Automation of a Lighthouse, The Needles, 1994
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 ธ.ค. 2020
- This was my last trip to the Needles Lighthouse on the Isle of Wight. It was 1994 and the automation of the Needles was in progress. Instead of the usual 3 Keepers, we were now just 2 Keepers on the Lighthouse and 2 Trinity house Technicians. The Lighthouse was being changed forever, so hopefully my previous videos will have preserved something to look back on.
This isn't the full automation of the Needles by any means, it is just my record of some of the automation work that was in progress when I was sent there on duty.
Anybody that is interested in Lighthouses, check out the Association of Lighthouse Keepers at the following link
alk.org.uk/
PS. You don't have to be a Lighthouse Keeper to join.
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These videos should be kept in an archive
Thank you Gary, I have tried a few places but they wanted me to sign all my footage over to them so I thought I would try You Tube instead!
Take care and have a Merry Christmas.
@@PeterHalil Peter, would you like me to enquire for you at The Institution of Mechanical Engineers to see if there is a way to broker preserving your videos in a way that suits you? TH-cam may not be permanent taking a 50 or 100 year outlook. Rgds, Phil.
@@philhealey449 Cheers Phil, sounds like a plan, I will be happy to check any option out.
@@PeterHalil That's great , you could email me at phil.healey@activenergy.com.hk to kick this off. You have a self evidently important record of a hugely changing era for lighthouses. Rgds, Phil
Peter, these videos are serious historical documents. Amazing footage at a pivotal moment. I was born in '75 and missed a calling taylor-made for my temperament. As you were a Trinity guy, I'd guess you've no footage of Skerryvore which I consider the trump of rock lights (although Bell, Dubh Artach, Eddistone, Wolf, Bishop, Longships and Fastnet are all superlative feats to rival the pyramids). Bravo. Cheers from Aberdeen 👍🏻
Hi Mark, To my regret, I never approached the Northern Lighthouse Board to film there, sorry. My only footage was of Mull of Galloway on holiday. Thank you for your kind words, take care and stay safe.
Just watched your video of Automation of the needles lighthouse it was so nice to see my favourite view close up what a amazing video well done and thank you so much
Thank you very much Jessie, there are a couple more with Christmas at the Needles followed by a part 2 where you get a full conducted tour by Gerry Douglas-Sherwood, principal Keeper. Hope you like them, thanks again and stay safe.
@@PeterHalil Thank you for that l only just watched that one but l will be watching more especially the
Needles ones I've watched the same view for so long it was really good to see a different perspective
@@jessiec8857 Thank you, Have a safe Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Thanks for sharing these very facinating films.
Always loved lighthouses tho never lucky enough, to stay in one.
closest i have come was visiting a few up Scotland.
Cromarty and Lossiemouth to name a couple.
Very sad when all this, modern way forward, automation,came in for you boys, i can only imagine, as it was your lives!!! this lighthouse keeping, it must have been very hard on u all.
Good job u filmed so much, these films are so precious to you guys i would imagine.
Thankyou again, so much. Take care.
Thank you June for your kind words, I can't answer for all of us but it was certainly a big shock to return to the job market and try to find my place again in the "normal" 9 till 5 syndrome. Must admit that took a lot of getting used to as you may imagine. Doing all this editing more or less after I've retired from the workplace has suddenly taken me back to a job that I really loved
and in lots of ways have me relive my life as a Lighthouse Keeper, thanks again June, you stay safe and take care.
Fantastic video Peter.
Loved the tour of the cliffs. Absolutely beautiful rock formations.
Cheers Mack, yes those cliffs and to see the Needles rock formations up close was kind of special. Thanks again, stay safe and have a great Christmas.
Great work. Really appreciate you sharing years worth of documented footage on TH-cam. Keep safe, and have a great Christmas. Let's hope for a better 2021 than this year
Thank you John, much appreciated, you too have a safe and Happy Christmas
Another sad but true story.. The needles light has always been a part of my life as in the late 70s at school we used to send Christmas cards and gifts..never new if anything got to there or not. Also had a school trip when it was maned and was shown around the hole tower and we was asked if would like a cuppa.. I jumped to the offer tea and biscuits degestives good memorie. But also now in my adult life I sail out passing the light and many times by night.. Its always a welcoming sight when coming home from along passage. Did any of the the lovely woodwork ever get saved or taken home.. Or was it just binned. It all looks fine I would of have to taken home.. 🇧🇲
Thanks for the memories. I don't know what the inside of the Lighthouse looks like now, but they usually kept the bedrooms as is/was and updated the kitchens when they automated. Cheers and take care
Still keep coming back to watch your videos Peter hope you're well thanks for keeping our heritage alive
You are very welcome Garry, just glad that they found people like you, cheers and take care.
