Back in the 1950’s when they were digging the trenches for
the sewer lines the trenches were DEEP.
These trenches extended up an down the streets and in certain
sections even crossed roads, and linked up with the route to the
main hole for the Pump station. All these trenches were dug and
laid with a thin bed of sand to cushion the SGEW pipes ( Salt Glazed
Earthen Ware ).
Most of these trenches and the closed off roads were demarcated
with Red and White, Paraffin lanterns, which occasionally went
missing to be used in some other enterprising endeavor. Lamp posts
were also very rare and widely spaced
Anyway the pub closed and everyone heads home, you can see the
way this tale is going. Needless to say, inadvertently one of the
inebriated chap’s falls into a trench, fortunately so well
lubricated he doesn’t even register what happened except
that he stumbled and fell. Can’t find his way home starts
shouting and making a racket, his mate locates a lamp and goes
looking for him, clambering over the piles of rock & boulders
excavated from the trench, he slips and falls in, the lamp breaks
and instead of catching fire goes out,. There are now two in the
trench feeling around in the dark. Calling out does not help, no
one’s listening, they can find no way out and instead decide
that one will go forward and the other walk back the opposite way.
The one that gets out will come looking for the other.
Off they go in their separate directions, after what seems like
hours they bump into each other and end up having an argument about
who decided to turn round instead of looking for a way out.
These two spent the whole night out in the trenches & it was
only in the early morning when people started going to work that
someone discovered them and arranged for a ladder to get them out.
I don’t have names and it may be a tall story but some one
out there may be able to authenticate it.
(Submitted by Clive Symes)
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