Keith Speer
Senior Member
Like many members I have been keeping a keen eye open as events unfold regarding Steve Stringer, I hope this will end well, but time is passing and things look very bleak at the moment.
We all take risks when we fish, being alone on a river at night in inclement weather is perhaps not a rational act, but we love our sport and as such take these risks as part and parcel of what we do.
This is the story of a tragedy that affected me and is a lesson that all could benefit from.
On the 6th August 2003 I was woken at 5am when the bedside phone rang, the call was from the Police “Victim Support Unit†asking me to attend Windsor Racecourse, the caller said that my father who I knew to be fishing there, was “alright†but could I please come and collect him?
They would give no other information on the telephone!
When I arrived an hour later I found my father visibly shaken, he told me of events that happened in the night.
My friend Stan King was fishing the next peg up from my father, their intention was to fish all night, Stan was fishing with 2 new rods and reels, one of the reels I had bought for him as the tackle shop close to my work had one in stock and Stan could not find a shop that had a pair for him to buy.
It had been a warm evening, but as is often the case in August as the night wore on the temperature started to drop, at about 3am Stan had been down to see my father and had said he was going to put his “big coat†on as it had “gotten chillyâ€!
About half an hour later my dad heard Stan call out:-
“John I’ve gone in!â€.
My father was 82 at the time and quite un-able to rush up the bank, he did however see Stan in the river, dad called out:-
“Stan, swim toward my light!
He then saw Stan go under, he did not come up!
Unfortunately Stan had not been seen since that moment, the Police would not let me visit the scene at that time as they were waiting for a dive team so after I gave all the details I could of Stan’s near relatives (he was un-married and lived alone), I packed my dads gear and took him home to my house in St Albans, when I got home, I got a call again from the Police telling me that a body has been recovered from the river and could I go back for identification purposes.
Again I drove back to Windsor, where I was taken to a body covered with a plastic sheet, when they removed the cover I identified the body as being Stan King, a close friend of over 30 years!
I broke down and cried!
When I had recovered myself I had a good look at Stan, I noticed that there was a hook embedded in Stan’s moleskin trousers, Stan was a very particular man and would never have left a hook in the cloth, but would have taken the time to remove it without tearing the cloth.
I also noticed that his Derry boots and coat were missing, and the diver’s confirmed that a pair of boots and a coat had been recovered from the river.
I asked where they had recovered Stan from and was told that he had caught up on the bottom about 6-8 yards down from his seat on the inside line of the river .
I asked the diver’s where Stan’s tackle was, and was told that one rod was recovered from the river where it seemed that a small (about 3.5lb from the diver’s description) Barbel had dragged the rod in.
Stan’s other rod was just laying on the ground, I asked if it had been moved and the Police said it had been caught up in the Alder bushes beside his swim when they arrived, in fact one of the Police Officers had retrieved the rod which had been hooked on to “the bottomâ€, the Police officer had “pulled for the line to break†and laid the rod where I found it.
I reflected upon this many times before the inquest, when at the inquest I put forward the following theory of events to East Berkshire coroner Peter Bedford.
I theorised that Stan had put on his coat when he returned to his swim, it was late and Stan would have been warm and I thought he may well have fallen asleep or been dozing when his left hand upstream rod pulled round and bounced into the river, I suspect Stan went for his rod and took a step too far onto the gravel slope which was under water, the gravel gave way and Stan would have slipped into the river.
For reasons known only to Stan he then decided to remove his boots and coat, something that is difficult to do on the bank, but made more difficult when in the river.
He then swam downstream toward my fathers light and in doing so swam through the line of his second and right hand rod, in doing so embedded the hook in the shin area of his trousers.
Stan would then be trying to swim while attached to a rod which would have been caught by the reel in a Alder bush, the line was 12lb breaking strain.
I surmised that Stan had used so much energy removing his boots that he no longer had the strength to break the line and thus had finally been dragged under and drowned.
In fact the line had not been caught on the bottom, but had in fact been hooked into Stan’s trousers when the Police pulled for a break!
Peter Bedford stated that my theory of events was probably as close as we would ever get and recorded a verdict of accidental death.
My father was very badly affected by this tragedy, afterwards he went downhill and was never the same again, he died within 5 months!
The main lesson we should take from this is that IF you ever enter the water, you must consider yourself to be similar to a battery; you have a FINITE amount of energy, do not waste any of this energy doing things that are un-necessary like removing boots or coat, you can swim in boots, you can swim in a coat, you can even swim in chest waders, better still if you find yourself in a river, position yourself feet downstream and simply “scull†with your arms with the current, find the nearest easy spot on the near bank and use you energy to pull yourself out.
When you are in difficulty in a river, don’t waste energy, save all you can for saving your life.
Years ago I had to demonstrate how to save yourself while wearing chest waders, having fallen in the river (I think it was the Eden), I simply pointed my feet downstream, sculled down to a beach and once there rolled out of the river, lay on my back, pointed my feet at the sky to clear the water from the waders and stood up, Stan was there at the time, I just wished he had remembered what to do.
