19th November 2022. The National Coastwatch Institution held its annual Station Managers Meeting at the RNLI College in Poole. The meeting was  attended by Officers of the charity including the Trustees, National Officers, Sector Managers and, of course, Station Managers from our 59 stations nationwide. The meeting was well attended  with some 55 members at Poole who were joined by an additional 40 members online. Despite significant technical difficulties with the on-site equipment, the  meeting was very successful and was well received by all.

The meeting was opened by NCI Chairman Clive Pouncey who welcomed everyone before giving an overview of recent NCI activities. He was followed by Trustee Phil Styles who, standing in for Trustee Chris Aps, introduced the work of the Station Development Team before outlining the charity’s CCTV policies. Next up was CEO David Crozier who reported on the work of the Executive Committee and updated the meeting on the progress of the Uniform Review. At this point, Clive introduced our guest speaker Assistant Chief Coastguard Helen McCaffery who praised the relationship between NCI and HM Coastguard and announced some of the initiatives that are being developed,

After a short lunch break, Trustee Stephen Hand opened the afternoon session by outlining the Coastal & Water Safety Campaign and the plans for rolling it out next year. This was followed by National Treasurer Graeme Gordon who outlined the revised procedure for authorising Significant Expenditure items. Following on from this, Trustee Jonathan Rothwell outlined the importance of using Social Media  to promote NCI. Jonathan then introduced our second speaker, Julia Gosling from Ahoy Communications, who explained how they will be helping NCI in the coming months. David Crozier returned to the stage to facilitate a forum on Station Fundraising, before Clive providing the closing address.

Despite the problems caused by the in-house equipment, the meeting was a success and enabled the Trustees to give detailed information, and answer questions, about new developments.