Minehead National Coastwatch station opens

More volunteers are needed to ensure the daily coast watch can continue

A new coastwatch station has opened in Somerset, with the charity behind it hoping it will help save lives.

A team of 32 volunteers will act as extra eyes to look out for people in trouble on board boats and for other sea-users off the coast of Minehead.

Supporting HM Coastguard, they will operate from a trailer until a more permanent site is secured.

Acting station manager Ian Sherring said there was "nothing better than a human eyeball" to keep people safe.

"This is a culmination of 18 months of work in a big project to get this far," he said.

"We're pretty much repeating what historically the HM coastguard axillaries did up until the mid 80s.

"Due to budget cuts their stations started closing down."

The temporary station is on Minehead seafront

Despite that, he said there had "always been a need for people looking out at the coast".

The temporary base is equipped with high-power binoculars as well equipment to monitor radio channels.

The charity behind it National Coastwatch said while systems such as radar and telecommunications had "vastly improved safety at sea", the human eye was better for spotting the likes of distress flares and overturned boats.

Mr Sherring said the team was also eager to recruit more volunteers to allow watches to continue every day.

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