Patrons : Redcar RNLI Lifeboat Station, Norman Evans MBE, David Jamilly of Theme Traders,
Sean Price QPM BSc(Hons) MSt(Cantab) Chief Constable Cleveland Police,
Cleveland Cascades Ltd
COASTWATCH REDCAR
Tel: 01642 491606
Website last updated 18/5/12
These stations assist HM Coastguard in their task of helping people in trouble and saving lives at sea.
Coastwatch is a volunteer organisation with its stations and activities supported entirely by charitable donations from the local community.
The Redcar station opened on 31 October 1996 and occupies the top two floors of the building known as the ‘Zetland Lifeboat Museum’. The building was originally built in 1877 as a RNLI Lifeboat Station and later became a museum and HM Coastguard Station. It was vacated by HM Coastguard in 1990 and became the property Redcar & Cleveland Council, who have kindly permitted its use as a Museum and Coastwatch facility.
The ‘Lookout’, as it is affectionately referred to locally, is a watchtower located on The Esplanade in Redcar, about 3.5 miles south of the River Tees Estuary and Teesport, the 4th largest port by volume in the UK. During the late 19th century until the mid 20th century, Redcar was a popular seaside resort sharing 9 miles of golden beaches, from the South Gare Lighthouse (Tees Estuary) in the North West through the small towns of Marske and Saltburn-by-the-Sea to Huntcliffe in the South East.
In addition to passing commercial shipping, when weather conditions allow, small fishing boats, speed boats, windsurfers, kite-boarders, and PWC’s are also afloat, together with the occasional yacht sailing between Hartlepool Marina and Whitby.
In July 2009 after a period of fund raising activities, sufficient donations had been received to purchase a new radar system for the station, to replace the old equipment which had reached the end of its working life. The new modern and sophisticated system immediately became invaluable in enabling us to provide information to the Coastguard during Search and Rescue Operations.
Formal links have been established with HM Coastguard, who have given Coastwatch Redcar ‘Declared Facility Status’. This is an acknowledgement that the facilities and volunteers have achieved a satisfactory and reliable standard in their day to day operations.
The station is a member of the Redcar ‘Shoplink’ scheme and liaises closely with local shop security teams, Cleveland Police and CCTV Operators via a dedicated radio system.
A signed Memorandum of Understanding is also in place with each of the following organisations :-
Maritime & Coastguard Agency
Local Search and Rescue Committee Cleveland (LSARC)
PD PORTS - Teesport
Local staff from the RNLI and HM Coastguard are regular visitors to the Redcar Station.
Live Weather
Live WebCam
18/04/12 It is with great sadness that we have to report the loss of one of our much respected Senior Watchkeepers.
Gordon Fowler passed away on Friday 13th April having been ill for some time. His sense of humour and story telling abilities will be greatly missed by all of us at Coastwatch Redcar.
Followers of the exploits of ‘The Redcar Winkle' may not have realised that these tales were penned by Gordon .... the stories will remain on our website in memory of him.
Our thoughts and sympathies are very much with Gordon's family and friends at this very sad time.
R I P Gordon (aka 'The Redcar Winkle')
09/04/12 Coastwatch Redcar now has a page on Facebook. Click Here or on the logo above and login to connect with us.
03/04/12 Our Station Controller and three of his Watchkeepers escaped from the ‘Lookout’ today and immediately headed South to visit Humber Coastguard. Many thanks to all of the Coastguard staff on shift for making us feel very welcome and for explaining the workings of the Operations Room. Click Here or on the Gallery button above to view some photos of the visit.
28/03/12 New Lifeboat: Redcar’s new Atlantic 85 Lifeboat “Leicester Challenge III” arrived on station today.
Click Here to view a photo.
18/03/12 Well done to all our supporters who collected a total of 65976 Evening Gazette ‘Wish Tokens’ for Coastwatch Redcar. We received a very welcome £581 ..... Thank You.
27/01/12 We now have a second webcam at the Lookout providing a view across West Scar. Our two cameras automatically switch between views every 30 seconds. Thanks to Camsecure CCTV for their help and support in providing this service. Please click on the link above to view their website.
18/11/11 Tidal information added to Home Page. Click on the table for more detail. This information provided by www.tidetimes.org.uk
News : Although still subject to some tuning and tweaking, our new webcam is now operational from the Lookout. Click on the camera icon to see the view from the Lookout.
News : Thanks to the generosity of one of our Patrons, Cleveland Cascades Ltd, we now have a new Weather Station. Click on the weather icon to view live weather data from the Lookout.
News : The Managing & Operations Directors of local company, Cleveland Cascades Ltd recently visited the ‘Lookout’ and kindly agreed to offer their support as Patron of Coastwatch Redcar. To find out more about Cleveland Cascades Ltd view their website from our Links page.
Wanted : Your Evening Gazette ‘Wish Tokens’. Please support us and help save lives by sending your tokens to us ... see our Contact Us page for the address .... or call in and see us at the Lookout.
Back due to popular demand ... the ‘Redcar Winkle’ returns with Part 2 of his sea going adventures ! See our Volunteers page or click here to view.
David Jamilly visits the‘Lookout’
See our Gallery page to view a photo.
For more information on current weather, wind and sea state at Redcar you are welcome to give us a call on 01642 491606.
