Sontay has kindly donated £250 to the National Coastwatch Institution’s (NCI) base at Nare Point, Cornwall, ensuring this integral element of the coastline’s emergency services continues to operate throughout the year.

The NCI is a volunteer-based organisation designed to preserve and protect precious wildlife and shore-goers along the UK’s stunning, yet at times perilous, coastlines. A lifeline for many who love and live by the sea, the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic meant all of NCI Nare Point’s fundraising activity had to pull into port.

To sustain the important work the organisation does, Alan Braybrook, retired Business Development Director at Sontay and watchkeeper at NCI Nare Point, reached out to his former company. Sontay donated £250 to the organisation and was delighted to help Alan, a much-loved ex-colleague and friend.

Speaking on NCI Nare Point, Alan commented: “We are recognised as a key voluntary organisation that instigates and assists with Her Majesty’s Coastguard and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution in the Falmouth area. We are open seven days a week throughout the year. Despite being closed for three months during the initial lockdown, we logged around 14,000 shipping movements ranging from large commercial vessels, inshore fishing boats and leisure craft, through to kayaks and paddle boards. NCI Nare Point relies heavily on donations from walkers, supermarket collection days and local fundraising events. These have all been brought to a standstill due to the pandemic.”

Commenting on Sontay’s kind donation Don Garman, Station and Training Manager at NCI Nare Point said: “On behalf of NCI Nare Point and our 61 volunteer watchkeepers and four trainees, may I thank you for the very welcome donation of £250 which was negotiated by your past employee Alan Braybrook. Alan qualified in the autumn as a watchkeeper and has proved to be a very welcome recruit to the team. The donation will, I can assure you, be put to very good use.”

Sontay joins supermarket chain Morrisons in the support of the NCI. The Morrisons Foundation was approached by the NCI St. Ives station to help fund a new roof, to which Morrisons gladly acquiesced.

Sontay’s donation to NCI Nare Point will ensure the organisation weathers the storm of the pandemic, so that when families and sea-goers flock to the Cornish coast for spring and summer, NCI Nare Point will be there to keep everybody safe.