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.
Competitions
"We used to do competitions with Sunderland, South Shields and Tynemouth"
We used to do competitions with Sunderland, South Shields and Tynemouth used to do competitions, the Wearside Shield, and they were very, very competitive. We’ve often been accused of cheating, I can’t see why. You know, these things happen. People find ways of doing things quicker and getting the results they require. And this is what, this is what it’s all about- if you have competition, it means that you, you find ways of using the equipment which is not, you know, which is out of the ordinary, which actually makes you better at doing your job. But unfortunately the competitions themselves, are not, the inter-brigade competitions are no longer going. The hawser, that’s been long since done away with. In fact, as far as I understand Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade is the last brigade, or declared facility to the coastguard, which still practices breeches buoy rescue.
Alan has 11 memories in the memorynet:
Alan's memories with a Clothing theme:
Call out routine
Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade uniformAlan's other memories:
This memory has these themes:
Change | Equipment | Skills | The North East | Traditions | Volunteering
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