Shelley the Lifeboat Labrador Read online

  We all met up that evening in the Royal Sovereign Pub; Shelley included. There were of course the comments from the regulars about the pub being full of lifeboat personnel. The Sovereign over the years had had some good landlords. When I first moved into the town it was a Barry Rickby who ran it. He was a very nice person and treated his customers with respect with a dry sense of humour. When he left Ron and Judy Binstead took over. They had run a nice pub in the country near Lewes for a while and wanted to downsize.

  The Sovereign was not large having a good local trade and the food was simple but good. Ron enjoyed good company and built up an excellent local trade. He had limitations and if you overstepped them you soon knew about it resulting in those involved having to make an apologetic phone call in the morning. He stayed there for a long time and they both knew and respected Shelley a lot always giving her the odd goodie. Other locals did have dogs and they were always made welcome but Shelley seemed to think she was number one celebrity making sure all were aware of this.

  The evening went well and of course there were a few stories about me and my life in Southwold that came to the fore which was all taken in good jest. For those that don’t know Suffolk folk are like Norfolk folk both having a strong dialect often coming across as being not that sociable. It is never meant, it is just their way. They like to get to know people first as I found out when I moved to Southwold. Ron of course joined in adding a little more about my activities in Shoreham which linked in well with the Southwold stories. It appeared to all concerned I had not changed at all. Roger however; did not forget his tradition of giving Shelley some crisps and every now and then a bag went in her direction remembering her way of opening them.

  The evening went on to closing time and we all departed. I am glad to say not over the top drink wise as the passage crew had to leave early to take our boat back to Lowestoft. We went down early the next morning to see them off with me giving a suitable message to Joan and Eric which I was assured would be passed on.

  I never had the personal experience of being involved on a passage. Mike Fox had and so had Roger Grant plus Ginger. Those who went were often the more experienced crew members having a firm knowledge of the seas around the British Coastline. There were also one or two crew that the RNLI used for this specific purpose as well as being relief coxswains. They were used to rough seas and being off shore and way out to sea. Another big advantage was that they knew the way into different ports with the experience of being able to navigate both night and day – hence they would rather take senior crew with them.

  The same would also happen when a new lifeboat was ready to be handed over to a station. The main crew would go to collect it with the District Inspector involved and they would often spend a week bringing the boat back to the station. It gave them a chance to get used to it and for the D I to put them though some tough training courses. When the ‘Hermione Lady Colwyn’ was collected they even had a night in France crossing the Channel the next day going there via The Isle of Wight. It was hard work but a lot was learnt and it is by far the best way to get those involved used to the boat. It should be remembered once on station a lifeboat is ready to go out on a shout and that could happen right away. After a period of adjustment most of the station personnel get the chance to go out on the new lifeboat whilst the launch crew get the experience of launching and re-housing the boat.

  Very soon after delivery, the ceremonies have come and gone and the lifeboat is in its new home and all those involved are ready to deal with the next call.

  All stations in the UK are run along the same lines and that is what is so good about the RNLI – tradition plays an important part as do families; however the RNLI employs people at their headquarters at Poole in Dorset whose job is to run the RNLI as an efficient service. From the purchasing of equipment, the design of new lifeboats, fund raising, public relations, crew training to crew development and working within the maritime and fishing industries. The full time staffs, all play an important role in running this charity.

  Times do change and people move and this can result in a recruitment problem if a station is in a small community. It is not easy to become part of this respected team and members have to be prepared to put a lot of work into it. There is a massive learning curve which some survive and others don’t. You don’t become a lifeboat man over night – slipways have to be greased – boats washed – boathouses to be cleaned – crew rooms to be kept tidy and many mucky jobs to be done at all hours of the day and night sometimes in terrible conditions due to the weather. If a member cannot get onto the actual lifeboat crew there are other important jobs to be done within the station. Opportunities do arise to go on the lifeboat proper whilst others to go on the inshore lifeboat and others to work for the launching team. The object is to rescue those in peril on the sea and that is what the RNLI does very well indeed.

  End of Chapter 27

  OPERATION TIME AND A SPEEDY RECOVERY – CHAPTER 28

  The time had come for Shelley to have the lump removed on her rear leg. I had been told not to feed her for 12 hours before bringing her in so she must have wondered what she had done to deserve being “starved.” I took her in the morning to Hove to the veterinary practice and was told what was going to happen which frankly was considered a mild operation but under general anaesthetic. I left her there with instructions to phone about 3p.m. to see how she was and to get a suitable time to pick her up.

  The day passed quickly and I made a few local calls so I could get home early to make the call. It would be unfair to say I was not worried as frankly I was but knowing how good my veterinary surgeon was I felt sure all would be fine.

