Any ex-JCW mast climbers after a job? Lots of sunshine and cheap drinks if you can join the Mess or the Volcano Club....
Fancy the chance to live the high life on Ascension Island?
There should surely be a queue down the street for a steady job in a subtropical climate with beautiful beaches and ocean views, especially after you have climbed a 413ft radio mast. But contractors running the BBC Atlantic relay station on Ascension Island in the south Atlantic have had to readvertise a post for a full-time antenna maintenance supervisor. It may not be the job of everyone’s dreams, but it would suit anyone with a head for heights and a longing to get away from it all.
The station, run by Babcock International, relays the BBC World Service’s radio programmes from London to millions of listeners in Africa and South America. The station manager, Paul Mildon, said the previous occupant of the aerial rigging job was retiring after 25 years. He is returning to his home on St Helena, 800 miles away.
Attempts to recruit a new rigger have proved unsuccessful, even though the job comes with a bungalow and an unspecified salary with a singular advantage: there are few places on Ascension (population roughly 800) to spend any money. The job is not for everyone as applicants have to pass a mast-climbing test. A certain self-sufficiency is also a virtue as Ascension is 1,000 miles off Africa and 1,400 miles from Brazil. There is one flight in and out a month.
The successful candidate will not lack for fun. There are beachside barbecues and even an 18-hole golf course, although the greens are known locally as “browns” and visitors have unkindly dubbed it “the worst golf course in the world”.