Today, seventy-four years ago, the gorgeous chocolate-box village of Lynmouth was devastated by floods of over-full streams feeding the rivers, collecting at the base of the hill by such a beautiful place, and sending devastating floodwater to demolish buildings, roads, and sadly, lives.
I still find the narrative absolutely frightening. The whole Scrobs family visited many years ago, and it is now, indeed a delightful place to visit.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, a man I later became to know well, Charles Dobbie, was staying on holiday nearby. He was also an engineer with Kent River Board, with cast experience in civil engineering projects - especially where river design and restoration was concerned. I remember chatting with him in 'The New Inn' Winchelsea, where he had a country cottage, and he was telling me that (his words), he was 'looking at a scheme somewhere in Persia, where there's a dam or something needed." The 'river man' was indeed by now, an international figure in big civils jobs!
Naturally, Senora O'Blene and I were spellbound, as he always naturally commanded an audience whoever was listening. He was always a generous man with rounds of drinks, and even wanted to buy us a toaster for our wedding present! His next statement about the Persian dam stays with me forever. "Yes, I'm more worried about all the local bandits hanging around the site, but that's the job"!
Charles was on the scene at Lynmouth very quickly. He dealt with the Borough Engineer, Carnegie, about a solution, and eventually redesigned the whole water-flow in the village. The disaster is well-documented elsewhere, but the place these days is idyllic!
When I started out in surveying, Charles rented a room in our offices in Rye, for his mail etc. I occasionally spotted him popping in and vanishing very quickly! On one occasion, I had a nose around, as it wasn't locked, and there were countless books and papers on Lynmouth etc. There was also an old set of golf clubs', and I asked him if I could give him a few quid for them...
He just said, 'They're yours, I hope they work etc etc etc'!
Carnegie got the 'gong', Charles just got the project.
He really was a good man - we need more of his commercial dimension and skills.
No comments:
Post a Comment