Flags flying at half mast 
Wednesday 1st December 2010

Following the sad news that Bernard Matthews passed away during last week the Lifeboat Station is flying its flags at half mast in recognition of a well loved supporter of the Service.

His continued support enabled the Lifeboat to face the future with confidence and his contributions and support have resulted in maintaining the ability of the Caister Lifeboat to come to the assistance of many people at risk at sea.

The recent launch, which resulted in the saving of three lives, is testiment to his confidence in the lifeboat and its crew.

Bernard, our condolences to your family at their loss, and our heartful thanks for all your years of support...a really great "Lifeboat Man". You will be long remembered in our history as a true Norfolk Gentleman



Busy Year 
Sunday 21st November 2010

After one of our quietest years last year. Not only have we had our most dramatic and successful rescue in many a year but we have been very busy of late. Both our Offshore and Inshore boats have been in action.

Our shouts have covered just about everything including searches, tows, medivacs, crew extractions and of course pulling three people, one a young boy, from the sea after their boat had gone down only moments before we arrived on scene.

The speed of our boat has really come into it's own this year and the three people pulled from the sea are alive solely because of the speed of the boat and the local knowledge of the sea that the Coxswain has.

Please keep supporting us we need all the help we can get so that we can remain operational....we are all volunteers and all donations go towards the Service




A female in distress
Thursday 14th October 2010

The Life boat received a request to launch to search for a young girl spotted in the sea about 3 miles north of the station at California Cliffs.

The girl was subsequently later discovered on the beach.



HMS Dauntless Visit 
Thursday 7th October 2010

The HMS Dauntless made her first official visit to Great Yarmouth and the Caister lifeboat was there to welcome and escourt her into the new Outer Harbour.

We are also now one of Her designated Charities so Thanks to you all on Dauntless.

Even though the crew of the lifeboat could clearly see the battleship it did not register on the boats radar and surprisingly even at 16 knots there was no wake waves....a true "Ghost ship."

The Lifeboat crew also had a guided tour of the main control and battle deck and the Chairman had the "Trip of a lifetime" from Edinburgh to Great Yarmouth

Pictures by courtesy of the Great Yarmouth Mercury.



Lifeboat Fete Great Success 
Monday 2nd August 2010

Our annual Lifeboat day Fete went extremely well.

Thanks to the generosity local businesses who kindly donated prizes and supplies.

Also to the Great support from locals and Holiday makers alike who turned up by the hundred to support our lifeboat.

Also thanks to the Crew, Young Crew, and supporters of the lifeboat who put in many hours of there own time to make the day such a magnificent success.

As a result of the hard work and great support we had a record take on the day.

Thanks again to all involved.




The In shore lifeboat in action again 
Tuesday 6th July 2010

A call from the Coastguards at Great Yarmouth resulted in the rapid launch of the In Shore lifeboat to power to the aid of a Kite Surfer spotted in trouble amongst the offshore wind turbines.

By the time the Inshore entered the water the Wind Kite was no longer visible in the sky so a sea search pattern was instigated.The Surfer was located back on shore when a further call resulted in a search for a mysterious object at sea.......this turned out to be the missing kite sail..

Sucessful launch and a safe ending for all concerned.



Two recent calls for help 
Sunday 20th June 2010

Concerned sea watchers alerted the Coastguard to what appeared to be the hull of an upturned boat about half a mile out to sea.Looking through high powered binoculars could not positively confirm what the reported object was. The Caister Inshore lifeboat was launched and ploughed its way through the breakers to the scene some mile and a half North of the Station.The failing light did not help with early identification.

At the scene the crew discovered a part deflated six foot long gold and silver wedding ballon partly submerged but billowing along its lenghth in the swell.It was recovered and "Recycled" into the Lifeboat bin.

The Second call at 0400hrs involved the Offshore lifeboat which was requested to standby a local fishing boat which had got into difficulties. Identified as the trawler Iceni it was quickly established that the vessel had an engine problem that could not be repaired.This resulted in a long 2 hour tow from Sea Palling,ten miles North of the lifebaot station, to Lowestoft Harbour in Suffolk 



"Caister ... The Sea Story 
Tuesday 15th June 2010

Renowned local author David Higgins' new book will be launched on Friday 23rd July at the Caiser Lifeboat Station at 7pm for 7.30pm.

The launch includes a talk by the author supported by a slide show and sea shanties

Tickets £5.00 includes light refreshment

Tel:- 01493 722001 01493 377015

Proceeds from the launch shared by Caister Volunteer Lifeboat and Holy Trinity Church




Offshore training for the Caister crews 
Tuesday 18th May 2010

Both the lifeboat crews are scheduled for training launches .

Bernard Matthews 2; 7th June;5th July;23rd August,20th September.....1830hrs

Jim Davison,inshore;,25th May [1830hrs],20th June [1000hrs],25th July [1000hrs]

15th August [1000hrs], 19th September [1000hrs] 




Caister Inshore lifeboat launched 
Tuesday 18th May 2010

Following a report from the Police the Caister Inshore lifeboat was launched just after midnight crewed by Alex Low and Jason Delf. The crew carried out an extensive grid search to the North of Caister along the California shore line looking for a potential suicide victim. The Caister crew were joined after an hour by the Hemsby Inshore boat.

Subsequently following an associated land search the female was dicovered wandering in a nearby field and the sea search was called off. 



