Welcome to Episode 10 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’re talking books. I meet with artist and author Roger O’Reilly - who has spent the last few years researching and illustrating nearly 350 lighthouses around the UK and Irish coast.

Roger’s new book - Legendary Lighthouses of Britain - will be published in early Spring by Watkins Publishing, and it’s available for pre-order now on Amazon.

First, I caught up with prolific author and historian Ken Trethewey to talk about his new book about the breakwater lighthouse in Plymouth. Called Plymouth Breakwater and its lighthouse, it’s the most wonderfully detailed history of the lighthouse, with documents and artefacts reproduced in full colour, along with the photographs of the inside (and outside) of the lighthouse that Ken took himself when he was able to take a group of ALK members onto the breakwater earlier in the year.

Copies of Plymouth Breakwater and its lighthouse are available from the publisher’s website: www.jazzfusionbooks.co.uk

Ken’s other lighthouse books are also available from the website, including The lighthouses of Cornwall and Devon and Light on the Forelands.

To view (and perhaps buy) mounted and/or framed prints of Roger’s lighthouse illustrations, go to:

www.lighthouse editions.com

Roger’s book - Legendary Lighthouses of Britain - will be published by Watkins Publishing in April 2024. It is available for pre-order now - on Amazon, or from wherever you buy your books.

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