Shelley the Lifeboat Labrador Read online

  The waiting room had a large round table with lots of outdated Country Life magazines in the centre and the chairs looked like they had come from a residential home. Sitting in them you went through almost to the floor with the spring sticking into one’s posterior.

  Other people were there, one with a cat and a couple of others with dogs. To my surprise there was another male gentleman sitting opposite dressed in very rural attire with a scruffy flat cap and a creamy white ferret on a lead that was curled up at his feet fast asleep. It reminded me of the ferryman young Bob Church at Southwold who rowed across the River Blyth to Walberswick, who, I recall had a pet ferret? He used to drink at the Harbour Inn at Southwold run by a couple called Bunnie and Lettie. If it was cold he would tuck it down his trousers to keep warm!

  “Next!” Came a shout from behind a large scratched oak door and in we all went. What a surprise we were in for! A really charming veterinary surgeon who was in his late 60s with half framed glasses on the end of his nose who looked a little like James Herriot. Kind and considerate, he treated Shelley with the utmost respect even giving her a nice biscuit with a promise of one more after the injection. After a full examination which included checking her hips for displacement he asked where we got her from. On being told he said “Any dog you get from there will be excellent as they know more about Labradors than most.” He gave her another biscuit with a twinkle in his eye. “I don’t make a habit of this as they can put on too much weight,” he said with a broad smile.

  Driving back that day be both knew we had made the right decision and looking at Shelley on the back seat I think she realised she had too!

  End Of Chapter Two

  GROWING UP IN SOUTHWOLD – CHAPTER 3

  Time soon flew by and before we knew it Shelley had had her second vaccination and was free to walk the streets and byways of Southwold and the surrounding area.

  We lived in Pier Avenue which was a stones throw from the seafront and the small pier situated to the North end of the beach. The road had an avenue of nice trees and although it leads to the beach, was not that busy which was ideal for us.

  Shelley’s first walk on the lead was as we anticipated full of fun. Christine purchased one of those extender leads on a ratchet and a nice brown leather collar which looked very smart indeed. For a Labrador Shelley was small in size and we had to punch an extra hole in the collar, even then it seemed loose.

  The initial walk was fine with a little bit of pulling and sniffs at every tree and fence. To our surprise we even passed a rather large collie but there was no response whatsoever. Once on the front we decided a nice walk along the beach would be worth a try and as it was very quiet we decided to let her off the lead. Oh dear! We soon found out she was interested in one thing only ‘water’ and before we knew it she was running through the surf and swimming out to the end of the beach groynes and back. Initial fear set in but within a couple of minutes she was back at our feet shaking spray all over us and rolling in the sand. I began to wonder if she was just enjoying her first taste of freedom or was there the gun dog instinct in her having come from a farm. Any idea of taking her into the Swan in her current condition was abandoned. We ventured around a long grass area hoping she would dry herself off, which she duly did after rolling in a small cow pat. Back home it was a hose down and a dry off before we even considered allowing her back onto our pristine carpet.

  Next day being a Sunday we decided to walk to the Swan via the back streets which we felt would give us an opportunity to teach her to sit at road junctions.

  We were told to let her get used to one command at a time and before long she was sitting at every opportunity knowing she would get a small treat as a reward.

  Once inside the lounge bar area she was greeted with such a fuss not only by the locals but by visitors there for Sunday lunch. What surprised us was her initial response to sit beside Christine and myself and relax. There was no wish to run off or pull on the lead any time a person came up to her. Even Jack said that she was one of the best Labrador puppies he had seen for a long time adding that she was going to be small when fully grown. Both of us felt we had done the right thing in taking her out at such a young age and the encouragement we had from others supported this.

  From childhood I had always wanted a dog but sadly my late mother suffered from very bad asthma. I grew up at Boxley in Kent making friends with a person called Willie Marr-Johnson. I was in the choir at the church and every Christmas Willie’s mother Diana Marr-Johnson used to invite the choir up to Boxley House to sing to the family; this was followed by hot mince pies. I first met Willie there and was then invited to the Farm to have tea with him.

  Willie’s mother was the sister of the writer Robin Maugham and her uncle was Somerset Maugham. They had a Labrador called Sookey which I befriended straight away. Over the years Willie and I became good friends and when he returned from Prep School for the holidays most of my time was spent at Boxley House – I became part of the family!

  Sadly mother’s asthma became a lot worse – and my father and her GP could not work out why. I remember on two occasions her being taken to hospital and being connected to an oxygen cylinder. It was later when the doctor was talking to my father that the subject of dogs came up. From that day onwards on arrival at home I had to change out of the clothes I had been to the farm in to another set of dog free clothing. Any idea of me approaching my parents for a puppy then went out of the window.