  I made the call and was told that Shelley was fine and in her recovery kennel and I could pick her up when I wanted. It was not long before she greeted me with a plastic type collar over her head which was to prevent her from getting to the wound and playing with her stitches. I was assured all was well and the lump was not attached to anything but they would be sending it away for a biopsy whilst making an appointment to call back in a week to have the stitches removed.

  I let Shelley walk to the car and she seemed fine and was more concerned about the plastic collar than anything else. Back at the flat I had to carry her up a flight of stairs as it was not easy for her to walk. She went straight to her bed and fell asleep which was due to the anaesthetic sleeping through the night. The next morning I was woken by her beside my bed probably due to the fact that the collar was restricting her view and causing her to walk into things. Her appetite was back and I gave her a couple of extra treats for being such a good dog.

  We then went out for a walk around the town where she attracted more than her normal attention from those that knew her. By the end of the day I wished I had a tape recorder so I could play the same answer back. She loved the extra attention. We both went into the Sovereign for a drink where she tried to get under her normal seat but once again the collar caused a problem making a few locals to laugh at her antics. I could see that she was still feeling a little groggy and took her back home where we both had a night in watching the television.

  The week soon went by and it was not long before she was having her stitches removed and was delighted to see the last of her collar which was removed by the practice nurse. Shelley seemed to be back to her normal self and ready to explore the byways of Shoreham once again.

  On the Sunday we went to the lifeboat station for our regular morning chat and coffee. The Inshore Lifeboat was out on a call dealing with an overtired windsurfer which was common along our part of the coast.

  Windsurfing had taken off in a big way and just along the coast past the Shoreham power station was a long stretch of beach with easy parking where the windsurfers could assemble their boards and get the experience they wanted. Sometimes they did get into trouble. This was often due to going out too far or should I say being taken out too far by the current and off shore winds. We did not mind but as was often the case we had a shout to go out
and pick them up. Once we got to them we normally asked them to take their sail down and fold it to their board and we would then tow it back. They would then be hauled onto the ILB over the side with their back towards us giving us more leverage to get them on board and off we would go back to the boathouse or to the beach where they came from whilst at the same time giving them some friendly advice.

  Most took it well and responded to our wishes. Some did not though. One weekend when I was on with David Wainwright we had a call for a surfer and picked him up. A couple of hours later it was another call and it was the same person again. Just as were about to go home there was yet one more call and off we went to find him in trouble yet again. David was a very calm helmsman and took things in his stride. He was also good at training new members to the crew and had a lot of understanding and patience. I was very glad that I had been selected to be part of his team.

  We washed the ILB down and refuelled it as one had to remember that we were still on duty until the end of the day. I collected Shelley from the crew room where she had been relaxing with a couple of other members (it was a good social venue at weekends) and off we went. I fed her at home and had a nice (packet meal for convenience) cod in parsley sauce and then got into the bath to relax ready for work the following day when the bleeper went off.

  Getting into my clothes in a wet state was silly as it took longer to get them on before I drove to the boathouse. Dave had already got the ILB out and with the help of a couple of others was getting it ready for a launch as I got into my gear. Off the three of us went outside the harbour and along towards the beach area. You have guessed it was our friendly windsurfer yet again looking very embarrassed and cold. This time we made sure the board and sail was tied to the side of the ILB and he was hauled in, slightly harder than normal. There are some rough pockets and rope ties along the side. Not only that, he was wearing a lightweight wet suit which surprised us as the evening was drawing in and it always gets a little colder towards dusk. He asked us to take him back to the beach but this time we said we could not due to the tide and surf and took him the two miles back to the lifeboat station.

  The sea was a little lumpy also so we made sure the ILB met a few nice waves in the process of the return trip. Back at the boathouse we invited him into the crew room and gave him a strong talking to over a cup of tea. Enough was enough – four calls in one day for the same person – who frankly did not seem to understand what the problem was about. To him we were a service that was there to help him when he needed it. He was unaware of what the RNLI did and that it was a charity and we were volunteers who had given up our weekends to make sure there were no incidents that would involve the loss of life of our local shores. Had we been helping him when there was a more important call - say to a child in trouble it could have caused untold problems.

  Still not content he asked us if we could drive him back to his friend on the beach as their vehicle was there that could take their board back home. The answer was of course a polite no! In the end he made a call to another friend at home that drove along to collect him. We did add that we felt it best we keep his sail back at the boathouse for a few days so it could be checked over. He was not very happy but had no option. It was our way of teaching him a lesson. He did call to collect it later in the week one morning when Jack the mechanic was on duty. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall then as Jack would have explained the situation in a very different way from us. We never saw him again after that incident, I wonder why!

