Mel talks with Vasily about the Chance Heritage Trust lighthouse mapping project

Keeping Watch

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 in a number of lighthouse projects in Russia, and so was particularly excited when the chance came to take part in a worldwide lighthouse research and mapping project organised by the Chance Heritage Trust.

The project focused on the work of the Chance Brothers Glassworks in Smethwick, a pioneer of British glass-making technology, which operated between 1824 and 1976, before finally closing its doors in 1981. The company became a production hub for lighthouse lenses, which were used in over 2,500 lighthouses around the world.

As you can imagine, records are lost, and of course lighthouse optics are modernised, replaced or installed in other lighthouses - so the project’s aims were to map where the Chance Brothers lighthouse lenses ended up, and discover what they are doing now. Are they still in working lighthouses? Have they been decommissioned? How many can be visited today?

With around 2,500 lighthouses to map, the project pulled together lighthouse enthusiasts and willing volunteers throughout the world to explore these connections, and locate them all.

From the Cape Race lighthouse that received the SOS call from the Titanic, to the Longstone lighthouse from where Grace Darling and her father William launched one of Britain’s most courageous rescues, the lenses that were made at the Chance factory in Smethwick ended up in some interesting places, and in close to eighty countries around the world.

Vasily was one of a number of ALK members who took part - and the result is an explorable online map that shows exactly where these lighthouses were located, along with photos, technical details, and the key information about their history that brings each one to life

Mel caught up with Vasily last week, who starts by describing his twin passions - of sailing yachts and lighthouses.

Link to the Chance Brothers Map: https://new.opengreenmap.org/browse/maps/6241b7a8d63fa5010056589b/map-view

Link to the list of the lighthouses on the Chance Brothers Map: https://new.opengreenmap.org/browse/sites?map=6241b7a8d63fa5010056589b This is one exciting story about Tory Island Lighthouse (see the Chance Brothers Map): https://new.opengreenmap.org/browse/sites/62ce053e88d2b90100788882 Link to the video with Vasilisin Lighthouse (with English subtitles) on YouTube: https://youtu.be/xYtvxzRFh-A?feature=shared Location of the Vasilisin Lighthouse on Google maps: https://www.bing.com/maps?osid=8bf09de0-1fcf-47f7-90e3-a05056a33594&cp=61.806144%7E35.686432&lvl=18.0&style=h&v=2&sV=2&form=S00027 LAMP Issue 103 with the Kurbatova lighthouse which I’ve mentioned (copy is here http://www.mayachnik.ru/node/1230 English text at the end of the page)

We’re keen to talk with other former light vessel and lighthouse keepers and crew - as well as others currently working in the lighthouse service. Again, you can email me at [e-mail].

Please spread the word to friends and family who might be interested in listening. And do like, follow or subscribe to this podcast so that you are notified when each new episode is published. A comment or a splendid review on your podcast platform of choice would be very welcome and really helps us to get noticed.

If you have an idea for a story you'd like us to cover, or an interesting person with a lighthouse connection we might interview, do please drop me a line. Or perhaps you are a fellow enthusiast and would like to contribute to the podcast either once or on a regular basis?

You can contact me at [e-mail].

KEEPING WATCH is brought to you in association with the ALK - The Association of Lighthouse Keepers - a charitable trust in the UK dedicated to keeping lighthouse heritage alive.

Visit the Association of Lighthouse Keepers: www.alk.org.uk