Events & News

With the Christmas lights over for another year the throng of people around the village has now once again diminished to a hardy handful, which in turn has eased the burden on our facilities, particularly our litter bins. Those remaining keen eyed amongst you will have seen the recent changes made to our blue wheelie bins, whose lids are now locked shut and fitted with smaller openings to prevent the ongoing disposal of significant quantities of domestic rubbish within them. Since I introduced the changes littering hasn’t increased , so most of the miscreant rubbish must be being deposited in its proper home  again.

One other rather more unwanted change around the harbour has been the absence of my ever busy colleague Bill. As many of you will know Bill is currently incapacitated following some surgery, so I hope you will join me in wishing a speedy recovery.

Wheelie bins and Bill aside, thank you to all those kayak owners who have responded to my request to remove their kayaks for the winter. There are now just a handful with heritage unknown and these will soon be removed to a safe place of keeping until eventually missed and hopefully reclaimed by their respective owners. Prior to opening the harbour next year, I will develop a system to formalise the application process for the kayak storage we provide, with priority being given to previous users of our harbour.

Last month also saw another new engagement for the Authority with us being invited to join the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) District Safety Committee meeting. Chaired by the MCA and populated by Harbour Masters from across the SW of England the meeting provided an excellent platform to hear about pending legislation, challenges faced elsewhere, share best practice and in my case learn from much more experienced individuals than I. The meetings are held bi-annually so I shall report back further as appropriate after the next meeting scheduled for the summer.

Other than the routine care and maintenance activities we undertake, things have thankfully been relatively quiet since my last report and hopefully it will remain that way. One thing that I will be looking at this month will be the condition and management of moorings laid within the harbour. A number of mooring chains have been observed to be in very poor condition and several rope elements appear disconnected and/or tangled beyond expectation of use next year. I would be grateful therefore if mooring holders could check their moorings to ensure that they are appropriately connected at both ends and are sufficiently tight whilst not in use. Any that remain in disrepair or disconnected after the end of February will be removed from the harbour and, if unclaimed will be disposed of.

Finally, can I take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy New Year and, as always please contact me if you see anything of concern around the harbour.

PS, the clock is now fixed 🙂