  Shelley became that escape valve after all those years of frustration. To this day Willie and I still remain good friends and his mother managed to live to the age of 99 years. In life one meets many people some becoming real friends; Willie was one of those. I have retained friendships with people whom I still communicate with to this day with an average of one person from each of my life’s cycles. It would be the same when I moved from Southwold.

  After a few months we became part of the community and got to know more people or should I say characters. Please don’t get the impression we lived in the local pubs. With a highly respected brewery and many establishments that sold Adnams bitter, pubs became part of our life as is often the case in small communities.

  One we used was The Kings Head which again was a real local and very popular with many of the townsfolk. Even John Adnams who owned the brewery drank there. One could say the people of Southwold had their favourite watering holes and at certain times of the day come rain or shine those that enjoyed a drink could be found in them.

  John Snelling ran the town’s only local garage and spoke with a real Suffolk accent. I met him via a person called Roger Trigg who was Coxswain of the lifeboat. John always wore a suit and looked smart and was often the centre of attraction whilst having an endearing manner. He was very kind and supportive towards those that became his friends.

  One Saturday when I called in (Christine was in Lowestoft shopping) John was buying a round and before I knew it there was a packet of plain crisps on the floor beside Shelley. What amused all was the way she opened the packet. Without any hesitation she put one paw on the packet and got hold of the corner tearing it off. This was then followed by the other paw going into the packet finishing off the top tear so she could put her mouth into it and consume all the contents. This became her trademark for the rest of her life resulting always in three tidy pieces of packet left on the floor and not a single crisp.

  Roger Trigg; as I mentioned earlier was coxswain of the local lifeboat and he was responsible for my interest in the RNLI. At this stage in my life I only attended some fund raising events but the interest grew. Roger was a very quiet yet brilliant helmsman on the lifeboat (he later got the RNLI Silver Medal for bravery following an arduous rescue off the Suffolk coast). I liked him; he had always had time for me and used the Harbour Inn down by the estuary. It was a popular pub for the local fishermen known for its fish and chips sold in newspaper and good real ale. The local Sole Bay Jazz Band played there once a week bringing back memories of my early days at Ken
Collyers Jazz Club in London. From a young age jazz was and is to this day the music I listen to most.

  Shelley often came to the Harbour Inn and got to know many of the fishermen. After several pints I was always saying ‘do you mind holding onto Shelley while I go and spend a penny’ the toilets being outside. They were a real friendly crowd and to this day when I have called back many are still there. Roger eventually became Harbour Master and then moved to Lowestoft where he became an instructor at the Maritime Training Centre teaching others about safety at sea.

  The pub had a tidal mark on the outside wall indicating where the terrible and tragic 1953 floods happened with many lives lost along the East Coast. This part of the coast has been a well known area for filming and whilst I was there they filmed Monty Pythons Flying Circus and a couple of Dickens cinema features. Walking into any of the local pubs and in particular The Swan one often saw celebrities who wanted a quiet few secluded days by the sea.

  This was a beautiful town - I will always have fond memories of the people and the buildings that were part of it. Even Shelley got to know the local butcher and fishmonger always stopping outside both shops whenever she walked past – I wonder why!

  There is something about this part of the coast that makes this so different from other regions. The sea meets the sky and the properties linked to this quaint town are just that bit special. It attracts a type of person that wants to enjoy those treasured moments alone. There are a lot of artists living in the region and of course musicians with Snape Maltings down the road near Aldeburgh.

  Looking into the windows of some of the terraced houses one could see shelves full of books, and walls covered with paintings. The gardens were small yet adorned with flowers and everyone tried to make a concerted effort to be proud of being part of Southwold. There are nice bookshops and some rather upmarket cloths shops. They have a right to be there and that is why I never got tired of walking into the town. Every day was different and there was always someone to stop and speak to.

  End of Chapter Three

  GHOSTS AND A POSSIBLE MOVE - CHAPTER FOUR

  “How is Shelley and have you got her with you?” was the greeting at most business calls I made. Even at some of the larger hospitals she managed to get into the porters lodge as I went around the many departments knowing she would be looked after well. It also took the pressure off me as I knew she was in safe hands. We became a real working team and I am certain it did help to increase my sales, after all how many representatives took a dog with them most days?

  Christine moved into Ralph’s new office in Southwold just off the high street and seemed to spend a lot of time there. As his business grew she travelled with him a lot more to run courses so it gave Shelley and I more time to get to know each other. It was these days that I am sure her loyalty towards me stared to grow and we started to form that close bond. We spent a lot of time travelling in the car. Being a sales representative can be very lonely at times and with Christine often away it also meant I came back to an empty property

  I recall one occasion when they went to a disused airfield at a place called Bircham Newton. Residential courses were run at the venue for the building industry. Christine phoned me one day and suggested I drive up as I was working in that area and have dinner with her and stay over. Christine had also checked and found out it would be fine to bring Shelley along.

  The airfield had a long history in the Second World War and the old buildings around the officer’s mess were used for the courses with revamped accommodation on site.

