Newsletter Winter 2005/6

This work and the fundraising took priority over the newsletter I am sorry. Anyway your lookout which you have helped fund is now a state of the art building. And ready for action, if you go into our website at www.stepper-point.co.uk and look on the incident page you will see we have been kept very busy with the lifeboats and Falmouth Coastguard.

I am pleased to announce that with this rebuild we will be assisting out Tennant Farmer Mr Charlie Watson Smyth with his new project, this also can be found on a link on our site. Stepper Point Headland is being designated a conservation area he will be working with the RSPB the Country Side Commission and DEFRA to get this venture off the ground. A planned breeding scheme is planned for the area with the introduction of our Cornish Chough and other breeding pairs.

Our Treasurer writes;

Annual accounts for the year 2004 - 2005 have been presented to the national auditors of NCI. The flow of donations from our collection box at the lookout has dwindled over the winter months mainly due to the lack of hardy people willing to take on the rigours of walking the coast. Our thanks to those who have supported us through our "Friends of Stepper" scheme, we need more supporters, so why not tell you friends there is a application form on the back page of this magazine.

Martin Bishop one of our long established watch keepers has actively engaged in a programme of corporate funding-raising to help with our improvements to the station. We are very fortunate to have Martin acting in this capacity, he has vast experience in corporate business funding in industry. ‘Thank you Martin’

Our source of local fundraising has been mainly from open days at the Memorial Hall adjacent to the harbour, we are indebted to Bill & Beryl Lindsey and our lady supporters Shelia, Audrey, Hillary, and many others who give so generously of their time each month and to Mrs. Betty Shaw who organizes the Tombola stall.

Our since thanks also to those who gave generously of items for sale at these functions and to those who worked tirelessly supporting our rebuild fund.

Although we have achieved our goal, we still need to raise funds to cover our running costs, and any repairs in the coming years. We have to fund our telephone, public liability & personnel insurances & capitation fees, as well as communication licenses, fuel, protective clothing and many other incidental costs. All our watch keepers are volunteers and travel to and from the station at their own expense. My sincere thanks to them for their loyal support.

Since our opening in 2002 it had become abundantly clear that we needed to enlarge the existing lookout to provide a better environment for our watch keepers , the accommodation was very cramped, with no room for more than two persons at any one time.

The rear wooden annex which was nearing the end of its useful life, has been replaced by an enlarged permanent extension, giving better working & storage facilities, plus reception facilities for our participation in the environmental management project for Stepper Point.

As an added bonus extra windows have been added thus giving better observation over the navigational channels, Daymer Bay, the Doom Bar and Tregirls Cove, these are very high usage areas being very popular with water sport activities.

Plans and estimates were produced by two of our professional local supporters. Plans were submitted to the local planning authorities and received the necessary permissions. Our landlord Mr. Peter Prideaux-Brune and his estate management office have gave their blessing to the project. Having received the necessary planning permissions the construction work began in early in June 2005. The structural work was completed in late August. Fitting out of the work area was undertaken by one of our watch keepers Dave Towndrow & his wife Ness. The power & communications equipment was re-installed by Marine Electronics of Fowey assisted by our station manager and his three deputies. A new more robust wind turbine and more efficient solar panels were fitted as a result of a grant from the Awards for All.

The existing windows have been replaced with double glazed units to match those fitted in the new extended building, this work was undertaken by Dave Rodda.

We now have an emergency generator thanks to the efforts of our watch keeper Martin Bishop who negotiated a deal between ourselves, Honda & Truro Tractors, this is an invaluable asset enabling us to use mains voltage tools on site as well as trickle charging our batteries as and when necessary.

George Barnes

Treasurer. D/SM

The following is an extract from the book 'Cornwall’ by the famous Cornishman, Claude Berry of Padstow, journalist, writer, broadcaster and, in his later years Editor of the Truro paper ‘The West Briton’. The first edition of the book, published in 1949, contains, this reference to Coxswain David Grubb, of Crail in Fife, who came to Padstow as Coxswain of one of its lifeboats.

