Work was completed in June 2008 on the roof and front window of the lookout tower. It also looks a lot smarter after repainting the exterior and much of the inside. Hopefully we will see no more trickles of water coming through the roof ! Cash was made available for this from a Lottery application. The refurbished tower was formally reopened on July 25 in the presence of Jon Gifford and Simon Rabett, Head of Falmouth Coastguard.
The number of qualified Watchkeepers rose impressively while John Hicks was Station Manager during 2007, and the management committee recently decided to go forward with plans to gain Declared Facility Status (DFS) as our next major priority.
On August 11 2008, Peter Davey handed-over to Bryan Jackson as Chairman of the Management Committee for an initial period of 3 months. This arrangement was approved at an AGM in the Queens Hotel, PZ, on 21 Jan 2009, and it was hoped to make a final push toward DFS.
Since then the number, and quality, of watchkeepers has further increased, although raising sufficient funds is a growing concern specially in a financial recession.
At last on May 12 2009 Bryan felt we were ready, and offered the Station for inspection by representatives of the local Coastguard and NCI's Assessment/Liaison Team. Declared Facility Status was duly approved, and this was confirmed on June 10.