  Shelley and I arrived early evening just as it was getting dark. There was an eerie feel to the place and the long disused runways were overgrown with weeds and long grass with a silhouette of the control tower in the distance.

  The first thing I noticed about Shelley was her reluctance to get out of the car and later when I tried to take her for a walk around some of the old hangers she kept very close to me whimpering.

  We all had a nice meal out that evening on the outskirts of Cromer and Ralph drove us back to Bircham Newton with Shelley sitting in the back of his Range Rover. Ralph was a very generous person and looked after Christine well and often took us out for a meal or lent us one of his cars. He had a Triumph Stag and a Range Rover and we became very good friends indeed both in and out of work. They were rather up market vehicles - any opportunity we could use them was taken up to elevate us in the local society (what poseurs we all were!). There was something nice about driving a Range Rover when all we had was a Ford and a Mini – as for the Triumph Stag I decided to give that a miss. I started it up once forgetting it was automatic and drove into Ralph’s privet hedge removing the wipers - radio aerial and almost ending up in the next gardens tennis court.

  As we drove back into the airfield Shelley began to get agitated again. Once we parked she did not want to get out of the vehicle and Christine had to carry her into the building. As I had to leave early in the morning we decided to call it a night and retired to bed. The idea was to get a decent night’s sleep but that it appears was the last thing on Shelley’s mind - she spent all night in the corner of the room shaking and on two occasions tried to get under the sheets with us both. It was very worrying as we thought this was going to be the first major problem we had with her – staying away.

  How wrong could I be? Next morning before I left I took Shelley for a little walk and met another person walking his dog. I asked him if he had any problems with his dog. “Not on a personal level – however there are stories.

  Pilots have been seen walking across fields carrying parachutes as well as some unexplained incidents around the buildings of Aircrew playing table tennis and talking from the gallery in the officer’s mess and laughter with the closing of hanger doors followed by footsteps.” He added “Apparently Bircham Newton is considered to be one of the most haunted airfields in East Anglia resulting in many paranormal sightings. It has featured in several books and recently a television crew spent the night there and came up with interesting footage. There is no doubt that along with other airfields hidden memories remain within its perimeters.” Perhaps Shelley sensed things that we did not. It was to happen again later in my life.

  I returned back to Southwold that night after doing some hospital calls at Kings Lynn. Shelley quietened down the minute we left Bircham Newton and Christine returned at the end of the week.

  As much as I enjoyed Southwold Christine found it to be rather quiet and she wanted to purchase a house rather than rent. Living in the town would be out of the question as property in this neck of the woods was too expensive. I was also not happy with my current work and changes were being planned which would involve me travelling more into London. We both made the decision to make a move (it was something I would regret to this day).

  I applied for a Job with a well established chemical company based near Cambridge which I got. We both drove over to the area several times and eventually found a nice semi detached property in Eaton Socon near St. Neots and just off the A1.

  We remained in Southwold for a couple more months and it was what I called my winding down period a job change and move on the way I decided to leave my current company early and have a few weeks off.

  It was a great period for me. I walked Shelley for miles along the beaches and through the countryside and our bond became a lot stronger. I enjoyed the company of the locals I had met and without realising it seemed to be spending more time with them than with Christine. Our relationship was drifting apart and she went back to Hythe to stay with her parents for a long weekend taking Shelley with her by train.

  I had agreed to meet her at Ipswich Station on the Monday and she came off the train in a bit of a hurry suitcase in hand with Shelley following behind on the lead. I asked what the rush was and she explained that unknown to her Shelley who she thought was fast asleep by her feet had chewed her way into a massive string sack of sprouts the lady sitting opposite had purchased at the local market. As she got up to get off the tra
in hundreds of sprouts fell out of the bottom of the sack all over the carriage and onto the platform. Looking back all I could see was this woman trying to pick them up with the help of other passengers whilst casting an odd glance in the direct of the three of us – Shelley oblivious to the problems she caused!

  This was not an easy time for me as I had become much attached to living in Southwold. There is something about living by the sea. Norfolk and Suffolk had long desolate beaches which one could walk along for many hours often not seeing anyone else. It was paradise for young Shelley and how was she going to react living inland? Most important of all was I going to like it? I have never liked built up areas and living in London for a brief spell in the 60’s proved that to me.

  We drove back and spent the next couple of days trying to sort out our many problems and agreed to see what we could do to try and make this marriage work. It was not going to be easy as I was still very unhappy about moving away from the coast. However; there are times when one must make decisions in life that one does not want to in order to please others. We decided to place the deposit down and set the ball in motion for our move inland. Meeting people in town they could see that I was not a happy bunny. It did show. I tried to put on a brave face but had bad vibes about the whole move. I drank a bit more than usual and often stayed out late whilst at times forgetting about Shelley leaving her back at home. This was not me!