Keeping Watch

In this special end-of-season episode, we bring you two very different — but equally captivating — lighthouse stories. Tony Mills – From the Tower to the Pulpit Ed and Mel talk with Tony Mills , a former Trinity House lighthouse keeper who served in the early 1970s on stations including: The Lizard Longships Round Island South Bishop Tony shares vivid memories of boat and helicopter reliefs, terri...

In this week's episode of Keeping Watch, Ed and Mel discuss a lighthouse Banksy in Marseilles, before Mel interviews Scottish photographer Conor Gault, who is on a mission to photograph every living Scottish lighthouse keeper and the lighthouses where they served. Conor's heartfelt project is rooted in his family history, his Grandfather having served as a keeper himself. He talks about the artist...

In this episode of Keeping Watch, hosts Ed Peppitt and Melanie Charles bring you up to date with a roundup of lighthouse news. We welcome special guest Jeremy D'Entremont, a renowned author, historian, and host of the US Lighthouse Society's 'Lighthearted' podcast. They discuss various lighthouse-related topics, including Jeremy's extensive career, Scottish lighthouse keeper projects, lighthouse h...

In this week's episode of Keeping Watch, Ed and Mel discuss the community protests against the automation of St John's Point Lighthouse in Northern Ireland, and the recent cliff falls close to Belle Tout in Sussex.   This week's special guest, engineer and television presenter Rob Bell, joins Ed to talk about his fascination with lighthouses and the challenges of producing his three series of ligh...

This week's episode of Keeping Watch , hosted by Ed Peppitt and Melanie Charles, features a captivating discussion with Mark Lewis, the ALK Education Officer, on lighthouses and the paranormal. Mark shares his exploration of ghost stories, folklore, and scientific explanations related to paranormal phenomena in lighthouses around the world. Ed and Mel also talk about last weekend's ALK Digital Arc...

In this episode of Keeping Watch , Melanie talks about her recent trip to Tenerife and her review of the local lighthouses. The main highlight, however, is a wonderfully candid conversation with Lou Medlicott, wife of former lighthouse keeper Gordon Medlicott, who recounts her experiences and challenges of raising a family while married to a lighthouse keeper. The episode also features exciting ne...

This week, Ed and Mel talk about the various lighthouse tours and events planned by the Association of Lighthouse Keepers (ALK) for 2025 - including the Isle of Wight, Cornwall, Anglesey and Kent.    They also talk with former lighthouse keeper Gordon Medlicott, whose career with Trinity House spanned 32 years, from 1966 to 1998. Gordon regales us with stories from his time in the service, includi...

  This episode pays tribute to Ian Duff, former lighthouse keeper and President of the Association of Lighthouse Keepers (ALK), who passed away in November.   We share heartfelt memories and stories from Ian's friends, colleagues, and fellow ALK members. Ian's remarkable career spanned from 1976 to 1992, during which he served at numerous Scottish lighthouses. The episode also highlights Ian's dee...

In this episode of Keeping Watch, hosts Ed Peppitt and Melanie Charles discuss new lighthouse stories in the news, including the twinning of the Mull of Galloway Lighthouse in Stranraer with the Inubosaki Lighthouse in Japan, and the discovery of a 132-year-old message in a bottle at Corsewall Lighthouse.   Mel interviews Robert Fong, curator of the Museum of the Gulf Coast in Texas, about the his...

In this episode of 'Keeping Watch,' Ed Peppitt and co-host Melanie Charles talk about some of the mysterious and spooky lighthouse tales, including the tragic story of Henry Hall at Eddystone, the eerie Flannan Islands mystery, and a death on Smalls.    Ed meets up at Galley Head lighthouse to talk with former keeper Gerald Butler about the impact of automation on keepers and their families. Geral...

In this episode of Keeping Watch, hosts Ed Peppitt and Melanie Charles pay tribute to former ALK patron Captain Richard Woodman, with insights shared by ALK founder Neil Hargreaves.   Ed and Mel discuss a recent BBC television programme about lighthouse keeping, including a maintenance visit to Chicken Rock; Mel discusses Linda McGuigan's recent talk for ALM members; And we are treated to an array...

In this opening episode of Season 3 of Keeping Watch, a fortnightly podcast for lighthouse enthusiasts, Ed Peppitt and Melanie Charles reflect on the recent Association of Lighthouse Keepers AGM weekend in Stranraer, highlighting the camaraderie and fascinating tours of nearby lighthouses.   Mel chats with Chris Folds, a former lighthouse keeper with Trinity House, who shares captivating stories a...

