Today has been a typical dull, drizzly November day. I had hoped to take some pictures in Saltmarshe Park but the light was too poor.
I have recently been looking at photos of when the SS Aire was run aground at Saltmarshe after colliding with the German collier Helene B. Schupp on October 6th 1958. The pictures show the workmen in the park with winches as they tried to recover the ship and stop her breaking her back. It was to no avail and she was eventually destroyed.
It is still possible to see the marks of the hawsers on one of the oak trees and there are markers on the river bank to show where the ship was aground.
In the garden there are still lots of apples - but everyone around has lots too so it is hard even to give them away. I am hoping to pick up some russets soon as they improve with keeping.
Molly the labrador is now more a small dog than a puppy although she still does not like the dark and chews almost anything she can find. She enjoys pieces of coal from the scuttle and can reduce a piece of stick to chippings in a matter of minutes.
I have a number of photographs my Grandfather took of the Aire after the collision. He was manager of AHL at the time. He took me to Saltmarshe Park a lot after school to see the squirrels & collect conkers; on one of those visits he showed me the chain marks on the trees. Captain Saltmarshe was pretty fed up with the damage to some of the trees in the park & AHL had to pay him compensation.
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