Pembrokeshire’s only NCI lookout seeks more recruits to move to seven-day operation

HIGH above the coastline at Martin’s Haven, on the edge of the National Trust’s Deer Park, stands NCI Wooltack Point – the county’s sole National Coastwatch Institution station. Many visitors mistake it for a birdwatching shelter, but the team of trained volunteers inside plays a far more critical role.

From this exposed position they have a clear view over Jack Sound, the narrow and notoriously fast-flowing stretch of water between the mainland and Skomer Island. Tidal races here can reach 4–5 knots, drawing in kayakers, pleasure craft, walkers and wildlife spotters and creating conditions that change in moments.

The station is currently open five days a week, from Friday to Tuesday. The ambition is to extend cover to seven days, but that depends entirely on recruitment. With a small local population and the challenges of such a remote site, finding enough volunteers has never been easy.

Wooltack Point’s responsibilities differ from many other NCI stations, which are often based above busy beaches. Here, watchkeepers concentrate on offshore activity, using telescopes and binoculars to track boat movements, monitor the tide races and log anything out of the ordinary. They also keep a careful watch on the cliff paths, which attract large numbers of walkers and photographers. Visitors edging too close to the drop for a better view of seals, or dogs chasing seabirds towards the cliff edge, are among the recurring risks the team monitors.

The station operates to HM Coastguard standards, passing on information and assisting during live incidents. Volunteers also work alongside search and rescue teams and, where needed, the Border Force, providing what local managers describe as “an extra pair of eyes on a difficult stretch of coast”.

Running the facility is not cheap. With no government funding, the station must raise between £6,000 and £7,000 every year simply to keep the doors open. That covers communications, maintenance and essential equipment. Donations from local businesses, collection boxes and community fundraising efforts are what sustain the operation.

Access to facilities was once a barrier to recruitment, but the recent installation of a toilet has made longer shifts more manageable and has already encouraged new sign-ups.

No previous maritime experience is required. New volunteers receive full training at their own pace, beginning with an online course covering navigation basics, tides and chartwork, before progressing to supervised sessions at the station. Practical skills include logging procedures, emergency response and risk assessment. A fully funded VHF Radio Operator’s Licence is also available. Volunteers stress that no one is left to stand a watch alone until they feel completely ready.

The station holds optional training twice a month as well as informal social meet-ups, helping build confidence and maintain skills.

Phil, the deputy station manager, joined four years ago after retiring. “I always wanted to help on the lifeboats but never had the time,” he said. “This is my way of giving something back – and maybe being there on the day someone really needs us.” While there is always routine work to do, he adds: “A quiet lookout is a good day. It means everyone’s safe.”

NCI Wooltack Point is inviting anyone with spare time – whether weekly or occasionally – to get involved. More volunteers mean more hours covered, and a safer coastline for everyone who visits this dramatic corner of Pembrokeshire.

Those interested can contact the station through its website or Facebook page.

CHARITY SPECIAL FEATURE OF THE MONTH

ON a grey morning in March 2025, Lee Barnett pressed send on the email no charity chief ever wants to write.

Sandy Bear Children’s Bereavement Charity – one of only two specialist services for grieving children in the whole of Wales – was just a few months from closing its doors for good.

“We were staring at the end,” Barnett says. “We knew families needed us more than ever. We also knew the money had simply run out.”

Across Britain, thousands of charities are limping through the same cost-of-living storm. For Sandy Bear the stakes were uniquely cruel: stop the service and hundreds of Welsh children bereaved by suicide, addiction or sudden death would be left with nothing.

This is the story of how Wales refused to let that happen.

Born from heartbreak

Sandy Bear began life inside the NHS. When health-board cuts killed the original service, a handful of staff and volunteers would not let it die. They rebuilt it, pound by pound, because they had seen what happens to children when no one catches them.

One parent later wrote: “Sandy Bear was the string that stitched our hearts back together and made it possible to smile again.”

For many families, that line is not poetry. It is survival.

A perfect storm

2025 hit the charity from every angle.

Referrals doubled post-pandemic to more than 100 a month. Over half the children had lost someone to suicide; another 20% to drugs or alcohol. The sharpest rise was among six- to fifteen-year-olds.

At the same time, grants dried up, inflation hammered running costs, and exhausted staff carried impossible caseloads. Waiting lists lengthened. The board took the agonising decision to lose a handful of posts.

