大象传媒
Essex remembers the 1953 flood disaster
A
live broadcast of the special service at Chelmsford Cathedral, the
story of the miracle orphan baby on Canvey Island who was floated
on the waves and survived and interviews from the Netherlands where
1,800 people died, are among the highlights of the 大象传媒 Essex coverage
of the 50th anniversary of the 1953 floods on 95.3 and 103.5 FM.
There
will be two radio documentaries, radio features and more information
and pictures in the Features section of the 大象传媒 Essex website at:
.
Iris
Collier recalls her neighbours drowning and the miraculous survival
of their daughter, Linda Foster on Canvey Island.
She
said: "It was awful 聳 I kept hearing her screaming and
calling me but I couldn't do anything to save her. But by the time
they got onto the veranda the water was so high that they just drowned
the pair of them because it was so cold the water. But the baby
they'd put it into the big pram and the next morning it was floating
on the veranda in the water."
Director-General
of the 大象传媒, Greg Dyke, remembers what happened to his Granny Cooper.
"She
was awakened the next day and told she had to be evacuated, because
she refused to go to start with," he said.
"So
the boatman came but before she left she put masses of chicken food
on the kitchen table and put all her chickens on the table and came
back some days later to find all the chickens still alive and still
eating food on the kitchen table."
Peter
Wright helped recover bodies in a boat at Jaywick: "It was
decided that we had to look for people who were then unaccounted
for. I teamed up with our local milkman.
"We
got a dinghy and we rode to various bungalows where he delivered
the milk and I'm very sorry to say that we found eight people who
had drowned. This was a very harrowing experience for me as a young
man."
Harwich
Police Inspector Ken Alston: "An outstanding feature of it
all was that the people themselves were calm 聳 stoicism I suppose
you'd call it.
"And
they sat there patiently waiting to be lifted out of their bedrooms
into whatever was going to rescue them 聳 they had no idea.
"There
was a retired seaman and I can see him now sitting with the window
open, shirt sleeves rolled up, calmly smoking his pipe just looking
at the water outside his bedroom window."
Programme
details
Friday
31 January, 11.50am-12.50pm
Live
broadcast of the special service at Chelmsford Cathedral to commemorate
the 1953 floods in the presence of the Earl & Countess of Wessex.
Sunday
2 February, 11.05am-Noon
The
Great Tide documentary - memories of the flood disaster of 50 years
ago.
Monday
3 February, 11.05-11.50am
The
Great Tide 50 Years On - documentary which examines our coastal
flood defences, emergency procedures, rising sea levels and what
the Dutch have done to keep the sea at bay.
Notes
to Editors
1953
Floods - share your memories with your 大象传媒 Local Radio station
(27.01.03)
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