  Shelley was a lot happier now she had had the problem lump removed and the result from the biopsy was that all was fine so we soon established our normal routine. She had slowed down a lot more now but was still her little energetic self when she wanted to be. Unlike other Labradors she was a very small dog. I had also trained her well and whenever we got to a zebra crossing she always sat without being asked and once the bleep of the lights stopped she got up and proceeded to walk me over to the other side. It was her knowledge that took most people by surprise. She seemed to know every pub I used and the shops.

  The post office did not allow dogs so I always tied her up outside which I was not too happy about making sure I could see her from the windows. No way would I do it these days due to so many dogs being stolen.

  Dog owners also have a bond and often stop and chat to each other. There were also a couple of nice parks we sometimes went to. Sunday was a no go though as there were always football matches going on. I learnt the hard way.

  She always wanted to join in as she did at Bodiam with’ The Mad Dogs’ rugby. The one difference was that football players were less tolerant than rugby players and she had the odd kick where it hurt and I was given some nice verbal abuse on how to train a dog.

  It was not long to the two annual events that the crew enjoyed the most. The Bath Tub Race followed a few weeks later by the Trawler Race in which we participated to the full. Already the bath tub had appeared down at the boathouse and those involved had started to paint it and design it for maximum speed.

  End of Chapter 28

  BATH TUBS AND TRAWLER RACES – CHAPTER 29

  Like most fishing ports Shoreham’s connection with the sea resulted in events that had a nautical theme. All were involved in raising funds for local charities and as was often the case the RNLI was one of the benefactors. There were two that the crews supported. The Adur Bath Tub Race and The Trawler Race which were annual events and both attracted a lot of entries.

  The bath tub race had been going for a while before I moved to Shoreham, although I had seen similar at other ports in my time. The idea was to put a bath tub into a surround making it float and for a team to row the tub down the river for several miles finishing up in Shoreham by the town centre.

  The lifeboat crew been involved from day one and Peter Huxtable had won it many times. Although he was a lifeboat crew member (and later to become coxswain) he had worked for a local fishing company and for many years had rowed for their tub. There were no airs and graces about their tub it was built for speed and Peter and Jim Partridge, who owned the company, put a lot of effort into the event winning it year after year.

  The lifeboat tub was designed to be effective. One year crew member Brian Pickering met a design consultant from one of the London Colleges and he designed the tub and came down to name it. Full of confidence we were all certain that this was the year we were going to beat Peter and Jim.

  The actual race started at Bramber Bridge where all the tubs were put on the water. However; they were the other side of the bridge which was not that wide. As one could imagine trying to get thirty plus tubs under the bridge at the same time resulted in terrible problems and to add to that people standing on the bridge had flour bombs and other objects ready to reign down on all and sundry. Some of the tubs were stunning with pedal powered paddles - whilst others looked like fire engines and tractors. Nothing was spared on the design front!

  Once under the bridge it was a race to the finish with support boats in tow for crew changes and others following down the river banks. We always worked on the crew change theory by bringing the tub into the bank and switching rowers. I was not a good rower so was involved in going down via the river bank with Shelley in tow offering any help we could give in the change over’s when needed. Both of us spent more time in the water than out of it as there were more weed areas than clear banks.

  The design of the new tub looked great but sadly as the race went on we began to realise that it was too low in the water which slowed it down. Although there had been a re-designed bow this made little difference to the speed of the tub. Getting nearer to Shoreham the duty ILB crew had taken the inshore lifeboat up towards the finish. This was because the river got faster nearer the harbour entrance even when the tide was out. They were there to rescue any tubs that could not stop or any rowers that had departed from their relevant tub. Shelley was a lot better following her operation but the race covered several miles of riverbank walking. She had eno
ugh sense to jump into the river and let the current with the help of her swimming skills get her down quicker. Sometimes climbing out of the river and running back to me to prove the point she could do it again by repeating her epic jump into the river. You would not think she was almost 11 years old now.

  At the finish line the crowds gathered in force to watch the pursuing mud fight between crews which sometimes continued up to the hard by the footbridge. We did not win that year nor if I remember did we ever win. The closest was a second place. Our best rower was Dave Wainwright who linked up with selected crew members to make them a formidable team but sadly not good enough. Peter and Jim had won yet again and it did upset some other contestants. It was all was legal and above board, it was just that they were both very good at what they did. For them fooling around was not part of their itinerary until the race was over.

  Following the race the tub was collected and taken back to the boathouse and then the evening was spent around Shoreham visiting several pubs that provided some entertainment for all involved. Shelley loved it and it never took her too long to dry out. With barbecues and more barbecues food was never short for her. A smile and a wag of her tale produced some positive results.