The almost forgotten flood ......... on the wireless

Now I say almost forgotten but for many it will still be a vivid reminder of just what the North Sea can do especially for those who lived through it..

Constructing the Barrier, circa 1979

And its legacy is still there from the Thames Barrier to the book which documented the disaster.*

I knew of the flood but it was brought back to me by listening to Learning From the Great Tide, Radio 4.

"On the night of 31st January 1953, the combination of a high spring tide and a storm over the North Sea caused a devastating surge of water to sweep across the East Coast and up the Thames Estuary.

It was one of Britain's worst natural disasters in the 20th century - 307 people lost their lives in England and over 1,800 in the Netherlands - and yet it has largely been forgotten in the UK.

It also inspired one of the great works of English social history, The Great Tide by Hilda Grieve, which tells the story of the flood in Essex, and the extraordinary response of its local communities and emergency services.

Down on the Thames, circa 1979

To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the flood, BBC Climate Editor Justin Rowlatt asks what lessons were learned. We’re better protected now as a result of the disaster but, as our coastal defences begin to age and sea levels continue to rise due to climate change, are we prepared for the next tide?

Features archive from "Essex Floods" from Essex Sound and Video Archive.

Producer: Patrick Bernard

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4."

*The Great Tide by Hilda Grieve, 1953

**Learning From the Great Tide, Radio 4, BBC Radio, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001hp11

A little bit of the River Thames in Manchester and a mystery

Now despite being away from the River for over 50 years, the Thames still exerts a powerful hold on me.

There are the  memories of long summer evenings gazing out across the water from the old Cutty Sark pub, watching the sun set, with only the occasional sound of barges banging gently together in the wake of a passing pleasure boat.

Or that biting wind from off the river, first thing in the morning which seemed to zip through the heaviest coat while waiting to board the ferry at Woolwich.

Of course, my River was the industrial one which flowed from Battersea past the posh bits and then out by Deptford, and Greenwich, to Woolwich and Erith.

The other bit was, and still is pretty much unknown to me, so I was pleased when my old friend Dave Scholes gave me a delightful little guidebook of the River from its source as far as Greenwich.

There will be scores of such books, but what I like about this one is that it is easy to read, and is illustrated with some fine line drawings.

It was written and illustrated by Montague Webb, and never wanting to reproduce other people’s work without their permission I went looking for him.

And I found him mentioned by various art dealers and came across four of his water colours on the Government Art Collection,** as well discovering his prolific output of guidebooks.

In time I will go looking for him but for now I will content myself with reproducing the cover, along with a small example of the drawings illustrating the last stretch of the river from his book.

Sadly I can’t locate the publisher and as yet a biography of Mr. Webb has yet to be revealed to me.

But I hope nether will mind me reproducing these two examples of the art work.

Location; The River Thames

Pictures; cover and last stretch of the river from his book

*Viewing the Thames, Montague Webb, 1972 Napier Publications

**Government Art Collection, https://artcollection.culture.gov.uk/person/webb-montague/

Washing prawns Woolwich 1978

It is another one of those vanished scenes.

Beresford Square, Woolwich 1978.  Back then the market traders seemed to squeeze into every available pocket of land, and still the buses had to make their way through.

Woolwich in the 1960s and 70s was an exciting place to grow up in.  It was busy, vibrant with the Thames just at the bottom of Powis Street and much more.

I went back recently and it all seemed much tamer, much quieter and somehow less interesting.

Picture; from the collection of Andrew Simpson