Hornsea NCI has celebrated its fifth anniversary with a series of summer events.
To celebrate the milestone, the Let’s Sing Hornsea choir performed outside the station and at the Hornsea Hub on Saturday, July 30, while raising funds for the station.
Between July 30 and August 1, the station invited guests and supporters to view the progress made in the past five years. The NCI (National Coastwatch Institution) is a voluntary organisation and registered charity providing a visual watch along the UK’s coasts, and is independent from HM Coastguard.
Guests included Hornsea mayor Laura Embleton and her husband Colin, and Stephen Larard, former Vice Lord-Lieutenant of the East Riding of Yorkshire who escorted Princess Anne at the original opening event.
Other guests included Stuart and Caroline Elliott, of Elliott Eggs, Linda Charlton of the Marine pub, John Barker and John Barker Snr from Barker and Grantham, Imogen Campion from Stolz Oil Consultancy, Aldbrough, and Phil and Yvonne Lee, the proprietors of Kingfisher Lakes.
Hornsea NCI’s media manager Andrew Garvey said: “It seems like only yesterday since Princess Anne opened the station and we became operational. Financial support has allowed us to survive and progress and we all welcomed the opportunity to say thank you to all the supporters.”
During the presentation, staff spoke about their roles and relationships with other search and rescue organisations. They also spoke about some recent incidents that had been reported to the Coastguard.
Andrew added: “We were also able to demonstrate our equipment and the contribution that makes to our overall ability to deliver our services to the community.”
As part of the celebrations, representatives of Hornsea NCI were also on hand at some of the town’s big summer events including the classic car show, Hornsea Carnival and the Biker Event.
The charity is completely dependent on donations with many coming from around the Hornsea area, Andrew said.
He added: “They have all contributed to the station through their generosity, by donations or their contributions through our collection boxes located in store around the town. The watchkeeping team wish to extend our gratitude and thanks to all our supporters and shop owners who make all this possible.”
