PUB regulars have raised a glass to our Save Our Lifesavers campaign.

Customers at the Spice Ship pub are backing the Dorset Echo and Weymouth and Portland Borough Council’s call for a Coastguard Supercentre in the area after it was announced that Portland Coastguard Station would be axed.

The group of friends, who meet regularly at the Preston pub, all agree that the Jurassic Coastline deserves a Coastguard operation centre on its doorstep.

Pub landlady Wendy Buckingham said drinkers have filled out pages of petitions for the campaign.

She said: “We need the Coastguard communication centre here more so than ever before with the Olympics coming.

“We’re supposed to be a maritime centre of excellence.

“I don’t know a single person who’s against a Coastguard Supercentre being built here – everyone is for it.

“We’ve run out of petitions because so many people have wanted to sign them.”

“We’ll do everything we can to save Portland Coastguard.

“We’ve got fantastic locals who support us in everything we do.

“We’re a community that believes in working together.

“You just can’t imagine the Coastguard operation centre not being here.”

Nod Ward said: “If you or your family go to the beach for a paddle then you need the Coastguard.

“The Olympics will be here next year – isn’t that just bureaucratic thinking at its best? It’s stupid.

“This is a service that shouldn’t be lost locally when there are very treacherous waters out there.”

Jim Biss, who works for JD Yachts in Weymouth, said boat traffic in this area is on the rise.

“We’ve got a lot of boats going in and out of the harbour.

“Portland Marina is only going to increase in its number with more boats.”

Gillian West-Coyne said the area needs coastguards with local knowledge answering emergency calls because of its popularity with holidaymakers.

She added: “People come here and go out in kayaks and little boats and may never have been on the water before.

“They don’t need a licence to go out on the water or any training.

“Portland Coastguard deals with calls from all over the place.”

Losing the local operation centre would be ‘a travesty’, said Ollie Almond, who added: “This is meant to be one of the biggest diving areas in the country.

“The big problem would be with the divers who get the bends. These guys would just die if the coastguards didn’t know where they were.

“The Coastguard operation centre makes everything gel so well.”

• The Dorset Echo is holding a Walk of Support on Saturday, September 3, from Weymouth Pavilion at 11am.

We want as many people as possible to walk through Weymouth with us and join the fight to bring the Coastguard supercentre to this area.

Weymouth and Portland Borough Council is supporting the walk and we will be meeting at the Pavilion at 10.50am, hearing speeches from campaign figureheads at 12.15pm at Greenhill Gardens and returning to the Pavilion for 1pm.

Join our Facebook page by searching for Portland Coastguard – Save our Lifesavers.