Coastguard Open Day

- Tue 25th Jul 2006

The sun shone on the Hayling Island Coastguards and their supported charities on Sunday 23rd July. After a grey start to the day, at 11am the sun broke through and the rest of the day was delightful for visitors and exhibitors alike.

The theme of the day was “safety” – and the display stands all concentrated on this aspect of the show.  

Coastguard vehicles were proudly displayed, alongside the Community Responders van with its hi-tech Video Surveillance equipment.  The boating community were given a chance to have a close look at an inflated liferaft – whilst still doubtless keeping their fingers crossed that they will never have to use one “in anger”!

The RNLI provided a huge display of safety information and items for the public to enjoy, and the local First Responders also provided us all with a reminder of how important their service is on an Island such as ours.

The Lowland Search Dog team brought along a couple of friendly 4-legged canines for the children to pet – although it seemed to the onlookers that the dogs enjoyed it just as much as the kids.

All visitors were allowed full access to the Coastguard Station, which was adorned with pictures relating to the local history of the Hayling Island team – and various safety presentations were made during the day in the Coastguard Station office.

There were a number of exciting displays by the local RNLI and by H M Coastguards.   Hayling Lifeboats provided both the “D” Class and the Atlantic Boats to put on a exhibition of their skills on the water during the morning session.

This was later followed by the Coastguard RIB “Osprey” – in the afternoon – ably supported by Portsmouth RNLI Atlantic boat and the star of the show – Coastguard Helicopter India Juliet, immortalised now by the recent TV series in which she starred.

Steven Mann, who is not only a local Coastguard volunteer but also a full time Coastguard at Lee on Solent, really demonstrated his faith in his colleagues.  He abandoned ship with a big splash some way off the Coastguard Station – to be rescued (with the aid of a flare) by the RNLI – and then winched as a casualty 60 feet up into India Juliet.

It seems that a good day was had by all – and lots of money was made for the supported charities as well.

However, possibly the best event of the day was the conversation overheard between a little lad of about 9 or 10 and his Mum as he walked away from the Station at around 4pm. 

“Mum” he said “Can I be a Coastguard or a Lifeboatman or an Ambulance man when I grow up?”

By forum user, Mat