Shelley the Lifeboat Labrador Read online

  A couple of weeks later we each received a very nice print signed by the Team and a personal thank you letter from Steve Johnson. His wife even washed the hanky I lent him for his cut head ironing it and returning it with his letter.

  A postscript to this was that I went to visit the team at RAF Kemble and was given a great day out along with Shelley. The friendship has remained until this day and Shelley was mentioned in dispatches several times by the Team Manager Ray Tilthorpe.

  They returned to Brighton to do a display the following year and I met Ray again when he had to do the commentary on the seafront. He was collected and flown by John Haffenden who was the manager of Shoreham Airport from RAF Manston where they had based. Being a little late we had a police escort into Brighton. What an experience for Shelley sitting in the back of a Land Rover with one of The Red Arrows being driven at high speed into Brighton. Sadly to no avail as a sea mist had set in and they could not display.

  It has remained one of the highlights of my life and set me back on the path to returning to photography as a hobby which was later to become my new found career. For the next few years Shelley and I were able to visit some of the RAF Bases seeing things that many others would not see. Dogs have always held a significant part in relationships with RAF personnel so she was always assured of that extra little bit of attention.

  As a thank-you I arranged the following year to take The Red Arrows on the Ramsgate Lifeboat for a trip out to the Goodwin Sands and to visit the Lightship. Ramsgate’s Coxswain Ron Cannon agreed to this with the help of a John Ray who was on the Shoreham Crew whose parents lived in Broadstairs. We all met at the harbour and made our way to the lifeboat moored by the jetty where I had left Shelley in the car by the boathouse. One of the helpers had the car keys so if we were delayed she could be given a walk.

  The steps to the boat were covered in seaweed and my yellow wellies decided to go one way and I the other! I hit my head fairly hard but was fine. We had a great trip out meeting up with pilot cutter and then went on board the Goodwin Lightship for a tour. Arriving back at Ramsgate we then all went to the Yacht Club where the Red Arrows presented them with a signed print and the same to the Lifeboat Crew.

  Steve was still concerned regarding my fall and decided I should have a check over at the Ramsgate Hospital where it was confirmed I had a little concussion. He took me there in the team’s car which was flown around on the Hercules RAF support aircraft. Head injuries are best looked at and it was felt I was showing signs of concussion forgetting I had left Shelley at the boathouse. All was eventually sorted out and we met for a drink later that evening.

  The next day they were due to fly off to Foye in Cornwall and we heard later that on route from Manston they did a couple of fly bys over the Goodwin Lightship as a thank you for their visit. They were the days when The Red Arrows had more control over their displays and where they went. It was also ironic that following the Brighton incident the ceiling for their display height was raised well above the 37 foot high yachts mast to 50 feet.

  Later that day we made our way back to Shoreham making some more calls on the way and once home I sent the team a set of the photographs taken on the Lifeboat which were placed in their files.

  End Chapter Fourteen

  ANOTHER MOVE TO MY OWN FLAT – CHAPTER 15

  Life carried on at a hectic pace if I was not working and driving from East to West I was back in Shoreham enjoying life to the full; perhaps sometimes a little too much. Living at Molly’s was fun and paying her such a low rent gave me more money to spend; however I was not saving and there would be a time when I would have to find a place of my own to purchase.

  My Sales Manager at Kendall, Keith, often got me to one side and tried to talk some sense into me about planning for the future. He came down once when I was working locally and stayed over for a couple of nights at a local hotel. Being a family man himself he looked at life a little more optimistically than I did. Perhaps in my case having no family and just myself to think about I was not really looking to the future. On this visit he had a long chat with me and the next day took me into my local Building Society and set the ball rolling for me to get a mortgage. I was now earning enough and although I had no savings there were one hundred percent mortgages around. Keith had done his homework and before the day had finished I had been approved for a mortgage. It was now a case of finding a suitable property in Shoreham.

  The Lifeboat was very important to me so I did not want to move too far out of the area and had to have a flat that would accept dogs. Yes! There were people who did not like dogs and I sadly had come across them from time to time.

  I recall once when I was working for a Dutch Medical Company which was perhaps one of the shortest jobs I ever had. From day one, those that I met were very aggressive and the initial training course over a period of 5 weeks involved me in staying away a lot and going out with other sales team members. Molly was wonderful and had Shelley all the time. When I took the job I had a feeling I had made a wrong decision.

  After the training I picked my new car up and off I went. The work was not easy and there was a lot of paper work and the Sales Manager was very aggressive. Every time he came out with me he said my car smelt of dogs and suggested I started to dress a lot smarter. It was one complaint about my performance after another. He called around to Molly’s on one occasion to do a spot check on me which frankly I thought was totally out of order. Shelley greeted him and I heard a yelp to find he had kicked her and was calling her everything. That was the final straw for me. I drove my car up to their head office in Surrey and left the keys and a one line letter of resignation. Thinking I would not hear any more about it I was stunned when I got an invoice for having to clean the interior of my car and for lost samples. I ignored everything.

