Coastguard life-saver honoured for 15 years of stalwart service
A north Coastguard has been honoured for his long service to the life-saving organisation.
Senior Coastal Operations Manager Colin Wood recently celebrated 15 years with the service, receiving a special medal and certificate to mark the milestone.
Currently based at Macduff, where he lives, Mr Wood was previously based in Buckie.
He is responsible for a stretch of the coastline spanning Macduff through to Burghead in Moray.
Looking back on his first steps in the Coastguard, Mr Wood revealed that he originally had his eye on a career with another emergency service.
He explained: “When I first joined I remembered meeting people who’d been in the Coastguard for 15 years and thinking that it was such a long time.
“However, now I’m at that point myself those 15 years on it’s just passed so quickly.
“I first started as a volunteer on Banff Coastguard rescue team in June 2009. About the same time I had an interview for a full-time position in the Aberdeen Maritime Co-ordination Centre, which I got and I started there in July. I stayed on as a volunteer with the Banff Coastguard team until 2015.
“I started my current job at the end of 2016.
“The idea of volunteering for the Coastguard in the first place came from my dad, who since 1997 has been a volunteer crewman on the Macduff lifeboat. This made a big impact on the family.
“The job with the Coastguard was only supposed to be temporary. I was all set to go to university and become a paramedic but I had to wait until I was 21 to qualify for the driving side of things.
“I’ve never regretted it and never looked back. I’ve been lucky to work with some really good folk.”
The years since have yielded many satisfying moments as well as big changes.
Mr Wood continued: “The most satisfying thing is being to help people in their hour of need.
“The biggest part of my job at the moment is to train and develop people from having little or no specialist knowledge or experience to becoming good rescuers who go on to help people, that’s hugely satisfying.
“Quite simply we couldn’t do what we do without these volunteers and the time they give to train, practise and respond to emergencies. I’ve a huge admiration for them.
“The training and the kit we use have also been the among the biggest changes I’ve seen over the past 15 years. What we’ve got now is unrecognisable to the kit we had when I started and it’s changing all the time.
“When I started we had two lifejackets and a Baywatch-style torpedo rescue buoy for our water rescue kit, that was it.
“Keeping up with this constant pace of change is a challenge but it’s also very exciting and interesting, you’ve no room to stand still.”
Another essential component of Mr Wood’s role is liaising and working in partnership with the other emergency services. Recently, this saw Coastguard teams join colleagues from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service on the banks of the River Spey in a simulated rescue of kayakers who had capsized.
He added: “Working in partnership with the other emergency services is essential.
“Every organisation has their own range of skills and training which have to be brought together to help a person in need.”
The Coastguard are set to launch a recruitment campaign drive for the Burghead, Buckie, Portsoy and Macduff stations - visit the HM Coastguard Moray Facebook page for details nearer the time.
