25th May 2016. With the support of the local community, the Porthcawl watchkeepers are on now on duty in their newly refurbished station, to help spot danger so that amateur sailors and fishermen can stay safe.

 Heritage Lottery funding, together with contributions from Bridgend County Borough Council (BCBC), Cadw and the NCI have all helped to restore the 150-year-old Pilot Lookout tower to its former glory through the Porthcawl Townscape Heritage Initiative.

 The new station was officially opened on Friday 21st May by Bridgend AM Carwyn Jones and Bridgend MP Madeline Moon. Councillor Charles Smith, BCBC’s cabinet member for regeneration and economic development said, “It’s wonderful to see this historic waterfront building brought back into use. From being in a dilapidated condition, it has been given replacement windows, doors and roofing, while the external staircase has also been renewed. Following its restoration, we were pleased to then transfer the building to the National Coastwatch Institution earlier this year, and their operations will make a substantial contribution in helping Porthcawl’s coastline become even safer”.

Station Manager Phillip Jones said “we are absolutely delighted  to be fully operational and we hope to establish the station as an integral part of the search and rescue operations along the South Wales coast. We’re conducting both offshore and onshore surveillance and we’ll be reporting back to Milford Haven Coastguard. Over the past few months we’ve been training volunteers. The response has been wonderful and we even have a waiting list. Although we are starting with a weekend watch only, our aim is to quickly expand so that we can have enough qualified watchkeepers to offer a service on every single day of the year”.

Photograph courtesy of the Barry Gem