I still miss them both!
We all take risks when we fish, being alone on a river at night in inclement weather is perhaps not a rational act, but we love our sport and as such take these risks as part and parcel of what we do.
This is the story of a tragedy that affected me and is a lesson that all could benefit from.
On the 6th August 2003 I was woken at 5am when the bedside phone rang, the call was from the Police “Victim Support Unit†asking me to attend Windsor Racecourse, the caller said that my father who I knew to be fishing there, was “alright†but could I please come and collect him?
They would give no other information on the telephone!
When I arrived an hour later I found my father visibly shaken, he told me of events that happened in the night.
My friend Stan King was fishing the next peg up from my father, their intention was to fish all night, Stan was fishing with 2 new rods and reels, one of the reels I had bought for him as the tackle shop close to my work had one in stock and Stan could not find a shop that had a pair for him to buy.
It had been a warm evening, but as is often the case in August as the night wore on the temperature started to drop, at about 3am Stan had been down to see my father and had said he was going to put his “big coat†on as it had “gotten chillyâ€!
About half an hour later my dad heard Stan call out:-
“John I’ve gone in!â€.
My father was 82 at the time and quite un-able to rush up the bank, he did however see Stan in the river, dad called out:-
“Stan, swim toward my light!
He then saw Stan go under, he did not come up!
Unfortunately Stan had not been seen since that moment, the Police would not let me visit the scene at that time as they were waiting for a dive team so after I gave all the details I could of Stan’s near relatives (he was un-married and lived alone), I packed my dads gear and took him home to my house in St Albans, when I got home, I got a call again from the Police telling me that a body has been recovered from the river and could I go back for identification purposes.
Again I drove back to Windsor, where I was taken to a body covered with a plastic sheet, when they removed the cover I identified the body as being Stan King, a close friend of over 30 years!
I broke down and cried!
When I had recovered myself I had a good look at Stan, I noticed that there was a hook embedded in Stan’s moleskin trousers, Stan was a very particular man and would never have left a hook in the cloth, but would have taken the time to remove it without tearing the cloth.
I also noticed that his Derry boots and coat were missing, and the diver’s confirmed that a pair of boots and a coat had been recovered from the river.
I asked where they had recovered Stan from and was told that he had caught up on the bottom about 6-8 yards down from his seat on the inside line of the river .
I asked the diver’s where Stan’s tackle was, and was told that one rod was recovered from the river where it seemed that a small (about 3.5lb from the diver’s description) Barbel had dragged the rod in.
Stan’s other rod was just laying on the ground, I asked if it had been moved and the Police said it had been caught up in the Alder bushes beside his swim when they arrived, in fact one of the Police Officers had retrieved the rod which had been hooked on to “the bottomâ€, the Police officer had “pulled for the line to break†and laid the rod where I found it.
I reflected upon this many times before the inquest, when at the inquest I put forward the following theory of events to East Berkshire coroner Peter Bedford.
I theorised that Stan had put on his coat when he returned to his swim, it was late and Stan would have been warm and I thought he may well have fallen asleep or been dozing when his left hand upstream rod pulled round and bounced into the river, I suspect Stan went for his rod and took a step too far onto the gravel slope which was under water, the gravel gave way and Stan would have slipped into the river.
For reasons known only to Stan he then decided to remove his boots and coat, something that is difficult to do on the bank, but made more difficult when in the river.
He then swam downstream toward my fathers light and in doing so swam through the line of his second and right hand rod, in doing so embedded the hook in the shin area of his trousers.
Stan would then be trying to swim while attached to a rod which would have been caught by the reel in a Alder bush, the line was 12lb breaking strain.
I surmised that Stan had used so much energy removing his boots that he no longer had the strength to break the line and thus had finally been dragged under and drowned.
In fact the line had not been caught on the bottom, but had in fact been hooked into Stan’s trousers when the Police pulled for a break!
Peter Bedford stated that my theory of events was probably as close as we would ever get and recorded a verdict of accidental death.
My father was very badly affected by this tragedy, afterwards he went downhill and was never the same again, he died within 5 months!
The main lesson we should take from this is that IF you ever enter the water, you must consider yourself to be similar to a battery; you have a FINITE amount of energy, do not waste any of this energy doing things that are un-necessary like removing boots or coat, you can swim in boots, you can swim in a coat, you can even swim in chest waders, better still if you find yourself in a river, position yourself feet downstream and simply “scull†with your arms with the current, find the nearest easy spot on the near bank and use you energy to pull yourself out.
When you are in difficulty in a river, don’t waste energy, save all you can for saving your life.
Years ago I had to demonstrate how to save yourself while wearing chest waders, having fallen in the river (I think it was the Eden), I simply pointed my feet downstream, sculled down to a beach and once there rolled out of the river, lay on my back, pointed my feet at the sky to clear the water from the waders and stood up, Stan was there at the time, I just wished he had remembered what to do.
I still miss them both!
