General Chat

Well there is still a flare or maroon let off at Cromer. But I think they also use pagers. And a lot of the Coast Guard are paid workers.

aah not completely voluntary then:

Maritime and Coastguard agency:

"We employ over 1,200 people and are supported by 3,500 volunteer Coastguard Rescue Officers. "

Yes, while we are aware of the RNLI we tend to not think about the coastguards, but, to be honest I thought Coastguards were paid, i had not realised they were voluntary.

Another voluntary organisation or rather one that is a charity is the Air Ambulance.

Ann
glos

while i agree that the life boat men do a first class job, also please spare a thought for the coast guards they are also unpaid and are nessary and do a good job. i used to live in a small fishing villiage and saw them in action on numerse times. somerset man

Just going of in a slight tangent;

The fire brigade wasn't always funded by local goverment. Seem to recall these were often manned by volunteers & new equipment was funded by donations.
Found the following on the Firesevice web site;

Ref to Nicholas Barbon.....Other similar companies soon followed his lead and this was how property was protected until the early 1800s. Policy holders were given a badge, or fire mark, to affix to their building. If a fire started, the Fire Brigade was called. They looked for the fire mark and, provided it was the right one, the fire would be dealt with. Often the buildings were left to burn until the right company attended! Many of these insurance companies were to merge, including those of London, which merged in 1833 to form The London Fire Engine Establishment.

Other areas of the UK had either Volunteer Fire Brigades or Town Fire Brigades. It wasn't until 1938 that many of these brigades were amalgamated.

Before 1938 there were between 1400 and 1500 small municipal fire brigades run by local councils in the UK.

Steve.

Christina,I think that,if you read my threads,you will see that I am not unaware of very much and I seem to be putting forward the same argument as you with regard to the risks taken by the foolhardy.

What I am questioning is the reason that the RNLI is a charity when other emergency services,whose members are equally as brave and well trained I might add,are not.

This casts no aspersions on anybody but merely poses a logical question about how things are run.

Hi Sharron,
I don't if this was the case for the Caistor Life Boat.
But I recall that due to cutting costs the RNLI closed some of the lifeboat houses. With the area they used to cover tbeing covered by neighbouring lifeboats.
I believe the communities of many of those closed. Raised funds to keep their lifeboats running & still do so today.

Steve

Do you know why they are no longer a part of RNLI? It must be very hard for them.

I certainly hope that the big oil companies pump enormous amounts of money into the lifeboat charities but somehow I very much doubt it. It just seems so worrying that individuals should have to buy lifeboats.They don't have to buy fire engines.

Christina,I am not denigrating lifeboatmen in any way.

Most risk their lives for people being silly.Bighead on his jetski,people on inflatable bananas,children allowed to ride inflatables unsupervised.

Apart from all else,isn't it a bit risky relying on charitable donation for something so important.

As you said,lifeboatmen are unpaid and they are very often not the richest of people. Some skills seem to be more valued than more important ones.

I just can't come to terms with unpaid volunteers rescuing the crew of a vessel belonging to a company with multi-billion pound profits.

I have said nothing dogmatic,in fact I have put my point of view hoping others may enlighten me.You don't learn much by shutting up.

Tina, your son does a wonderful job, you must be very proud of him as well as concerned when he is called out. I think Sharron has said later in the thread that she has learned a lot from the comments.

Ann
glos

Our starlings seem to be coming back,and our sparrows. I did see a thrush in the back garden last year and thought I might have seen a little flock of fieldfares this morning.They are not around like they were twenty years ago.

I sometimes used to see a lone starling poking about in the street in Gosport which was so sad because starlings are extremely gregarious.Last time I saw him he seemed to have a few friends with him.

Ice-cream vans have tried our area occasionally but there really is not a lot of profit in an area like this so we have not heard one for years.Not greatly missed.

Have never seen a rag and bone man although I think we once had a knife-grinder round and we have had a couple of gypsy women with baskets.

Sometimes Seikh men would be round with little suitcases.I don't know if they have stopped their trade or just found this area not worth a visit.

Another thing I have not heard for a long time and don't miss is the man down the road who used to play his Demis Roussos album very,very loud for us all to enjoy.

Sheep too.This area was traditionally sheep country from the middle-ages but I haven't heard a sheep this way for twenty odd years.

Argosies and Beverleys used to fly in to Thorney Island at night with flowers and tomatoes from the Channel Islands.That is a thing of the past too.

Is there still a fog-horn working?Wow.I hope I get to hear it.

Such a strange sound.

It was the old air-raid sirens they used for the fire stations wasn't it? I think they stopped using them at least thirty years ago when they brought in pagers.

I can remember seeing a fire engine with the bell ringing once.

Thinking about things you don't hear any more. I remember the old siren which used to sound at our local fire station - I haven't heard that for years.

But something I do still hear (when I'm at home) is the fog horn on the Severn Bridge....an eerie sound.

As for Krays? I think their sound goes something like "Get arta my way".

K

Thinking of birds.I haven't heard a skylark for twenty odd years either.

That really is very sad.

Talking of sounds that are lost, I think there are still a few around but how about the market cries. Gloucester market is mostly a silent place except for the meat man who does keep up a patter but, in my childhood we used to walk down Charlotte street Portsmouth where the stallholders selling china would be throwing the dinner services to each other and keeping up a constant chatter to sell their wares. colourful characters.

Don't know sharron, was not near enough the dockyard at that time of night, only during the daytime.

What sort of noise do Krays make?

We could not hear the dockyard hooter.Too far away.

At seven o'clock on a summer night something used to make the pheasants crow,I don't know if it still does. Does or did something in the dockyard mae a noise then that we can't hear but they can?

Just one of the things we locals say in the pub.It all started when somebody mentioned a couple of local families who don't like each other and really don't know why but it is because of something that happened too long ago for anybody to remember.

Somebody who was new to the village,probably only about twenty years or so, could not understand the situation and it was said that 'You city folk don't understand about feuding.'

It is a local joke that I use to my partner who was born in Totttenham if he gets something wrong.It is because that is how it is with you city folk.

Yes,I wrote it without thinking but really did not think that being called city folk was any kind of insult.Just shows how wrong you can be.

I know the RNLI is a charity but have never understood why it should be one,particularly as none of the other emergency services are.

Points have been made this morning that I had not considered,nor,indeed,been aware of,and for this I am grateful.It is another aspect to consider.

Actually Sharron, I don't think fishermen are immune to needing the help of the RNLI.. Just because people are skilled and experienced doesn't mean they can't hit a freak wave or freak conditions or have a problem with their boat.

And many leisure sailors are skilled and the same applies to them re freak conditions.

I do agree though that a contribution should be paid by those who are rescued from something that is due to their own negligence.

But I think it is good that RNLI is a charity and don't think they are exploited.

You say you could hear Whale Island guns. Didn't HM Dockyard use to have a knocking off hooter? Could you not also hear that?