I'm afraid to me a lighthouse is lost without its keeper. A sad but very enjoyable film Peter thank you for showing us how it goes.
Yes, there is something sad about an empty Lighthouse of Keepers to me as well. Thank you for your kind words, take care
Thanks for sharing your memories. I started my Navy career a year after you but mine is documented with albums of Kodak pictures. I don't remember ever seeing your camera even in a reflection. I got a video camera for my daughters birth in 1991, it was huge, sat on my shoulder and cost MUCHO dinero. Thanks again for having the foresight to preserve this history.
Thank you, my cameras weren't huge but also cost mucho dinero at the time!. Hope you and your Family have a safe and Happy Christmas.
So nice to see the Waverley on the go.
Thank you and to prove that it is a very small World with lots of coincidenses, the Waverley passed by here where I live only a day or so ago.
Cheers and stay safe.
@@PeterHalil Excellent.
First of all thanks again for sharing and Merry Christmas to you and all your family. That new crane does look rubbish I have to agree with you, I remember from your Christmas on the Needles video when it had the Christmas tree on the old crane - Splendid!
Thanks Mate, Yes and surprise surprise, the crane was damaged more than once and is no more!, well you don't see any sign of it in up to date pictures. Stay safe and have a Merry Christmas.
Excellent videos peter. I’m so glad you documented the life of a lighthouse keeper. I dreamt of being a lighthouse keeper from being a small child and was devastated when I couldn’t become one when I left school in 1994.
Thanks for that, as the job no longer exists then you have to think outside the box. By that I mean the Attendants job sometimes comes up but better still if you have electrical/electronics or mechanical skills then you can try to apply as one of the technicians that go out to these lighthouses to maintain them, good luck, take care and stay safe.
Brilliant, so interesting, thank you for uploading this.
Cheers Nix, thanks for that, stay safe and have a Merry Christmas.
Just subscribed. Fascinating videos. Christmas and New Years. General life and operations. Fantastic. Really appreciate the work you've put into these and hope they keep entertaining people like they are myself on a quiet New Years Eve. Cheers!
Thank you Dean, Hope your New Year will be a better one than the World has already had, cheers, take care.
Another amazing video Peter.
Thank you so much for sharing with us all!
Very interesting Thank you Lisa
Thank you Lisa, much appreciated. Hope you and yours stay safe and have a Merry Christmas.
@@PeterHalil Thank you.
Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas 🎄 and a Happy New Year 🥳.
Take care All with love from Mike Lisa Yoshi and Boco xx🐾🐾
@@lyse5161 You too Mike and Lisa have a Great one. xxx😍
Great video, glad weather was kind enabling you to get so many scenes and views from the many vantage points and from the boat for posterity.
Thank you, it was a great last fling as a Keeper on a Lighthouse out to sea before it was gone forever.
cheers, have a safe and Happy Christmas.
Looks scratch on top and exposed to the elements. You’d have to have a good head for heights to do this job. Wonderful video thank you 😊
Thank you, and I don't really have a head for heights, just somethings you get used too, I guess. Take care
I look over the Needles light house every day and always wondered what it was like to spend time there - thank you for sharing and looking after what is and icon of the landscape - managed to get up close last year which was great
Cheers for that Richard, I'm just glad that my videos have reached like minded people like yourself, much appreciated, take care and stay safe.
Brilliant vlog again Peter ,thanks all the best 😁👍👏👏👏
Thank you David, have a safe and Merry Christmas.👌😁😁
Very therapeutic viewing thankyou capturing a changing era. Apart from what look like the Armstrong Siddeley Diesels and the Boris Karloff switchboard, we've the reassuring 30 second clonks from the Gents master clock as well. Yes the new crane looks a bit undercooked!
Thank you Phil, and the new crane didn't survive!
Thanks for this Peter.
Thank you, have a safe and Merry Christmas.