“It felt like we were choosing which children we could help,” Barnett says.

Then Wales stepped up

What happened next stunned even the people inside the building.

Village halls filled with cake sales. Runners pounded pavements in Sandy Bear vests. Skydivers leapt for the cause. Town and community councils in Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire and Swansea sent emergency cheques that – in the charity’s own words – “literally kept the lights on”.

Businesses followed: Valero, Ascona Group, Young Farmers Clubs, Haverfordwest County AFC. Footballer Joe Allen visited the centre and posed for photos with children who had lost parents.

Politicians of every stripe turned up too. Plaid Cymru’s Ben Lake, Labour’s Henry Tufnell and Eluned Morgan, Conservatives Sam Kurtz and Paul Davies – rivals who rarely agree – stood shoulder to shoulder in briefing rooms and on site visits, sounding the alarm in Westminster and the Senedd.

“It was the most united I’ve ever seen Welsh politics on anything,” says business development manager Martin Jones.

The hidden £20 million payback

Sandy Bear runs on roughly £500,000 a year – loose change in government terms.

Independent analysis values its work at more than £20 million annually in prevented costs: fewer family breakdowns, fewer addictions, fewer youth suicide attempts, fewer kids excluded from school, fewer A&E dashes and police call-outs.

Most of that saving never makes the headlines, because the crises never happen.

From red to resilient

By autumn the haemorrhage had stopped. New funding streams opened. Staff rewrote support models. Waiting lists began, slowly, to shrink.

“We survived,” Barnett says, “because our communities refused to let us fall.”

But the crisis is not over

Demand is still climbing. The charity must raise half a million pounds every single year just to stand still. More than 80p in every pound donated reaches the frontline.

And childhood bereavement is not going away. If anything, the causes – suicide, overdose, sudden death – are rising.

The team at Sandy Bear want Wales to face a hard truth: grief itself is not the enemy. Unsupported grief is.

A quiet ask for 2026

As Christmas approaches, the charity’s final message of 2025 is deliberately low-key.

They thank every runner, every donor, every councillor, every MP, every child who sold cakes outside the school gate.

And then they ask – without drama – for the help to continue.

A tenner a month. A share on social media. A volunteer afternoon. A conversation with your MS or MP.

Because, as they gently remind us:

“Liking, sharing and commenting costs nothing, but it genuinely helps save lives.”

This Christmas, hold your loved ones close.

Somewhere in Wales tonight, a child who cannot do that is still hoping someone will help them find their way back to the light.

And in 2025, Wales proved it could be that someone.

ST JOHN AMBULANCE CYMRU recently welcomed representatives from the West Wales Freemasons to learn more about the Community Support Unit their donation has helped purchase as part of a visit to the charity’s Divisional building in Carmarthen.

The West Wales Freemasons kindly donated £20,000 towards the purchase of the vehicle, which is being used to support the charity’s work to provide first aid support across Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, as well as further afield for events of national significance.

In addition to being equipped with a range of first aid equipment, as well as a gazebo, tables and chairs to support visibility at events, the specially adapted vehicle also has space for six St John People and is equipped with facilities to support volunteer welfare.

As well as being shown the various features of the Community Support Unit, the West Wales Masons were presented with a Certificate of Appreciation and were thanked by Trustee Prof. Jean White CBE as well as local St John Ambulance Cymru volunteers, staff and members of the St John Council for Dyfed.

The first aid charity for Wales has purchased over 15 of the vehicles to support its work to provide first aid cover at a range of events large and small across the country.

Head of Fundraising and Communications for St John Ambulance Cymru, Owen Thomas said: “This event was a valuable opportunity to show our generous donors from the West Wales Freemasons the real difference we are making in local communities thanks to their continued support.

“As well as providing our St John People with everything they need to provide first aid at an event, these vehicles also provide the facilities that enable them to have a hot drink and warm food, as well as shelter from the temperamental Welsh weather.”

The latest support from the West Wales Masons follows the donation made in 2024 to support the purchase of an ambulance vehicle.

James Ross, Head of West Wales Freemasons said: “We are delighted to have been able to see the tangible impact our support is having on the ground, supporting St John volunteers as they care for others.

“We are proud to support St John Ambulance Cymru’s work in West Wales to provide first aid for those in need and to help more people learn the skills that could save a life.”

To find our more about St John Ambulance Cymru’s work across Wales and how you can donate or get involved, visit www.sjacymru.org.uk.