Show Notes
William Horwood is a novelist who grew up in Deal in the 1950s within sight of the Goodwin Sands. His mother was instrumental in saving the now-beloved "old town" area of Middle Street from developers who made applications to raze the historical buildings after the Second World War in the name of modernisation. Here he discusses his boyhood on the beach, befriending the local fishermen, class differences and what he has referred to elsewhere as "genteel poverty". Among his works are The Boy With No Shoes, a fictionalised memoir about his childhood in Kent, and the novel Skallagrigg which was adapted into a BBC film in 1994. This is an interview conducted as part of the Goodwin Sands Oral History Project, a podcast series which speaks with those who have grown up within sight of the Sands, who make their living upon or around them, or who have been creatively inspired by the air of uncanny mystery they invoke. The Goodwin Sands are a pair of large sandbanks of the south-east Kent coast which offer both shelter and a dangerous hazard to unwary shipping or those caught in storms, and are the site of great historical importance and maritime archaeology. This podcast project was undertaken as a response to an application to dredge the Goodwin Sands for aggregates and building materials to expand Dover Harbour, a proposition vehemently opposed by local residents and the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust, who have created this podcast series. It is hoped that through hearing the voices of the people connected with the Sands their cultural status might be raised and further industrial interference might be avoided in the future. Credits: Presented and interview conducted by Joanna Thomson, co-founder of the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust. Production, editing, sound design and music by Ben Horner. For more about the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust please see https://goodwinsands.org.uk/, and please see https://theaudiosphere.com for more on our producer.
More from Shipwrecks, Sailors & Lost Souls
Robert Peacock is a recreational diver of some 50 years' experience, 40 of which have been spent studying the Goodwin Sands and its many wrecks of various descriptions. His explorations over and around the Sands inspired him to attain a master's degree in maritime archaeology to better advance his research activities and understand the nature, history and context of the vessels and artefacts discovered. In this podcast he discusses issues around the identification and preservation of HMS Stirling Castle, a 1679 warship lost to the Sands in 1703 and rediscovered in 1979, the German Dornier 17 bomber raised in 2013 after 70 years submerged, and the Seehund midget submarine identified as U5377. This is an interview conducted as part of the Goodwin Sands Oral History Project, a podcast series which speaks with those who have grown up within sight of the Sands, who make their living upon or around them, or who have been creatively inspired by the air of uncanny mystery they invoke. The Goodwin Sands are a pair of large sandbanks of the south-east Kent coast which offer both shelter and a dangerous hazard to unwary shipping or those caught in storms, and are the site of great historical importance and maritime archaeology. This podcast project was undertaken as a response to an application to dredge the Goodwin Sands for aggregates and building materials to expand Dover Harbour, a proposition vehemently opposed by local residents and the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust, who have created this podcast series. It is hoped that through hearing the voices of the people connected with the Sands their cultural status might be raised and further industrial interference might be avoided in the future. Credits: Presented and interview conducted by Joanna Thomson, co-founder of the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust. Production, editing, sound design, and music by Ben Horner. For more about the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust please see https://goodwinsands.org.uk/, and please see https://theaudiosphere.com for more on our producer.
John Nichols is the chairman of Thanet Fisherman's Association, and Vice-Chairman of Kent and Essex Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority. He has spent his life as a commercial fisherman working out of Broadstairs, Ramsgate, Folkestone, Scarborough, and Whitby. Here he talks about his childhood, as he puts it, "making a nuisance of himself" at Ramsgate harbour helping the boatmen moored there, building his own boat as an apprentice shipbuilder in Whitstable, and taking visitors on trips to the North Goodwin Light Vessel and the Goodwin Sands. He also mentions his part in the rescue of the Ross Revenge, Radio Caroline's broadcast ship. This is part one of a two-part interview conducted as part of the Goodwin Sands Oral History Project, a podcast series which speaks with those who have grown up within sight of the Sands, who make their living upon or around them, or who have been creatively inspired by the air of uncanny mystery they invoke. The Goodwin Sands are a pair of large sandbanks of the south-east Kent coast which offer both shelter and a dangerous hazard to unwary shipping or those caught in storms, and are the site of great historical importance and maritime archaeology. This podcast project was undertaken as a response to an application to dredge the Goodwin Sands for aggregates and building materials to expand Dover Harbour, a proposition vehemently opposed by local residents and the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust, who have created this podcast series. It is hoped that through hearing the voices of the people connected with the Sands their cultural status might be raised and further industrial interference might be avoided in the future. Credits: Presented and interview conducted by Joanna Thomson, co-founder of the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust. Production, editing, sound design, and music by Ben Horner. Additional music, "Magnetostriction" by Silicon Transmitter, used under Creative Commons licence. For more about the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust please see https://goodwinsands.org.uk/, and please see https://theaudiosphere.com for more on our producer.
David Skardon is a fisherman and boatman who grew up in Brewer Street in Deal in the 1940s and 50s, son of a fishmonger. As a child he would help the local boat owners wind their boats up to the beach on the winches for a penny and tuppence a week (a good wage given that Wagon Wheels were a ha'penny at the time). David talks about his childhood on Deal beach and how it forged for him a life on the water, how at fourteen he was the youngest ever holder of a boating licence, why his grandfather's boat was seized, sawn in half and turned into two garden sheds, and how in 1978 he borrowed a tractor and outran the police with it in an effort to save the Deal boats from being smashed in a vicious winter storm. This is an interview conducted as part of the Goodwin Sands Oral History Project, a podcast series which speaks with those who have grown up within sight of the Sands, who make their living upon or around them, or who have been creatively inspired by the air of uncanny mystery they invoke. The Goodwin Sands are a pair of large sandbanks of the south-east Kent coast which offer both shelter and a dangerous hazard to unwary shipping or those caught in storms, and are the site of great historical importance and maritime archaeology. This podcast project was undertaken as a response to an application to dredge the Goodwin Sands for aggregates and building materials to expand Dover Harbour, a proposition vehemently opposed by local residents and the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust, who have created this podcast series. It is hoped that through hearing the voices of the people connected with the Sands their cultural status might be raised and further industrial interference might be avoided in the future. Credits: Presented and interview conducted by Joanna Thomson, co-founder of the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust. Production, editing, sound design, and music by Ben Horner. For more about the Goodwin Sands Conservation Trust please see https://goodwinsands.org.uk/, and please see https://theaudiosphere.com for more on our producer.