Very interesting Peter Thanks again. Also sad to see it too, but it's as well the realities of life are recorded, & i'm sure that most keepers would prefer to be ashore especially this time of year ? 1859 - 1994 is 135 years manned, being 3 handed at all times, is a lot of Man hours from lives, to keep the light in for the safety of others.
Thanks Tommy, I've never really had a problem with progress and the inevitable automation of Lighthouses, it was the feeling of being discarded with nobody seemingly interested in recording our
passing way of life. That was basically the driving force behind me deciding to have a go at recording as much as I could. Also I witnessed a lot of destruction of our history, for instance, the ripping out of the engine rooms without trying to preserve something to show others what it was like. When my Trevose Lighthouse video comes up on You Tube you will see what I mean when they tore it all down.
Yes a lot of manned years indeed, still enough of the sad stuff, stay safe and have a Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year Peter.
Thank you Norman and a safe and happy Christmas to you too.
Peter, I've just started watching your films recording the day to day lives of lighthouse keepers - absolutely fascinating. Thanks for recording this era which is sadly no longer with us. My own films include some filmed in railway signalboxes where there is a similarity in the need for disciplined working whilst being isolated from other human contact.
Thank you Andy, glad you like them, and yes, disciplined work in isolation, that's both of us alright. Cheers and stay safe
Canada still operates 51 manned lighthouses! Same with lesser developed countries all over the world! The way of the lighthouse keeper is still alive and well. Maybe it can even return to the UK someday :)
I was on the lighthouse drilled the original hole for cable to be pulled through I have photos and also a VHSvideo , interesting to see old faces I worked with , I am about to send the pictures and videotape to one of the young lads who dismantled the crane and helped his father diamond drilling the extra cable holes , great experience to live and talk to the keepers especially Gordon , Tim splice there was another but forgot his name but have a letter in the loft ( he took my negatives to copy. , great metfrom the video
Hi, Thanks for all of that information, much appreciated. I was given, and still have 2 of those drilled cores from the Needles. One from the crane area and the other, through the Tower., now prized possessions. It would be interesting if you could put your video onto TH-cam sometime. Cheers and stay safe
This was so very enjoyable. Although quite sad after watching the x2 episodes of christmas at the needles lighthouse. Thank you for documenting this. I often used to pass the lighthouse and wondered what it was like inside and who the men were that manned them.. Was an end of an era. Thanks Peter
Thank you very much for the kind words, so glad you enjoyed the videos. Take care and stay safe.
@@PeterHalil No thank you Peter.. For documenting an interesting and rarely seen job. I remember watching a documentary in junior school back in the early eighties about the Royal Sovereign design and construction. It was amazing seeing your video if it working in the early nineties. Ive had a lifetimes fascination with these incredible lighthouses. Royal Sovereign must have been like a 5 star hotel compared to some of the others.. Again, many thanks.
@@RockDodger Thanks a bunch, yes the Royal sovereign was unique amongst our Lighthouses for space to move etc I'm just glad that I was part of an era and was able to record a fair amount of it and share it with others, stay safe.
Really enjoy watching your videos from the 90's... really was the end of an era 😢 One question... why does everyone always carry a milk jug with them getting on / off the boat? 😂
Thank you very much, Hola Espania. The jug was only the Needles and it was full of hot tea for the boatman. One full jug swapped with his empty one on each of his journeys. Cheers and take care.
@@PeterHalil Thanks / gracias for your prompt reply 😄 Another question, what happened once all the lights were automated? Was it the end of your career with Trinity House, or did you continue working for them? After watching many of your videos from the 90's, I imagine the job of lighthouse keeper is more a way of life than just a career. As a farmer, I can relate to that and can only imagine how hard it must be to adjust to work in another trade. I left the UK 16 years ago, but have still been drawn back into farming here in Spain! 😅
@@LocalmotionSpain Thank you for that. I believe that all the Keepers once made redundant, then that was it for us, no jobs offered in Trinity House as far as I know. I eventually got a job on a Military base, near where I live, as a driver. My main job that I liked the most was refueling the jets and helicopters, it being a RAF base. Cheers and stay safe.
Hello Peter. I am putting together a documentary on the Western Solent in which Peter Isaacs and his brother Tony both feature. I would be really grateful if I could use some of your footage where Tony is seen. This is purely a project of historical interest - any money made on TH-cam or anywhere else will be donated to the RNLI.
