Welcome Home….
I have always loved this sculpture by the very talented Artist/Sculptor ANITA LAFFORD. Loved it not just for the incredible life and detail she has created in this near life size piece of art. It exudes anticipated joy. But the detail adds to the lifelike feel… the wrinkles in the little girls stockings, the babies toes and fingers, the mothers dress blown by the wind and her flip flops, even the little dogs raised paw and pricked ears.
The Sculpture is erected on the Quay at Fleetwood, Lancashire, overlooking the Wyre Estuary and views out to the wider Morecambe Bay. It is exactly here that families of Trawlermen would gather to welcome home their loved ones.
It is that back story that has always resonated with me. Fleetwood was once one of the busiest Fishing Ports in the UK. Boats would set off from here to fish the waters of the Irish Sea, or round the Scottish Islands. Some would fish the wild North Atlantic, others ventured even further to the rich seas near Iceland. They were not the massive trawlers of today, but smaller craft, vulnerable to weather and seas that could change in a blink of an eye.
Families would anxiously wait for news and a safe return. Then news (via a Radio link to the harbour) would reach them that the boats were waiting in Morecambe Bay for high water, so that they could return to the Harbour. That news would send families down to the Quay to wave to loved ones as their boat safely returned.
Then another wait…. the catch would have to be unloaded at the Fish Dock, weighed and prices negotiated. Then the crew would wait for their % share of the catch to be calculated…. probably an impatient wait before they could head for home and a proper Welcome Home…. till the next time they went to sea.
Fleetwood is no longer a major Fishing Port, the docks are quiet, the railway no longer runs, the dockside Bank closed… and the Ice factory still making Ice, but now for the Leisure and Catering industries. The Harbour a Leisure Marina and a Quayside Shopping Mall…. its called progress ?
I am glad we have that piece of Art on the Quay to remind us of life in harder and dangerous times.
Safely on dry land, I can as always say….
Please Remember ….
Stay Safe …. Be Kind…. Look After Each Other
23rd November
(C) David Oakes 2023
DAVID OAKES - IMAGES. 