WATCHKEEPERS at the landmark NCI Station on The Island at St Ives will this weekend mark 25 years of providing eyes along the coast to keep sea-users safe.
On Sunday, from 10am to 4pm, NCI St Ives will be holding an open day at the Blockhouse on The Island in conjunction with St Ives Town Council who will be launching the building to the public for events after taking over the premises from Cornwall Council.
The National Coastwatch Institution is currently celebrating its own 30th anniversary with a flag tour of stations around country.
The flag was flown overnight at St Ives on June 28 - and on Sunday it will be 25 years since the NCI’s first operational day at the former St Ives Coastguard Station - which opened at 3.15am in the pitch black.
The mayor of St Ives, Cllr Johnnie Wells, paid tribute to a quarter of a century of monitoring the St Ives Bay coastline.
He said: “Congratulations to the St Ives NCI on reaching their 25th anniversary.
“It is an invaluable service you provide to the town and as a person who spends a lot of time in the ocean it is very reassuring knowing you are there keeping an eye out. Long may your service continue.”
While the station now has an array of modern equipment including a new recently-acquired radar system, VHF radio, AIS tracking and a remote camera to monitor the Hayle Estuary, the early watchkeepers started out with a pair of binoculars and a notebook.
The station had been derelict for five years after the government stopped funding local coastguards when, following a meeting at The Guildhall, seven founder members formed a committee, restored it and made it operational again.
Within two years St Ives had 30 trained watchkeepers and in August 2001 was granted “Declared Facility Status” where the stringent requirements of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) are met and St Ives NCI became an integral part of the Search and Rescue organisation.
In June 2010, NCI Cornwall was granted The Queens Award for Voluntary Service and the St Ives now has around 50 volunteer watchkeepers manning the station 365 days a year to monitor sea-users and those around the coast, informing and assisting Falmouth Coastguard if anyone is spotted getting into difficulty.