First of all may I thank all those who have contacted me RE my return with TRM,
your kind comments are greatly appreciated.
My last column was all about the Great Eastern steamship and I was delighted to
get this follow-up email from Hakin girl Cynthia Edwards.
"Hi Jeff...so glad to have you back. Thoroughly enjoyed reading about Brunel and the Great Eastern. Always one or two new facts no matter how many times I've read about it over the years.
"I've been reading about Brunel's elder sister, Sophia. It's said that she would have been Isambard's equal if she had not been denied the chance to study.
"It was considered not fitting for a female.
"She did become a well known ceramics painter..considered a more lady-like pursuit.
"The Brunel Museum in London is funding a two year project called Sophia's Story,
which will support young women in engineering as only 12 per cent of engineers are women.
"I love that Milford has such a fascinating history and learning extra bits of interest." Many thanks, Cynthia..a perfect Brunel follow up.
Staying with old ships for the moment, I'd like to thank Pembroke Dock's Ray Dony, who,
during my lengthy absence, gave me a copy of Lt Commander Lawrie Phillips' book
Pembroke Dockyard and the Old Navy. It's fascinating history and I highly recommended to all who are interested in the last generation of historical local shipbuilding and dockyarders.
Those who've regularly followed my TRMs over the 20 plus years I've been churning them out will know that I like to include a wide variety of topics, thoughts and memories, and wherever possible, try to help out with any "queries" sent by readers.
Most of them are connected to Milford's fishing history..like this one sent in by the Hesslegraves.
Tony's message was: "Hello Jeff...can you point me in the right direction to find out about the Malcolm Coan?" I believe that it was a Scottish fishing boat, but not sure about that.
"One of Christine's ancestors was killed on that boat and I would like to find out more about it. The relative's death was confirmed in Shetland but has a British registration of death. He was born in England and his name was Harold Ernest Read."
There's no record of the trawler sailing out of Milford and I fear with such sparse detail to go on, the likelihood of being able to help Tony and Christine are extremely slim...but, you never know.
MORE NEWS:
So if anyone recognises/ recollects the names, please get in touch.
This week, with the aid of a few old snaps, and simply because I've just heard Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water on the wireless, I've decided that the common denominator link is bridges. In particular, bridges in Milford.
Let's start with a historical one, which goes back to the days of Col. Greville - the guy who had it built so that those who were heading across the Pill to visit the renowned Castle Hall, wouldn't need to clamber aboard the small ferryboat to get there.
Coated with pitch and tar, unsurprisingly, the wooden structure became known as Black Bridge and although that wooden bridge failed to last for long, the name remains the same to this day.
And for all us old Pill boys, it was a regular part of our "playground."
As was the next ancient structure. The swing bridge over the Pill waters. As well as watching, fascinated, when it was opened to allow ships access, it also became the perfect place from which to dive at high tide...usually accompanied by yells of excitement and whoops of joy.
The third snap is yet another happy place for Pillites. The bridge across the Back Line, a railway line connecting the Mine Depot to Milford Docks, and awarded we ragamuffins such delightful diversions as a newt pond, blackberry picking, apple scrumping, and, of course, the once infamous Bull Ring"
My final bridge needs no introduction. My biggest problem was in selecting which one to
use, there are so many photos of Hakin Bridge in my collection I could paper the wall
of my outside lav with them! But I've chosen this one taken from when Tesco, the biggest
corner shop in town, was being built.
Well, I think that's just about satisfyingly scratched my "bridges" itch...hope for you that it wasn't a bridge too far.
Next time, among my souvenirs, I'll take a look back to the Milford trawlers. If anyone has something they'd like me to include, please get in touch.
That's it for this one, but I leave you with this thought from Theodore Green: "Most people say that as you grow old, you have to give up things.
"I think you get old because you give up things."
Take care....stay safe.
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