Situated at the foot of the Mourne Mountains, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the fishing town of Kilkeel in County Down is harbour to the largest fishing fleet in Northern Ireland.
The town is also home to the most southerly Coastguard Rescue Team (CRT) in Northern Ireland, which provides flank support to fellow CRTs at Erne, Newcastle and Portaferry.
Being a popular holiday destination, Kilkeel coastguards respond to a wide variety of incidents, from ordinance discoveries to missing people and mountain rescue assistance.
Here we speak to Kilkeel's Deputy Station Officer (DSO) Norman Bridges, who’s also a full-time officer at the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Belfast.
Why did you join HM Coastguard?
With a father in the Merchant Navy and having worked as a fisherman and volunteered as RNLI lifeboat crew, the maritime world seems second nature to Norman Bridges, Deputy Station Officer with Kilkeel Coastguard Rescue Team, and Senior Maritime Operations Officer at the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Belfast.
“I first volunteered for HM Coastguard on 1st January 2004,” he says. “I’d been lifeboat crew for about 15 years, and at that time, you had to retire at 45. A friend of mine at the Coastguard recommended that I join, and here I am, still enjoying it 20 years on! I’ve also been a Senior Maritime Operations Officer at MRCC Belfast for 11 years now, which I really enjoy.”
“At Kilkeel we respond to a variety of incidents, from washed up ordnance to clifftop rescues. Our area includes one of Northern Ireland’s biggest caravan sites, so we also see missing children, people in the water, rescue helicopter landings, even incidents involving the Mourne mountains, which we’re situated just below.”
What is the most unusual incident you have attended?
“This is a strange one – we had a search for a missing paddleboarder. A caller had seen him coming in across the shore and going around the point, but not emerging the other side,” says Norman.
“Two Coastguard Rescue Teams and a lifeboat were sent, and we used our social media channels to raise awareness. About an hour and a half later, we heard from another caller: “This paddleboarder you’re looking for, I think it might be me! We asked where they were, and they said they were walking beside the Coastguard Rescue Team!
"They’d only joined the search and eventually figured out that they were looking for themselves!!”
What is the most unusual place you’ve been when your pager has gone off?
“Oh, many a time I’ve been sat beside my wife for tea, or we’ve been at a party, and I’ve had to head out,” says Norman. “The pager goes, and you go, you can’t turn it down.
“I do remember one year, we ended up having call outs both before and after midnight on New Year’s Eve, which made us the only team in the UK with both the first job of one year, and the last job of the previous!”
What is the most challenging part of your role?
Dealing with fatalities has always been a very challenging aspect of the role, says Norman. “And sometimes family members are on scene when you’re taking part in a recovery.
“Serving with my son Steven, I’ve been able to prepare him for more difficult times like these, but it is very emotional and can be very intense,” he adds.
Which local beach is your favourite and why?
“Well, our whole coastline from Kilkeel down is beautiful,” says Norman. “But I’d say Cranfield is a really nice beach that I like to get down to. In summer, our area swells by around 5,000 people so our whole stretch of coast suddenly becomes very busy indeed!”
What do you enjoy most about being a member of the team?
“It’s a hard question! There are the usual answers about giving back to the community, and it’s a real bonus to be helping people, but I just love the Coastguard!” says Norman. “There just aren’t ever days where I drive down the road and think that I don’t want to be doing this anymore.
“There’s a real buzz when you’re responding to a call, and everything just clicks in. When you’re the team that brings someone back to their loved ones, it’s unbelievable. Later, I go home and thank the Lord that I’m able to make a difference.”
What new skills have you learned as a CRO?
“The new Coastguard Emergency Responder Casualty Care Course (CERCC) gives CROs a really good standard of training in casualty care and first aid,” says Norman. “I’m also a Community First Responder for Northern Ireland Ambulance, so I put a lot of my skills to good use across both voluntary roles.”
“As a Coastguard, there’s often a need to talk to and manage the public, and our role can be made more challenging by the public’s response to incidents, which now often includes videos being put on social media. Giving safety advice is a bit of an art, because many casualties don’t know quite how close they’ve come to further injury – we’re not here to tell people off, but we also need to be realistic about dangers at the coast.”
When you’re not working or volunteering as a CRO, what do you enjoy doing?
“I’ve got my dogs to walk, and my son and I are currently restoring a fishing boat that I hope to use in retirement, if that comes along! I also love my motorbike, which I rode across Belgium and France last year,” adds Norman.
What do you do for a living?
“In 2014, I joined HM Coastguard full time as a Senior Maritime Operations Officer at the MRCC in Belfast, so I’ve worked for HM Coastguard in a paid full-time role for nearly 11 years! No two days are ever the same, and we’re a very close-knit team, so we really confide in one another,” he says.
