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

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

In this first season of twelve episodes, we’ll hear from the ALK’s founder, Neil Hargreaves, as well as from other former lighthouse keepers, authors of books about lighthouses, people born and brought up in lighthouses, archivists, historians and many others interested in lighthouses, their construction, history and service.  

In this, our launch episode, we talk with founding member of the ALK - Neil Hargreaves - about his Trinity House career, and his reflections on the many lighthouses where he was stationed. 

Now I should make clear that I chatted with Neil over dinner at his home - and you will hear the occasional knife and fork in the background - but I’m fairly confident that I have edited out every instance of when one or other of us spoke with a mouthful of food. 

I started by asking Neil about how and where his career with Trinity House began …