LOCAL people are being urged to help the coastguard at Beachley - by signing up to become a volunteer for the service.

The service has lost three volunteers recently - two have moved away and another has retired - and station manager Richard Hoyle is keen to replace them as soon as possible.

The coastguard is based at Beachley slipway, across the road from the Severn Area Rescue Association with which it works closely.

Being a coastguard can involve anything from advising on water safety to rescuing people - or even sea-life such as porpoises.

Mr Hoyle explained: "When there is an emergency in the rivers, the Coastguard co-ordinate the incident.

"You might call 999 or make a call on VHF radio channel 16 from someone who is in difficulty. (Coastguard control at) Milford Haven will take the call and they will call out SARA.

"SARA go out but the coastguard will have called them into maritime water. Often SARA will go with the coastguard so you have a land crew and a boat crew. There might also be a helicopter.

"All the guys in the coastguard are trained to be water rescue and at Chepstow they also specialise in mud and quicksand rescue.

"They are search technicians up to police national search governance standard.

"The work we do is complementary to SARA and we have specialist skills so we will go and do Royal fish and ordnance work."

"Royal fish" include whales, dolphins, porpoise and sturgeon which belong to the Queen if they are washed up.

In 2019 the coastguard responded when a porpoise got stranded at Lydney Harbour.

Mr Hoyle said: "If its alive we’ll get the British Divers Marine Life Rescue. If it isn’t we’ll go through the Receiver of Wreck to get permission from Her Majesty to get permission to dispose of it.

"I’ve been on the station for more than 10 years and we’ve had a whale at Beachley and plenty of porpoise and they’ve never wanted it but the Natural History Museum has.

"If nobody wants it we look to the landowner or local authority to assist with disposal.

"The call outs we generally get are to investigate or to rescue - we might get a call day or night to a boat that has broken down and we might need to go and give advice. We’ll call out SARA to tow it back."

There have been two incidents this week: the first where somebody reported, in good faith, that they had seen something suspicious in the Severn which turned out to be a false alarm.

The second involved the rescue of someone who had gone into the river but who was brought out safely.

Coastguard volunteers are also trained in casualty care - skills that were used a few weeks ago when a man climbing rocks at Sudbrook near Chepstow fell 30 feet.

Like all rescue services, they have to be ready to respond at a moment’s notice to an emergency call.

Mr Hoyle said: "A few weeks ago, we had just finished cleaning everything and it looked lovely and the pager went off and we heard a 12-year-old had fallen off the rocks at Sudbrook with possible spinal injuries and we sent a crew immediately."

The coastguard at Beachley "looks after" about 100 miles of riverbank on both sides of the Severn and the Rivers Wye, Usk and Ebbw between Gloucester and Newport.

Mr Hoyle said that as well as building up many skills, volunteers get a lot of satisfaction from helping the community.

There is a huge sense of pride in being able to respond day or night to people who are in difficulty on the coast.

"Being up to strength is critical - we are able to respond normally but we need to bring ourselves up to strength.

"You can join the coastguard from any walk of life: You just have to be over 18, full driving licence, be fit and must be able to go into water and you must commit to being called out any time of day or night and preferably live within 15 minutes of Chepstow."

For more information about joining the Coastguard e-mail [email protected]

The coastguard is based at Beachley slipway, across the road from the Severn Area Rescue Association with which it works closely.

Being a coastguard can involve anything from advising on water safety to rescuing people - or even sea-life such as porpoises.

Mr Hoyle explained: "When there is an emergency in the rivers, the Coastguard co-ordinate the incident.

"You might call 999 or make a call on VHF radio channel 16 from someone who is in difficulty. (Coastguard control at) Milford Haven will take the call and they will call out SARA.

"SARA go out but the coastguard will have called them into maritime water. Often SARA will go with the coastguard so you have a land crew and a boat crew. There might also be a helicopter.

"All the guys in the coastguard are trained to be water rescue and at Chepstow they also specialise in mud and quicksand rescue.

"They are search technicians up to police national search governance standard.

"The work we do is complementary to SARA and we have specialist skills so we will go and do Royal fish and ordnance work."

"Royal fish" include whales, dolphins, porpoise and sturgeon which belong to the Queen if they are washed up.

In 2019 the coastguard responded when a porpoise got stranded at Lydney Harbour.

Mr Hoyle said: "If its alive we’ll get the British Divers Marine Life Rescue. If it isn’t we’ll go through the Receiver of Wreck to get permission from Her Majesty to get permission to dispose of it.

"I’ve been on the station for more than 10 years and we’ve had a whale at Beachley and plenty of porpoise and they’ve never wanted it but the Natural History Museum has.

"If nobody wants it we look to the landowner or local authority to assist with disposal.

"The call outs we generally get are to investigate or to rescue - we might get a call day or night to a boat that has broken down and we might need to go and give advice. We’ll call out SARA to tow it back."

There have been two incidents this week: the first where somebody reported, in good faith, that they had seen something suspicious in the Severn which turned out to be a false alarm.

The second involved the rescue of someone who had gone into the river but who was brought out safely.

Coastguard volunteers are also trained in casualty care - skills that were used a few weeks ago when a man climbing rocks at Sudbrook near Chepstow fell 30 feet.

Like all rescue services, they have to be ready to respond at a moment’s notice to an emergency call.

Mr Hoyle said: "A few weeks ago, we had just finished cleaning everything and it looked lovely and the pager went off and we heard a 12-year-old had fallen off the rocks at Sudbrook with possible spinal injuries and we sent a crew immediately."

The coastguard at Beachley "looks after" about 100 miles of riverbank on both sides of the Severn and the Rivers Wye, Usk and Ebbw between Gloucester and Newport.

Mr Hoyle said that as well as building up many skills, volunteers get a lot of satisfaction from helping the community.

There is a huge sense of pride in being able to respond day or night to people who are in difficulty on the coast.

"Being up to strength is critical - we are able to respond normally but we need to bring ourselves up to strength.

"You can join the coastguard from any walk of life: You just have to be over 18, full driving licence, be fit and must be able to go into water and you must commit to being called out any time of day or night and preferably live within 15 minutes of Chepstow."

For more information about joining the Coastguard e-mail [email protected]