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Kent wildfowlers early days


bishop
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My old mans very old now.He's been up in Scotland since the early 60's.But before he left to persue keepering/stalking work he was one of the original handful of wildfowlers who met up on some pub to form KWA .It amuses me that i know this all to be true yet for some reason he is not mentioned in any of the historical statements regarding the club.Error or deliberate i could not say.He did say that some doctor and his wife were there etc on the night they all agreed the basics.He was a marsh warden for a while after that but my old man was also a prolific poacher and loved to wander the marshes back then.Im writing this post as id dearly love to get in contact with any of his surviving miscreants.Fred Williams was one i know of.But they were all rogues back then.used to take their guns to the cafe and "hang out" before riding up to the marshes for a day or nights fowling.Anyways Keith Bishop is his name.He was a fanatical duck shooter so im sure someone will remember him.He left Kent in 62-63 i'd guess.If anyone remembers him or can ask their dad if they remember him please get in touch.All he has now are memories and it would be great to get him in touch with his youth before its too late.He was from chatham btw.His haunts included Romney marshes but he wandered the whole coastline round the thames and the medway.This is him and my maw in the early 60's .Near some place called bluebell woods i think

 

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thanks, Allen.

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My old mans very old now.He's been up in Scotland since the early 60's.But before he left to persue keepering/stalking work he was one of the original handful of wildfowlers who met up on some pub to form KWA .It amuses me that i know this all to be true yet for some reason he is not mentioned in any of the historical statements regarding the club.Error or deliberate i could not say.He did say that some doctor and his wife were there etc on the night they all agreed the basics.He was a marsh warden for a while after that but my old man was also a prolific poacher and loved to wander the marshes back then.Im writing this post as id dearly love to get in contact with any of his surviving miscreants.Fred Williams was one i know of.But they were all rogues back then.used to take their guns to the cafe and "hang out" before riding up to the marshes for a day or nights fowling.Anyways Keith Bishop is his name.He was a fanatical duck shooter so im sure someone will remember him.He left Kent in 62-63 i'd guess.If anyone remembers him or can ask their dad if they remember him please get in touch.All he has now are memories and it would be great to get him in touch with his youth before its too late.He was from chatham btw.His haunts included Romney marshes but he wandered the whole coastline round the thames and the medway.This is him and my maw in the early 60's .Near some place called bluebell woods i think

 

31da4adb-dbd4-4c5b-a838-2ffeeca299a0.jpg

thanks, Allen.

hello, reading your post allen takes me back when i tried to do the same for my mum, taking her to places she grew up, finding her old house which i believe is one in singleton open air museum now, visit old friends etc etc, so good luck with the request for your DAD,

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For what it`s worth, I think the "some Doctor and his wife" would have been Doctor Jeffrey Harrison OBE and his wife Pamela. Jeffrey was a leading light in the early struggle to safeguard the future of wildfowling. His wife was the official photographer for WAGBI in the 50`s and 60`s.

 

Sadly, both are now deceased.

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He said to me earlier today there were only 10 members at that time.Nor marshes off of Gillingham he was warden on for a while.

Unfotunatley Nor is now a RSPB reserve and agree with what mudpatten said about Dr Harrison I think sadly most of the original members have passed on to the great marsh in the sky I do however still see Peter Comben who was the membership secretary back in late 1960 perhaps your dad remembers him.

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He was mentioning a Jack gates who used to have a cabin cruiser at Upchurch.Apparently my my dad got in the boat,my grandfather walked out of his wellies trying to get on board and after getting on board his gun went off and shot the oar off!.He said at the time foot and mouth was rife on the fields round the estuary.But that was before the major outbreak in the mid sixties

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  • 1 month later...

For what it`s worth, I think the "some Doctor and his wife" would have been Doctor Jeffrey Harrison OBE and his wife Pamela. Jeffrey was a leading light in the early struggle to safeguard the future of wildfowling. His wife was the official photographer for WAGBI in the 50`s and 60`s.

 

Sadly, both are now deceased.

 

Jeff Harrison had the death many wildfowlers would envy. He died from a heart attack when coming off the marsh after morning flight on 1st September Nineteen Oatcake.

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"Envy" maybe - but poor Jeff was only in his mid-fifties when he died in '78 ; a great and untimely loss for his family and our way of life. He was the Honorary Director for Conservation & Research for WAGBI and John Swift was employed as his paid full-time assistant originally. He was the epitome of the sportsman naturalist and did tremendous work for wildfowling at every level from local to international.

There is an obituary in the third edition of the New Wildfowler (1989). He was one of the editors of the previous editions (1961 and 1970).

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