and audio recordings that together illustrate the nature of the work and the life of a lighthouse keeper.

We also listen to an extract from a wonderful interview Peter made with Sid Squib, who served as a keeper on the Nab tower before and during the war.

Barry Hawkins' website: https://www.lighthouseart.co.uk/

Peter's YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/@PeterHalil

Peter's full interview with Jack Hayes was captured on film, and is almost an hour long: https://youtu.be/C8G0hr1EvCc

Jack Hayes in Anglia Television documentary c.1960: https://eafa.ehost.uea.ac.uk/work/?id=892150®enerate=true

That's it for the first season of Keeping Watch. We'll be back with another 12 episodes after a short break - Look out for season 2 at the beginning of May.

Until then, do please spread the word to friends and family who might be interested in listening. And do subscribe or follow this podcast so that you are notified when we return. A comment or a splendid review on your podcast platform of choice would be very welcome and really helps us to get noticed.

If you have an idea for a story we could cover, or an interesting person with a lighthouse connection we might interview, do please drop me a line. Or perhaps you are a fellow enthusiast and would like to contribute to the podcast either once or on a regular basis?

You can contact me at [email protected].

KEEPING WATCH is brought to you in association with the ALK - The Association of Lighthouse Keepers - a charitable trust in the UK dedicated to keeping lighthouse heritage alive.

Visit the Association of Lighthouse Keepers: www.alk.org.uk

Welcome to KEEPING WATCH - a fortnightly podcast for anyone and everyone interested in lighthouses, lighthouse keepers, light vessels and other aids to maritime navigation.

This week I talk with Peter Halil, who was a Lighthouse Keeper between 1974 and 1997. We talk about his time in the lighthouse service, and about the remarkable archive of interviews he recorded with other keepers throughout the 1990s - as the rollout of automation was gradually making the lighthouse keeper's role redundant.

His recordings form a unique and personal archive of film footage and audio recordings that together illustrate the nature of the work and the life of a lighthouse keeper.

We also listen to an extract from a wonderful interview Peter made with Sid Squib, who served as a keeper on the Nab tower before and during the war.

Peter's YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/@PeterHalil

Peter's full interview with Sid Squib:

Part 1 https://youtu.be/x6qDvoD4_YM

Part 2 https://youtu.be/AUPM4ejC4PM

KEEPING WATCH is brought to you in association with the ALK - The Association of Lighthouse Keepers - a charitable trust in the UK dedicated to keeping lighthouse heritage alive.

Visit the Association of Lighthouse Keepers: www.alk.org.uk