Sent in by John Kinsman, operations manager at Coastwatch St Monans, east Fife.
Cliff fall
A man was taken to hospital after falling from cliffs at Arbroath. A major rescue operation was launched after reports of a man had fallen at the cliffs which are more than 200ft at some points.
Coastguard teams attended the incident along with the town’s lifeboats, and medics from the Scottish ambulance service.
A spokesman for HM Coastguards confirmed they had rescued the man and took him to Arbroath harbour.
The man sustained injuries and was transferred to awaiting ambulance and taken to Dundee hospital.
Spaniel dog rescued after cliff fall
A spaniel dog was reached after falling from cliffs at Arbroath. The town’s lifeboat crew along with coastguard rescue teams from Arbroath, Dundee and Stonehaven were called to the area.
The cocker spaniel had been walking with its owner when it fell from the cliff top at Blowhole.
An RNLI spokesman said the dog was cold and wet but otherwise unharmed. It was taken ashore to be reunited with its grateful owners.
The spokesman added, “The owner was taking their dog for a walk near the Blowhole when this happened. We were then called out, which from our point of view is the best thing to do. It is best to call us rather than attempting the rescue yourself and possibly creating a worse scenario.”
Coastwatch St Monans
May as been a fairly busy month for Coastwatch St Monans volunteers. They have been on duty every day working in shifts from their look out station to the east of the village keeping a close eye on local and visiting yachts, fishing boats and other craft and walkers on coastal paths. The team have also been out on foot patrols on the 12 mile patch they cover from Pittenweem to Lower Largo.
Full team
From 18th May Coastwatch St Monans are now at full strength of nine volunteers who are on 24 hour call and man the lookout station on a daily shift basis.
The team are: Operations manager John Kinsman (reporter), deputy manager Anne Kinsman (housewife), deputy manager 2 John McLean (vicar), senior watch keeper Bob McDonald (IT engineer), watch keeper Karen Dobson (home carer), watch keeper Beth McLean (teacher), watch keeper Cameron McDonald (student), watch keeper Cameron Copeland (civil servant), and watch keeper May Copeland (housewife).
New sponsors
Coastwatch St Monans welcomed the stations new sponsors on the 1st of May.
The Big Yellow Taxi Co who are based on the New York yellow taxis have agreed to sponsor Coastwatch St Monans station.
Owner of the company James Glen said his company was proud to sponsor Coastwatch St Monans as they provide a vital service to the community. And our sponsorship will help provide free transport to and from their station and to incidents if required and also provide cash donations to help purchase vital rescue equipment.
Operations manager of the station John Kinsman said the station are very grateful to The Big Yellow Taxi Co for agreeing to be the station sponsors and their input will help the station. He also thanked them for their first large donation.
Finally
Like other Coastwatch stations, Coastwatch St Monans are taking part in the Queen Platinum Jubilee celebrations on Thursday June 2nd. Coastwatch St Monans will like other events be lighting a beacon at their lookout station, the old historic windmill at 9pm. All team members will attend to raise a glass to Her Majesty.
Operations manager John Kinsman and deputy station manager Anne Kinsman will be proudly wearing their Queen Platinum Jubilee medal that’s awarded to volunteers who have served more than 5 years’ service up until February 22nd 2022. John and Anne have both served 11 years each as volunteers with Coastwatch.
Featured image shows a passenger ferry seen from the Coastwatch St Monans lookout station at 4.30am on 18th of May.