A week to remember.

I watched them go to sea, walk down the beach, saying their farewells, they boarded their boat, the "Blue Hooker,"and headed off, rounding the Quay and away down the choppy shore, the boat dipping with the swells, the men preparing for another days fishing, just as they had the days and weeks and months before. I intended to go out myself, it was good herring weather, grey and a little blustery but not too bad, or so it seemed. I decided to have a look at the sea state from behind the Red Lion, where a motley gang of fisher types were gathering, watching the winds freshen and sea build; they were expecting to see the return of the boat, but as yet there was no sign. Two men decided to take a look from the cliff top, while the Honorary Secretary of the Lifeboat headed to the boathouse inorder to call the boat or the Coastguard and get them to return home. My decision as to whether or not I was going to sea was answered when the Coastguard requested us to launch, as helmsman I climbed aboard the Lifeboat and we slipped the boat to sea. That was ten years ago on the 12th of November; today we remember them as the great oaks of the village that they were, we remember as if it were yesterday, the loss, the fear, the guilt, the desperate need to bring them home. The endless, hopeful searching, the slow realization of tragedy, the helpless watching as the pain sets in, the numbness that hangs over a village waking to the news. Amidst this time of rememberance, when we stand in silence for the many sevice men and women whose sacrifice means we today can live in peace, we also remember those whose only wish was to earn a living, provide for their families and support their community as best they could, whose loss is our loss.
This week we also said goodbye to another local character, the Chipper Skipper, Ralph Atkinson who finally lost his long battle with cancer, he ran his charter boat the "Hooker," from Clovelly for many years and became renowned for his bacon butties, very bad jokes and bugle calls; another one gone, but Clovelly harbour has endured many ships passing throughout its long life, from storms and calms, wrecks and rescues, it is through such adversity that character forms; and these are the foundation stones of our harbour.