> From: Paul Benyon <pbenyon@BTInternet.com> > Subject: Re: [DOR-LIFE] 2nd Command Depot, Westham, WW1 > > As an aside on the subject of Knotts : not Cy, but Lionel Knott could be > seen travelling the streets of Weymouth at one time, as the Borough's > lamp lighter - still very much alive and enjoying his retirement. > Paul Hi Paul, Reading your mention of Lionel Knott Borough Lamp Lighter brought back some memories! As a child in St Albans Terrace (our houses came down to make way for the new telephone exchange) I can remember a lamp lighter coming round to check the lamps were lit on the barriers around the road works at the bottom of our street by Web Majors Office's and deciding that it was either his (most probably Lionel's) or my uncle Jim Goodwin's job was to be the one for me! I must have had a thing about lighting lamps as my uncle Jim was a lamp lighter in Weymouth for the SEB (Southern Electricity Board) along with Alfie Dunn. Uncle Jim used to tell me how when he took the job on the street lighting had just been converted from gas to electric and he rode round on a bike and had a long pole which he used to switch on the lights. It was the use of the pole and a bicycle that took my imagination as you could get up to some mischief with that - I was most disappointed when I found out that pole had gone a few years previous! Jim and Alfie's job title remained as lamp lighters to the time of their retirement which if I recall was about the late eighties (I think). After his retirement uncle Jim continued his "other" job as ferry man across the harbour, a job his father, Bill Goodwin, did before him. Sadly, Jim is no longer with us but his son, Stephen, continues the family tradition of ferry man to this day. Goodness Paul, your posting has brought back a rush of memories and family/local stories that I could go on for ever - one involved the local undertaker, an older resident, and the testing of a smoke bomb in the Hope Square area of Weymouth during WWII - but I'll save that for another day! Before I go, does anyone remember Alfie Dunn's wife Pat? She was one of the first (or it could have even been the first) FA qualified, if that's the correct term, female football referee's and started the Weymaids Football Team. Heather I transcribe for FreeCen. Interested? Check Out the Website - http://freecen.rootsweb.com __________________________________________________________________________ Join Freeserve http://www.freeserve.com/time/ Winner of the 2003 Internet Service Providers' Association awards for Best Unmetered ISP and Best Consumer Application.