Claude Berry writes:

The Twelfth of December, the news was spread around,

That a Brig was in the offing, for the crew to muster down,

To the Albert Edward lifeboat with nothing else in view.

About 10am that morning, with billows raging high

The Albert Edward Lifeboat was speeding on her way,

With eleven stout-hearted oarsmen and bold coxswains two,

Determined by the help of God to save a precious crew.

A good kind-hearted gentleman, he volunteered to go,

Thanks to his manly conduct in cheering up the crew.

Each heart was bent with manly strength to rescue or die,

In hollow sea or foaming crest, the arm of God was nigh.

Almost an hour of hardy toil brought us to the wreck,

Where six weather-beaten seamen were seen upon the deck,

An arduous task to be performed, the sea was raging high,

In hollow sea to foaming crest the arm of God was nigh.

But soon we sped towards the shore; each heart was bent with hope,

The drogue was thrown overboard with very little scope,

When angry billows passed us by. to lash upon the sand,

God speed the noble lifeboat and bring her safe to land.

But when we rounded Stepper and to our great dismay,

The drogue rope broke asunder before the breaking sea,

She shot forth like an arrow as the angry waves broke over,

"She’s lost She’s lost was the cry with all we shall ne’er see her more.

But soon her noble bow appeared as she passed the wave,

And quickly landed at the cove, the salvers and the saved.

When good one hundred voices, with three cheers rung the sky,

And truly said with one and all the Arm of God was nigh.

Then success to the lifeboat and likewise all her crew,

May we be always ready and try our best to do,

For weather beaten seamen, when driven on our shore,

And thank the hand that carried us, safe for ever, evermore.

This chatter has become my regular Saturday afternoon's radio entertainment as I, along with my trusty collie Dougal, and two hovering kestrels for company, keep watch at Stepper Point, the lookout post of the National Coastwatch Institution. Like many institutions in Cornwall, the NC.I is staffed and maintained entirely by volunteers. As I have come to discover, volunteer work here is as natural as breathing. I can hardly think of anyone who is not a volunteer helper in some form or another. A total contrast to a 'city culture
As a 'city boy', and from a landlocked city at that, there are two observations to be made about the sea: (a) it's very big, (b) there's a lot of people on it, in it, by it or over it every minute of the day. From the breathtaking view from Stepper you can traverse the open Atlantic (40 miles visibility with binoculars) across to Pentire Head, ^{down the beaches thronged with families and into the river with its assorted boats, surfers, wind kite's and, I assume, other water based activities recently invented. There is then quite a lot to look out for!}

