Shelley the Lifeboat Labrador Read Free Page B

that day onwards on arrival at home I had to change out of the clothes I had been to the farm in to another set of dog free clothing.  Any idea of me approaching my parents for a puppy then went out of the window.                                                                                                               
     
    Shelley became that escape valve after all those years of frustration. To this day Willie and I still remain good friends and his mother managed to live to the age of 99 years. In life one meets many people some becoming real friends; Willie was one of those.  I have retained friendships with people whom I still communicate with to this day with an average of one person from each of my life’s cycles.  It would be the same when I moved from Southwold.
     
    After a few months we became part of the community and got to know more people or should I say characters.  Please don’t get the impression we lived in the local pubs. With a highly respected brewery and many establishments that sold Adnams bitter, pubs became part of our life as is often the case in small communities.
     
    One we used was The Kings Head which again was a real local and very popular with many of the townsfolk.  Even John Adnams who owned the brewery drank there.  One could say the people of Southwold had their favourite watering holes and at certain times of the day come rain or shine those that enjoyed a drink could be found in them. 
     
    John Snelling ran the town’s only local garage and spoke with a real Suffolk accent.  I met him via a person called Roger Trigg who was Coxswain of the lifeboat.  John always wore a suit and looked smart and was often the centre of attraction whilst having an endearing manner. He was very kind and supportive towards those that became his friends.
     
    One Saturday when I called in (Christine was in Lowestoft shopping) John was buying a round and before I knew it there was a packet of plain crisps on the floor beside Shelley.  What amused all was the way she opened the packet. Without any hesitation she put one paw on the packet and got hold of the corner tearing it off.  This was then followed by the other paw going into the packet finishing off the top tear so she could put her mouth into it and consume all the contents.  This became her trademark for the rest of her life resulting always in three tidy pieces of packet left on the floor and not a single crisp.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Roger Trigg; as I mentioned earlier was coxswain of the local lifeboat and he was responsible for my interest in the RNLI.  At this stage in my life I only attended some fund raising events but the interest grew.  Roger was a very quiet yet brilliant helmsman on the lifeboat (he later got the RNLI Silver Medal for bravery following an arduous rescue off the Suffolk coast).  I liked him; he had always had time for me and used the Harbour Inn down by the estuary.  It was a popular pub for the local fishermen known for its fish and chips sold in newspaper and good real ale.  The local Sole Bay Jazz Band played there once a week bringing back memories of my early days at Ken Collyers Jazz Club in London.  From a young age jazz was and is to this day the music I listen to most.
     
    Shelley often came to the Harbour Inn and got to know many of the fishermen.   After several pints I was always saying ‘do you mind holding onto Shelley while I go and spend a