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This page was last updated at Friday, July 23, 2010

Calshot Tower - News Update

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Imagine what it would be like to spend Sunday morning 130 feet up in a control room virtually, in the middle of the Solent; the Spinnaker Tower to the east of you, Cowes to south and Southampton Docks to the north and the Solent slap bang out of the window, not to mention being just a couple of hundred feet away from huge cruise liners as they transit Southampton Water and looking down on them!

 

Click on the image above to see a larger picture.

 

This is just one of the views you'd encounter if you were a volunteer watch keeper with the National Coastwatch Institution at Calshot Spit.

 

Calshot tower (not to be confused with Calshot Castle) was mothballed back in 90's when the Maritime and Coastguard agency reduced many lookouts around the county enabling it to invest far more heavily in high tech solutions for Search & Rescue including that famous red and white helicopter frequently seen in the area.

Volunteers from the Waterside and surrounding areas have recently brought Calshot tower back into service under the guidance of the Nation Coastwatch Institution.

 

The project became fully operational last month and the team are now looking to recruit additional volunteer watch keepers to enable the group to expand it's coverage during daylight hours.

Despite what you'd think you don't have to be a salty old 'sea dog' to join the group, far from it in fact. NCI has over 40 lookouts around the UK with over 1700 male and female volunteers from all walks of life aged 18 to 85, the primary requirement being a sharp pair of eyes and inquisitive nature.

 

Excellent on-the-job training is provided including life skills such as reading and plotting with admiralty charts and Ordnance Survey maps, marine radio procedure, log keeping, observation skills, working closely with the emergency services and government agencies including UK Fisheries and the UK Border agency.

Watches are usually around 4 hours every day of the week during daylight hours year round.

 

It's important to stress that the NCI watch keepers are not a substiute for the RNLI, NCI's work role is that of observers reporting any potential problems to HM Coastguard control centre at Lee-on-the-Solent.

The group will be holding an open day for potential watch keepers this Sunday (July 25th) as part of the RNLI 40th birthday celebrations at Calshot.

 

If you'd like to find out more about volunteering you will need to pre-book a visit in advance for Health & Safety reasons before climbing the 84 steps to ops room at the top of the 130 tower.

If you are interested but can't make next Sunday but would still like to find out more about becoming a watch keeper or part of the support team (Shore Watch) please call the tower on 02380 988366 at any time day or night or email calshot@nci.org.uk

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