This week we close Season 2 with a tribute to the Royal Sovereign Lighthouse, off the Sussex coast, which following decommissioning was largely dismantled during September and October 2023. I meet and talk to the Royal Sovereign's last Principal Keeper, we'll hear archive recordings of other Keepers who served on Royal Sovereign, and I catch up with ALK member Richard Evans, who shares his own mem...

Just before Christmas, I was lucky enough to meet up online with music writer, journalist and broadcaster Jennifer Lucy Allen. I first encountered Jennifer as a presenter of Radio 3's Late Junction. If you've never listened to the programme, it's well worth staying up for. I defy you to find a more interesting, diverse and eclectic mix of sounds and music in one programme anywhere! It won't come a...

Welcome to Episode 10 of the second season of KEEPING WATCH - a fortnightly podcast for enthusiasts of lighthouses, lighthouse keepers, light vessels and other aids to maritime navigation.  This week, we're talking books. I meet with artist and author Roger O'Reilly - who has spent the last few years researching and illustrating nearly 350 lighthouses around the UK and Irish coast. Roger's new boo...

Welcome to Episode 9 of the second season of KEEPING WATCH - a fortnightly podcast for enthusiasts of lighthouses, lighthouse keepers, light vessels and other aids to maritime navigation.  This week Mel and I tracked down former Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) keeper, John Boath. We discovered John was the last ever keeper on the Bell Rock.  What inspired John to join the lighthouse service? Belie...

Welcome to Episode 8 of the second season of KEEPING WATCH - a fortnightly podcast for enthusiasts of lighthouses, lighthouse keepers, light vessels and other aids to maritime navigation.  This week our new co-host Mel makes her full podcast debut, when she talks with Russian born Vasily - a lighthouse lover and ALK member who moved to Europe with his family several years ago. He had been involved...

Welcome to Episode 7 of the second season of KEEPING WATCH - a fortnightly podcast for enthusiasts of lighthouses, lighthouse keepers, light vessels and other aids to maritime navigation.  At the beginning of October I attended the Association of Lighthouse Keepers AGM and annual dinner just outside Cromer, in Norfolk. I was fortunate enough to be introduced to two former Trinity House lightvessel...

Welcome to Episode 6 of the second season of KEEPING WATCH - a fortnightly podcast for enthusiasts of lighthouses, lighthouse keepers, light vessels and other aids to maritime navigation.  This week we meet David Fraser, who served for the Northern Lighthouse Board - the NLB - at a number of Scottish lighthouses  in the 1970s. In fact, his career spanned three services, David having joined the arm...

Welcome to Episode 5 of the second season of KEEPING WATCH - a fortnightly podcast for enthusiasts of lighthouses, lighthouse keepers, light vessels and other aids to maritime navigation.  If you are based in the UK, you'll be aware that Royal Sovereign lighthouse - off the Sussex coast - has been decommissioned and is in the process of being removed. You may have seen footage or images this week...

Welcome to Episode 4 of the second season of KEEPING WATCH - a fortnightly podcast for enthusiasts of lighthouses, lighthouse keepers, light vessels and other aids to maritime navigation.  If you listened to Episode 3, you'll remember we heard a lovely BBC Radio Kent interview from 1988 with Jim Bowling, who was then principal lighthouse keeper at North Foreland lighthouse. We were able to listen...

Welcome to Episode 3 of the second season of KEEPING WATCH - a fortnightly podcast for enthusiasts of lighthouses, lighthouse keepers, light vessels and other aids to maritime navigation.  This week I'm really pleased to be able to share with you a wonderful BBC Radio Kent interview from 1988 with Jim Bowling, who was then principal lighthouse keeper at North Foreland lighthouse. This was Jim's fi...

Welcome to Episode 2 of the second season of KEEPING WATCH - a fortnightly podcast for enthusiasts of lighthouses, lighthouse keepers, light vessels and other aids to maritime navigation.  This week we meet Scott Tacchi, a Trinity House Lighthouse Technician based in south west England - I guess in many ways Scott is the modern day equivalent of a lighthouse keeper, although by his own admission h...

Welcome to Season 2 of KEEPING WATCH - a fortnightly podcast for enthusiasts of lighthouses, lighthouse keepers, light vessels and other aids to maritime navigation.  Now following the final episode in our first Season, we were contacted by David Jones, a former lighthouse keeper who lives just a couple of miles away from me at Dungeness, in Kent. David was born and brought up in Dungeness, and it...

Welcome to KEEPING WATCH - a fortnightly podcast for anyone and everyone interested in lighthouses, lighthouse keepers, light vessels and other aids to maritime navigation.  In this final episode of Season 1, we meet two former lighthouse keepers - Barry Hawkins, who served at many of the best known lighthouses in Wales and the South West of England between 1980 and 1997 - including Wolf Rock, the...