Friday the Seventeenth of December 2004 dawned a wild day, but the local 6 am forecast for Lundy area gave only gale force 8 and easing force 5 later. I was to discover that this was to be far from the actual conditions at Stepper Point for the first watch which I was doing solo at the lookout that day. My wife had said that she thought the wind was getting much stronger and wondered whether I should set off to walk along the cliff path. As the wind was NW and therefore blowing off the sea, I felt that the coast path would be safe as I would only be blown farther inland with a strengthening wind. In the event, as I approached the lookout it was clear that far from easing, the wind had picked up very considerably and upon reaching the door I was having difficulty in standing up. When I opened up and phoned the coastguard at 8.50, I was able to report that the wind speed was steady Force 11, gusting Force 12. Well at least we now know that the anemometer reads that high! I understand that the last steady high wind at this level was during a storm in 1979. When I phoned the Padstow Tourist Information Centre with a weather report, I asked them to put on the NCI blackboard that the cliff path was dangerous for walkers due to high winds. ^{Only one lady walker with a dog ventured past during the course of the watch. A little later the phone rang and Michael Fisher wanted to know if I was alright in the storm conditions. It was kind of him to think to check up on the watch keeper, and I said I was very glad to have the phone. Falmouth Coastguard were issuing Securitèe radio warnings on the unexpected increased wind strength and a number of vessels were taking advice about the need to shelter and ride out the storm. This, of course is just the time when our watch is so important and there is no substitute for} a watch keeper keeping a keen eye out for any possible trouble at sea. 
^{The visibility was down to one mile initially with leaden skies but between heavy squally showers the black clouds parted briefly and a shaft of sunlight caught the superstructure of a coaster which was pitching heavily and making very slow progress in the high seas. For just a second or two there was a strong rainbow with an inverted fainter rainbow above as the sun came out for a moment. I estimated the vessel to be 8 miles distant and as the clouds closed in again and I lost sight of it, I got a radar contact at 7 miles range on this bearing. I kept radar watch on it over a period of time and plotted its heading. Its speed was just one third of a knot. At this time even though the wind generator tail vane was correctly turned at a right angle to the wind direction to spill the maximum amount of wind, the speed of the blades was still very high and I noticed that the ammeter showing the battery charging current was well over beyond its 10 amp end stop and the red panel light was on showing that the excess current generated was being dumped by the electronic system. Even this dumping arrangement could not cope with these high winds, however, and suddenly there was an electrical splat as the 15 amp fuse on the panel blew.} When the wind eased a little, I replaced the fuse from the spares in the drawer and all was well again with a reasonable 8 amps charging current. When Brian Cowell, my relief came, he was very sensibly accompanied by his wife to double up the shift. We compared notes and I signed off and walked back to my car thinking what a good idea it is to have two watch keepers on duty. So hopefully with some of our recent new recruits who have joined us, we will be able to get to this situation before too long.

PRIDEAUX PLACE-PADSTOW’S ELIZABETHAN HOUSE

Leading off the dining room is the family morning room which is used every day. There is a pastel of Humphrey Prideaux by the celebrated Italian artist Rosabella Carreria when she was on a grand tour of Europe. The artist fell in love him but did not have the courage to admit her feelings and hid a letter in the back of the portrait which was discovered in 1914 when the picture was cleaned. Prideaux Place was the first house in Cornwall to have electricity installed, and there is an original pewter light fitting and also a silver art deco light switch.

Leaving the morning room you enter the drawing room which has a very calm atmosphere, and has a beautiful view across the southern lawn. This room has been used extensively as a film set and is often for civil wedding ceremonies. There is a wonderful collection of furnishings and porcelain to be seen.

The final room to be viewed on the ground floor is the Grenville room, Sir Richard Grenville was the first Earl of Bath. This was the dining room and was taken from the grand manor Stowe House near Kilkhampton it was removed entire by sea and re-located by Edmond Prideaux.

We leave the Grenville room and mount the stairs to the library, which has a collection of about 6,000

Volumes including first editions, and some rare antique furniture. The ceiling has been decorated in the Strawberry Hill gothic style by Horace Walpole similarly as the ceiling in the Great Hall. There is a picture of Mr. Peter Prideaux– Brune dressed in his robes as a barrister, included in the picture is his teddy bear "Me Too".

There is also a portrait of his uncle the famous Air Chief Marshall "Bomber Harris".

From this hall there is a wonderful view of the cantilever staircase which has no visual signs of support. At the top of the staircase is a full length portrait of the present owner’s great grandmother the Hon Katharine Knatchbull– Hugesson. The landing leads to the great chamber or Susannah room. The ceiling is one of the finest 16th century plaster ceilings in existence, by the Abbot family of Frithlestock, depicting the story of Susannah and the Elders. This is known as the "hidden ceiling" for in the 18th century another ceiling was hung below it and the room converted into two bedrooms, and the present owner was born in one of these. The view from the Great Chamber is across the deer park, where it is purported that if the herd dies out the Prideaux-Brune family will cease!.

Text by Colin Davey (Pixie) Guide and watch keeper at Stepper Point^.