My father, Jock and I were discussing the mess that our world finds itself in these days..... I suggested, "I guess, Keith Robinson (The blacksmith in Omund in the 70's) had the right Idea", he wanted to buy a boat and sail to OZ when he emigrated from Omund..... My dad recalls the tale.... A plan was hatched in Casey's one night...(as most madcapped plans are)... that Derek Waddington and Mike Brotherton would accompany Keith on this boat of his , and all three would emigrate from Omund to Oz together.....
The only downside being that neither of the gallant trio had any real sailing boat experience.... so a decision was promptly made and that Sundaymorning all three joined the Yacht Club to gain some valuable training in the fine art of wind dinghy sailing.......
As the tale is recalled, Keith gave the salute as Mike steered them past the new jetty at the Yacht club, on that fine cool Sunday Morning..... not even a metre past that Jetty, the little dinghy started to take on Pink Pan water.... 2 metres past the Jetty, the bow started to sink beneath the watery horizon.... 3 metres past the jetty, all that could be seen was a sodden mast and Keith and Mike trying to salvage the two and a half cases of beer that they had taken with them....
Any experienced sailor, knows that them wee junior dingy's ain't meant to be serving such heavy beer on a sunday!
I wonder how Keith got to Oz eventually!
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Thanks for this one memory jog. I lived next door to Keith in 1970's and he was a very skilled man. A large man I recall. I spent some months in Central Fields at that time and about a week hovering around the blacksmith. A very interesting trade especially if he could make SAI. Well, Keith had a huge press in his shop which he used for thumping and shaping his steel. He would demonstrate his skill by opening a match box under the head of said press and close the box with precision using several blows of thundering force - but controlled. This was indeed quite the feat.
Some time later an appy lost a set of fingers on that press.
That person was Bobby De Klerk .. it happened about 1976 My dad was in charge of the boiler shop ... there was a big enquiry as to how the accident occured .. the " steam hammer " as it was called had a semi circular pedal around it for easy manoureving etc .. the safety guard was liftable in segments so the artisan had to choose his area direction of working .. he had opened a plate was positioning his workpiece , kneeled and his knee touched the pedal .. well you know the rest .. not nice ...
Jeez!! tell you about getting a memory boost, I was reading this post and the date John Creedy mentioned 1970 about the blacksmith Keith Robinson was the time I was there.
Yes I remember him big swarthy gentleman and I think where the machine he worked on was by the welding bay, and an occasion I remember that if you missed the bus to central fields (it left from the swimming pool area dead on 7am) then you would have to find your own way there (I know this as it happened to me :)
You would be greeted by a loud noise the boilermakers would make by hitting there work benches with hammers making it very obvious that there was someone coming in late.
This happened to Keith but he was crafty and came around the back, I suppose thinking no one had noticed his absence but in that environment every one knew ............................................................he got the hammer treatment.
I knew Keith and he was a very likable person.......................................Frank