Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2014 | Page 20

INTERVIEW

at Ventnor by train, and sometimes I
would do a part-time taxi job, taking
them from the station to their hotels,
and then rushing back to pick up
another lot. It was a mad world, but
good fun.
“There were about 14 men working on
Ventnor beach, and we doubled up as
life guards, pulling a lot of people out
of the sea who had got into difficulties.
There was a rowing boat on the beach
waiting for any emergency, and between
us we saved a lot of lives.”
After marrying his first wife, Dave
lived in Wheelers Bay and continued to
work on Ventnor beach, driving a motor
boat down the coast, and attending the
deck chairs, which at the time cost three
pence to hire for the day - just over 1p in
today’s money. He said: “We worked very
long hours in the summer, and in the
winter we spent our time fishing, carrying
out repairs and getting everything ready
for the following summer.”
Following a divorce, Dave remarried,
and when his three children came along
money was tight. So he took a job driving
Southern Vectis buses around the Island
for seven years in the 1960s. He smiled:
“Although it was hard to leave the beach,
20

www.visitilife.com

"Me and my mate
used to have our bikes
ready and if we heard
a plane had come
down we would go
off and try to find it,
looking for souvenirs."
the money was good and I felt like King
of the Road driving a double-decker. I
used to do some fishing when I was not
driving, and took the lobsters in the cab
to sell to other crews at Newport bus
station. When I handed the bus over to
the next driver, he always complained it
smelt of crab and pipe smoke.”
He continued: “After my father died, my
mother suggested I went back to work in
the Cove in 1970. It was a gamble because
the kids were still young, but in the end
it paid off. We did a lot of fishing to help
pay the way, and did motor boat trips.
But over the years, tourism has gone

down and down, and with a lot of inland
attractions on the Island now, nowhere
near as many people sit on the beach
these days. That’s the biggest change I
have seen.”
Sons Mark and Jimmy still work
alongside Dave in the Cove, and daughter
Jane also lives there. Mark runs the
Boathouse restaurant and Jimmy runs
the Crab Shed in Dave’s front garden, and
both double up as fishermen. Meanwhile,
Dave, also a grandfather of five, even
keeps the Cove toilets clean and tidy,
taking over the duties when they were
threatened with closure five years ago.
He said: “Being a longshoreman is a
job where you have to be committed.
You just can’t walk away and leave
everything, because if the tide comes
in people can get into difficulty, They
need you to be around. But I have had
an enjoyable life, and I’m still enjoying
it. I am quite happy just being here; my
travelling days are over.”
He now uses a walking stick to help get
around the Cove, adding with a smile: “I
started tripping up and falling over, so I
thought a third leg might be handy. The
trouble is I put it down and keep losing
the damn thing!”