Caister Marconi Radio Station contacts 29 countries 
Saturday 8th May 2010

Caister Marconi radio station contacts 29 countries

Radio hams at the Caister Lifeboat Visitor Centre in Norfolk managed to contact more than 130 other radio amateurs in 29 different countries on Saturday 24 April when they took part in the annual International Marconi Day to mark the inventor's birthday.

Using the call GB0CMS, notable contacts included Queensland, Australia (using Morse code) and another in Saint Thomas on the US Virgin Islands (using speech). Other contacts varied from a ham north of the Arctic Circle in Lapland to another aboard a yacht in the Mediterranean.

The station's signals crossed the Atlantic on three other occasions, making contact with hams in Newfoundland, Massachusetts and North Carolina.

Contacts closer to home included a holidaying ham in Caister and numerous other radio amateurs around the UK.

The Norfolk Amateur Radio Club (NARC) ran the all-day special event station at Caister Lifeboat Visitor Centre to commemorate the village's original Marconi Wireless Station, which was established at Caister in 1900. The station was in a house in the High Street known as Pretoria Villa and its original purpose was to communicate with ships in the North Sea and the Cross Sand lightship.

On Saturday, the closest to Guglielmo Marconi's birthday, stations around the world were set up at sites with historical links to the inventor's work. These include Poldhu in England; Cape Cod Massachusetts; Glace Bay, Nova Scotia; Villa Griffone, Bologna, Italy and many others.

NARC public relation officer Steve Nichols, who organised the event, said: "We were very pleased with the way the day went and it just shows what you can do with radio using just 100W - about the same power as an average incandescent light bulb.

"We had some technical hitches, including our club chairman getting stuck 20 feet up in the air on a 'cherry picker' when its power supply failed, but that's all part of the fun.

"Considering we set the whole station up on the Saturday morning, including erecting the two antennas, installing the radios and computers, and had it all taken down again by the end of the day that's quite a feat - I think Marconi would have been proud!"

Further history of the original Marconi Wireless Station

The Caister station was connected by land line to Gt Yarmouth Post Office and the Caister Coast Guard Station. The main aerial mast behind the house was 150 feet high, the aerial wire being suspended between this and a slightly shorter mast situated on land where Lacon Road was later built.

The large front room of the house contained the main apparatus and was also used as the operating room. The engine for charging the accumulators was situated in a shed adjoining the house and the accumulators themselves were housed in a specially constructed annex.

The remainder of the premises were used as a dwelling house for the officer-in-charge.

The range of communication was 150 to 200 miles on the long wave (600m) and 100 miles on the short wave (300m).

In 1909 all the Marconi coastal stations were taken over by the Post Office. In 1911 the Caister station was used to train lightship men in the use of telegraphy equipment.

In January 1915 the telegraph equipment on the Cross Sand lightship was transferred to the Parlour lightship and the Caister station was changed to 'general working' and not used for ship-to-shore work. Public use of the telegram facility provided at Caister was suspended for the duration of the WW1.

In 1921 plans were made for the reinstallation of wireless on Trinity House lightships, but this time the new wireless telephony was to replace telegraphy (Morse). New technology made the Caister station out of date and it finally closed in 1929. The masts were taken down and a few years later the house became the village Police Station.




Search for person reported in the sea 
Monday 3rd May 2010

Following a 999 call from a member of the public the Lifeboat was launched at about 6.15pm to carry out a sea search North of the Caister Lifeboat shed from the Haven Holiday Camp up to Hemsby. Coxswain Paul Williams, Assistant Coxswain Tommy Williams, Crewman Alex Low and Crewman Jason Delf were on the boat.

The sea was rough and despite the difficult conditions a close to shore search was completed to the North and back followed by a search further out, the RAF search and rescue Helicopter then joined us and repeated our search from above.

Coast guard vehicles searched the shoreline supported by the lifeboat inshore lifeboat tractor.

The Coastguard abandoned the search after an hour after no evidence of a person at sea was discovered.






Joint Exercise with RNLI
Tuesday 13th April 2010

Last night assistant Coxswains Owen Nutt and Tommy Williams along with Crewmen Richard Miles Lee Brown and Andrew Turner launched on exercise to join up with the Gorleston Lifeboat.

After doing manouvres in Great Yarmouth Harbour both boats set out to sea. They tied up along side each other to practice transfer of casualties. Did crew transfers whilst under power and took turns at towing each others boats.

Our speed machine at 11 tonnes towed the 27.5 tonne Samarbeta at 5 knots against the tide with no problems. 



Heritage Visitor Centre 
Tuesday 16th February 2010

We have now produced a leaflet that will be distributed far and wide to encourage people from all over the Uk to visit our Lifeboats.

Our visitor centre will be open on Wednesdays and Sundays [ and Bank Holidays.] from the 4th April until the 31st of October between 10am and 3pm.

This year entry will cost Adults £2.00 which will include an illustrated Brochure and a fresh brew of lifeboat tea or coffee.Children of School age will be welcome at no charge.

Entry to the Heritage centre will also include entry into the Skipper Woodhouse Shed to see our present Valentijn Class, Water Jet Propelled Bernard Matthews 2 and the Avon 4 metre inshore lifeboat, the Jim Davidson.

For more details of the Heritage centre click on the icon on the Home Page.

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