A few days before Start Bay lighthouse closed to become automated I met the last serving keeper; and from him I learnt history and sadness. Ben Campbell took the words and created a wonderful song.

At many a night I'll look to the skies
And I see the beam pierce through the dark.
I cared for that light and all out at sea
Who would look to their charts and mark...
The sandbanks and cliffs and the fierce tidal pull
That might signal an unseen end.
Now I shut the last gate, I turn the last key
And I walk the last cliff top bend.

The last keeper am I,
The last keeper am I.
The soul of the sea
Beats deep in my heart,
From my tower of light
It was bitter to part...
For the last keeper am I,
The last keeper am I.