Hi peter thank you for all your wonderful videos this past year really enjoy watching them . Any of longships to come in the new year ? . Over the years have often gazed at from lands end . Have a picture of it on my lounge wall . Gave a merry Christmas and a peaceful new year . And thanks again .
Hi Stephen, Thanks for your kind words and yes the Longships is in the pipeline.
You too have a safe and Happy Christmas.
Great video Peter. Have just found your channel and been watching avidly, especially the Needles and St Catherine’s videos as I live on the Isle Of Wight. Had great pleasure reading the list of rules while depositing a “big jobbie”. Is someone a Billy Connelly fan? Must of been a sad day when you left the Needles for the last time.
Hi, Aah yes, Lighthouse sense of humour. That toilet also had just clear glass window, and invariably a tourist boat would come by at the wrong moment! as for the leaving the Needles, It would have been much sadder for Gerry, as he had been there quite a while. Thanks for your kind comments, stay safe and take care.
Really really enjoyed these lighthouse episodes thank you Peter and it's a shame that they are all automated now or are they still the odd one around which isn't
There are some in other countries that I've been told may still be manned, but none over here, cheers
@@PeterHalil Canada actually still operates 51 manned lighthouses ! And over 700 automated ones! Lots of coastline here
@@josephcameron911 That's great to know, thank you, at least the job of Lighthouse Keeper hasn't vanished forever then. Cheers and stay safe
So sad to read your last visit to the needles, so many questions I’d like to ask, so I will ration them for now, as I will watch a fair few times yet,
Have you never been back since, as some of your films have been visiting after automation. I’m curious we spoke on some other videos about relief never being over due since helipads where put in, how come crew relief was still by boat here, and final question for now. What did you do after being a keeper, and was it your only job at the time
Ok Minty, I was still a Lighthouse Keeper when I visited and filmed some Lights that were already automated but had an Attendant. Why they kept the boat relief going on the Needles, not too sure but I hazard a guess that the Keepers there loved it and it was probably deemed a lot cheaper than the Helicopter, unless somebody knows different?
After I was made redundant I trained as a HGV Lorry Driver but then ran into that mad bit of logic where nobody would hire me without experience!
Drove a bus for a year, hated it then got a job as a civilian driver on our local Royal Airforce Base, mainly refuelling the aircraft. Cheers, stay safe and Merry Christmas
So very fascinating and sad in a way! I know that automation is the way things went. I imagine you would’ve had some mixed feelings about it as well?
Thanks, Yes I had very mixed feelings, almost like going through a divorce really, but obviously not as intense! Still, life goes on but out of all my jobs the Lighthouses were the love of my life, cheers, stay safe and Merry Christmas.
@@PeterHalil and a Merry Christmas to you!
@14:18 it looks like a dead dolphin with a fin protecting her young. One sees strange things in chalk if one looks long enough.
Whoever carved that one had a lot of time on his hands, also it was the other side of the protective wall, so could only have been done on low tides and very calm days, I guess, cheers
Seen this on a few of the Needles videos and always wondered what it was i.e. the white jug that is given to the boatman. He seems to take a full one and give back an empty one. What's in it? Seems too big for a mug of tea.
Thanks, I think the jug was full of tea each time, I never saw any coffee going in that mug, or anything else. Cheers and take care.
Very interesting. What is in the jug you take onto the relief boat?
Hi Christopher, The jug is full of fresh made tea for the boatman, cheers. Stay safe and have a Merry Christmas.
Tea for the tillerman !
can any one enlighten me what happened to the light houses during second world war were they working
Hi Andrew, yes they were working, but only for convoys passing, the 3 Keepers on St. Catherines were killed when it was bombed also in my Sid Squibb interview, he talks about what happened to him on the Nab Tower during the War, cheers.
wat's with the jug of water when a boat arrives?
Hi, It was a jug of tea for the boatman. Cheers, take care.
@@PeterHalil Thanks ever so much for the reply, and fair play.
what is left when a lighthouse is automated?
As far as I understand, basically, the bedroom and kitchen, everything else seems to be for the automatic equipment, batteries, solar etc. They renew the kitchen. If anybody that still works for Trinity House can update us otherwise, please feel free.