Chance to thank the coastguard

Officers from across the service in Weymouth and Portland have been invited to a May Day Gala Night at the Riviera Hotel on May 1 at 6pm.

Coastguards will be invited free, to the evening of bands, singing, comedy and balloon art.

There will be a dinner, followed by entertainment including Mariansa Trench, Driftwood, singers Emma and Selina, and a comedian compere.

People can go just for the entertainment or for the dinner as well.

Event organiser Roger Macpherson is also part of a campaign group to save the threatened Portland Coastguard helicopter.

So far tens of thousands of signatures have been added to the petition to save the helicopter which is threatened with the axe in 2017.

He said the campaign group were hoping to get the issue of the coastguard rescue helicopter debated in the house again by all parties.

The government announced earlier this week that it had awarded the new helicopter contract to US-based helicopter company Bristow.

But Mr Macpherson said the gala night was about letting people thank their rescuers.

He said: “We’d like to make it a successful night for the coastguards.

“This is nothing to do with the campaign. As far as we are concerned it’s a thank-you from the community because it looks likely the coastguards and operations centre on the Quay will be withdraw; it might be the last time the community has a chance to say thank you.

“I just thought – what a brilliant idea, not as a political statement merely as a thank you.”

He added: “We hope the government change their minds.”

Mr Macpherson said he hoped it would be a truly spectacular night.

He said: “I would say it’s going to be a one-off event, with a collection of artists people may not have heard in Weymouth – some are local people.”

To find out more about the gala night and to book tickets visit southcoastentertainments.com or call 01305 775155 or 07527 946681.

* To sign the online petition to save Portland coastguard helicopter visit epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/36619