Alan Graham
Alan belongs to: Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade
Alan works as an Instrument Technician offshore. He joined the Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade at the age of 18. His family have been involved with the Brigade since it began in 1864. Alan's main job is looking after the searchlight.
Alan was interviewed by Carl Greenwood on 30 November 2005. The interview took place at Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade watch house and lasted 22 minutes and 18 seconds.
Using the searchlight
"It is used for, well, it has been used at one time, many years ago, we used to use it in the winter"
It is used for, well, it has been used at one time, many years ago, we used to use it in the winter to actually use the back window and go onto Collingwood’s Field which lit up the monument and the main field and it gave us light so that we’d do our practice exercises on the field. It’s also been used for boats which would be in trouble on Black Middens, it has been used where, as things have gone on the south side of the river and we put up a searchlight where boats have been in trouble, small craft, large craft, and it has been used for the Aregus, it was used for that, it’s been used for searches, we used it on the North Pier when we had a, a dredger which was under tow, the tow snapped and it went aground on the north side of the North Pier, it was used for that, at night time. It has been used several, many times for different things which have gone on in the river where boats have been in difficulty, put the searchlight on it and then, you know, you’d be able to watch its progress through the river.
Alan has 11 memories in the memorynet:
Alan's memories with a Skills theme:
CompetitionsAlan's other memories:
Hemp ropeThis memory has these themes:
Equipment | Roles and Routines | The North East
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