Text 1: The light on Bracken Point, by Nia Roberts
An original contemporary newspaper feature.
Bracken Point lighthouse no longer has a keeper living in it. Twice a week, lighthouse technician Aled Price drives along the coast to inspect the equipment. The lamp switches on automatically at dusk, and a remote alarm sends a message to the maintenance office if its brightness drops or the batteries lose charge.
Aled checks the batteries, cleans the glass around the lamp and compares the readings from the weather sensors with the figures stored on his tablet. He also tests the alarm. ‘The system gives us an early warning,’ he says, ‘but a warning is not a repair.’ If an alert arrives during a storm, the technician must decide when the coast road is safe enough to use.
The lighthouse still sends a beam across the bay, where fishing boats pass close to the rocks. Aled keeps spare parts in his van, although a damaged part may have to be ordered before the equipment can be put right. Most visits are routine, but he knows that a small fault can become an urgent job when poor weather is forecast.
Text 2: A night at the light, by E. M. Pritchard
An original magazine feature written in a nineteenth-century voice; a period simulation, not an archival document.
In this feature, published in 1889, the writer describes the work of the keeper of Bracken Point lighthouse.
The keeper of Bracken Point lives with his wife and children within the lighthouse walls. Before sunset he trims the wick of the lamp, polishes the lens and winds the clockwork that turns the great glass panels. The day's wind and rain he enters in a logbook, and no word of the light's condition can reach the shore unless he carries it there himself.
In a gale he does not go to his bed, but sits watching the beam sweep over the black water. Should the flame weaken, he trims the wick or replenishes the oil before the lens has turned again. The work is repetitive, yet it demands that one man notice the smallest change while the sea and the machinery make their own noise.
His supplies come by boat when the weather allows. On one winter night last year the boat was delayed, and he burned what oil remained while he waited for calmer water. There was no other man to share his watch, yet the lamp must shine over the rocks.
Using information from both texts, explain how changes in lighthouse work might affect what happens when the light develops a fault.
You should make it clear which text you are referring to.
123 exam-style questions on Eduqas GCSE English Language 2.3 Summary and synthesis, covering 2.3.3 Synthesising from more than one text. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.