  In life one gets ones revenge and it was several years later when I was at a medical exhibition that I saw the Sales Manager walking by our stand. The heat of the moment took over and I said a few choice words to him unaware at the time that they had one of their Directors over from Holland. I was working for one of their major competitors. Later that day the Director concerned came over to me in the bar offering me a drink which I accepted. The next half an hour was sheer bliss for me as I told him what had happened. I am not a vindictive person, but no way was Shelley going to get that sort of treatment and I made sure he knew first hand what had happened and why I left.

  I struck lucky when looking for a new property and I found one within a couple of days which was a nice one bed roomed flat with lounge, kitchen and bathroom near to the sea and overlooking St Mary’s Church. Two more visits and I had put my offer in to local estate agent Mike Baker. I knew Mike from the Sovereign Pub so it was nice to deal with a friend and before I realised it the contracts were exchanged and it was time to move in.

  Molly was not surprised and as she was reaching her late 80’s she was happy to get the house back to herself. Of course there was always a home for Shelley and I knew that. Although I was about to move out it was to remain my second bolt hole and Shelley’s second home.

  Lifeboat work carried on and I was now much more involved both on the ILB and social wise with the crew. I had become very close to Chris and Mike Fox along with their cousin Peter Lowe. Chris and Mikes mother Pearl had lost her husband Johnny Fox who was Coxswain of the boat several years ago from a sudden heart attack. I had never met Johnny but was always told although a strict taskmaster he would have taken to me as a person. Frankly at times it was not easy for me as a member of the Shoreham Crew. I did have problems grasping some of the finer points associated with being a lifeboat crew member.

  On another occasion the Regional Lifeboat Inspector Mike Woodroffe came down. He was ex Royal navy and he used to put us through some terrible exercises such as man overboard or having to set up a breacher buoy. There was always something going on. He was a great person and had a character to match, however; you were made to be aware that he was very much the boss with his dr
y sense of humour.

  On one occasion he took the three of us that made our up ILB crew out of the harbour and before we knew it the engine had packed up and then one of the rubber panels on the ILB began to loose air. Not content with that he stood up and turned the boat over leaving us all underneath with our heads above the water. Having gathered our senses he then asked us one by one to swim under the side and surface outside ready to right the ILB. Easier said than done and could I do it? Every time I tried to go under the side my lifejacket got snarled up and in the end I had a mini panic attack. Mike could see that I did have problems and lifted the ILB allowing me to surface.

  About an hour later we returned at dusk back to the boathouse. I was very down and got out of my gear and disappeared home with Shelley where she sadly got the full impact of my terrible evening. I almost decided to pack it in then. It was on the Sunday that I returned to the crew room only to find the new Coxswain there Ken Everard.

  Ken took me outside and said how pleased Mike had been at my determination to try and overcome the problem and that I should be proud of what I did and no way should I worry. Ken was a very understanding Coxswain and over the next few years he often gave me support and opportunities to prove myself. Another big bonus was that he always said thank-you and it was not uncommon for him to phone you one evening and have a friendly chat. His son Peter Everard followed on in his footsteps joining the crew and now works for the RNLI Headquarters at Poole as an instructor having worked for Fisheries Protection for a while.

  The day came for my move and once again Roger turned up with his van to help me move my gear over. I did not have a lot but had to start somewhere. As usual my large Jazz Collection took pride of place followed by my Hi-Fi.

  The flat did need decorating and Chris Fox took a week off work and between us we painted the whole property. We did stop for lunch and go to the Yacht club and have to admit that sometimes we did get slightly detained losing one afternoon altogether due to Guinness. I also had a lot of pictures that needed to be put up on the walls and not being any good at banging picture pins into the wall Chris measured them out for me and took this task over. Sadly he forgot that he had damaged his finger several years ago and it was slightly out of proportion to the rest of his fingers. It was not until we came to hang the pictures up that we realised they were descending down the wall by about half and inch due to his slight impediment. After that we decided to put them up where we wanted and my ‘Tate Gallery’ was in place. I had well over 100 framed prints up all over the flat.

  The move went to plan and Shelley found her bolt hole under the kitchen work surface. As I did not have a washing machine the place were it should have gone became her home for the rest of her life apart from the odd good night visitation on my bed or when she wanted to watch television on the sofa beside me.

  I was on the second floor and the car parking was under the flat so every time I came home all I had to do was to open the back door of my car and the swing door into the stairway and Shelley made a run upstairs and sat outside the front door ready to make a rush in to her Boneo which I left every morning on her bed.

  We both had our new home and began to make it what we wanted it to be – something we could share and something we would like. We were a team of two and good friends and at last I felt I could give something back to Shelley for all the support she had given me over the last few years.

