Post Office Radio Station

A Memory of North Connel.

The Maritime Radio service of the Post Office had medium wave radio stations at Wick (Caithness) and Port Patrick (Dumfries & Galloway). As the Minches were a very busy area for fishermen from Fleetwood and Milford Haven, it was decided to put a medium wave station in between and the initial site chosen was the airfield at North Connel. The first station was situated in a caravan. The staff were drafted from other stations around the UK Coast and a 24 hour watch was kept to enhance the safety of life at sea in the northwestern approaches. The staff were Donald Morrison (a Lewisman), Angus Stark, Andrew Brown, Sam Kennedy, Stan Hardman (the token Englishman), Bill Moffat and Bob Mason came later. As time went by the station was moved into more permanent quarters; a Nissan hut left by the RAF. Later, four houses were built for the staff in Connel. This meant that the staff who lived in these houses had to finish their watch at 10 p.m. - in time for them to get over the bridge before it was closed at 10.30 p.m.!!
I was posted to the station in November 1961 and lived in 8 Dal na Beich with the Roberstons, Charlie and his sister. I married Shirley on 31st March and, after our honeymoon in Skye, we moved in to The Whins (Jessie Haley's place). We had our first house built on Peter Macleod's croft and called it "Lynwood".
The radio station was kept busy with telegrams, telephone calls, weather bulletins, gale warnings and most importantly, distress traffic. The station was instrumental in saving many lives over the years. There was even one occasion when I gave a telephone call the 'Nordhauk', a German coaster, to his owners in Germany only to be told at the end of the call that he was hard aground at the north end of Skye and was sinking! The Stornoway lifeboat got there in time and all the crew were taken off safely. Just one instance of the many that never made the headlines. We were under strict instructions, on pain of a severe reprimand, not to talk to the Press.
With the improvement of technology, the Post Office decided to improve the facilities at Obanradio as we were named. New stations had already been built at Stonehaven, Anglesey and Ilfracombe and they ran out of money so Obanradio was scheduled to close. That announcement was made in 1967 but the station did not finally close until 1982. Two of the original staff, Donald Morrison and Sam Kennedy, were there to end and they both retired.
When the closure was announced, the department said they wanted me to go to Wickradio. That prospect did not appeal in the least so we went th New Zealand instead where I worked in the N.Z. equivalent at Awaruaradio near Bluff.

When we first arrived in North Connel in 1961, trains were still running over the bridge and the toll was 10/6 for cars to cross. Shirley had to take refuge in the little spaces built in to the side of the bridge on many occasions when Joe let cars over when she was pushing the pram over to Connel!
The road was just as narrow but there was not nearly so much traffic using it. When we built 'Lynwood' we were at the end of the Black Crofts. The Common Grazing was unfenced and the youngsters played football over there. Munro's van called to the door and Hugh Cameron delived the milk. We have many happy memories of our days in North Connel.

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