  End Chapter Fifteen

  A ROYAL MEETING AND COUNTRY WAYS – CHAPTER 16

  The best thing about my new flat was the easy access to Shoreham and the beach. A couple of minutes and I was in the town centre which Shelley loved giving her a chance to meet many of her friends. Another ten minutes and a quick walk over the footbridge across the river and one was on Shoreham Beach.

  The beach was always a great love of hers and any excuse to get into the sea was taken. Whatever the time of year - a cold winter’s day or the height of the summer she went for that long swim. It did worry me from time to time as she had no fear of distance and swam out a long way. If I went for a swim she always joined me giving me the opportunity to hold onto her tail so she could tow me onto the beach where she would run around licking me from top to toe. I think she had this idea that she was rescuing me and once ashore she wanted to make sure I was fit and well.

  The beach was a long one with some nice properties set back and one could walk to the harbour arm one way or to Worthing the other. Sometimes we did the long walk to Worthing about 3 miles each way and had a coffee returning to the Yacht club for a drink. Dogs were not allowed in the club but she was happy tied up to one of the boat trailers in front of the balcony. That way she could always see what was happening and got a lot of attention at the same time from people coming and going into the clubhouse.

  If I did not want to take her she loved the flat and it was to become her territory. I am glad to say Shelly was not a dog that barked a lot so there were never any complaints from fellow residents and if I was out she seemed to spend most of the time asleep.

  I did learn one thing though never leave a tea towel hanging over the oven door. I will explain! I used to put my Sunday lunch on a timer so that when I came back from my Sunday walk all I had to do was serve the beef and prepare the vegetables to go with it.

  I had invited Chris and my good friend Harry Richardson around for lunch. I had got the tea cloth a little wet so decided to hang it over the top oven door to dry out. I set the timer on. As usual off I went leaving Shelley in the flat with the kitchen door open. A few hours later I decided that it was time for the three of us to go back for lunch. We were greeting by a rather subdued Shelley and I noticed some string on the hall carpet. In walking into the kitchen I found the top oven door down - the teacloth on the floor and the baking tray also on the floor and empty.

  First there was dead silence and this was followed by shock and laughter. It appears Shelly once I had gone pulled the teacloth opening the oven door flap at the same time. This was too good an opportunity to miss she must have managed to get the baking tray out of the oven onto the floor. Having been set on a timer the oven was not on when this was done. It came on as normal later, which resulted in a very warm flat with the kitchen and lounge windows steamed up. All was gone including 12 roast potatoes. The string that surrounded the expensive joint of beef was all that remained of our planned lunch.

  Just in time I managed to get to the local Co Op and purchased some Chicken legs. Needless to say with another hour or so to wait we indulged in several bottles of wine and it was another story to dine out on. One could not scold Shelly and she knew she had done wrong spending most of her time in the bedroom hiding behind the bed appearing every now and then putting her head around the lounge door. That’s dogs for you!

  We were excited at the Lifeboat station as a new boat had been given to us and it was due to be named by HRH Princess Alexandra. This was due to her Lady in Waiting Lady Mary Mumford who was The Duke of Norfolk’s daughter.

  Lady Mary supported the Shoreham Lifeboat in many ways which all helped towards its funding. She even came down on flag days spending time collecting money around the town for us. On one occasion she brought Princess Alexandra down to the station with her children and they were all taken out on the lifeboat down to Brighton Marina and back. It was a very private visit and no one knew about it media wise. The Princess had tea with the crew afterwards and she knitted a small lucky mascot for the boat which still takes pride of place in the wheelhouse to this day.

  The day for the naming arrived and we were all down at the station early cleaning the boat and putting the flags up and setting out the many chairs for the invited guests whilst Shelley made friends with the local police sniffer dog who was doing a security check as a Royal visit was involved. The weather was fine which helped and I was delegated as the official photographer. The Princess arrived and met the officials from RNLI HQ and the new lifeboat crew. It was then named and she was taken out to the harbour entrance and back on it.<
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  Following this all went to the Yacht club where there was a reception for invited guests and the crews and helpers at Shoreham. I was just getting out of my car and giving Shelley a little walk when she stopped and asked the dog’s name giving her a little pat and saying what a nice looking Labrador she was. Later during the reception once the formal speeches were over she mingled with the many guests and once again we met and she referred to Shelly.

  In life one meets many people that one becomes attached to and such a person was a Harry Richardson. Harry had spent most of his life working for The Forestry Commission and had now retired. Sadly he was involved in a car accident in which he lost his wife Anne. Harry always appeared in the Sovereign pub at the same time each day having done his daily food shop on the way down to it.

  We became good friends spending a lot of time together. One could say he was my mentor having lost both my parents. Harry was a person I could turn to with my problems and his advice was always well thought out and constructive. The friendship became very strong indeed and whenever we met in the pub the first one in always had a drink ready for the other. Harry only drank halves of bitter against my pint and this was to be a bone of contention for many years – he eventually found a way around it and came up with the expression ‘Are you ready for a top up John.’