Five years on

[andrewirvine]

Was it mentioned anywhere yesterday that it was 5 years (already) since the cockle pickers died at Hest Bank, or as the media like to narrow down to, as 'Morecambe Bay'.

[kidstypike]

Feb 6, 2009 9:41:29 GMT andrewirvine said:

Was it mentioned anywhere yesterday that it was 5 years (already) since the cockle pickers died at Hest Bank, or as the media like to narrow down to, as 'Morecambe Bay'.

It was on all the NW Regional TV & Radio programmes and also in The Visitor Andrew.

Dave

[WillowTheWhisp]

I doesn't seem that long ago. Hopefully nothing like that will ever happen again and the tragedy will not be forgotten.

[andrewirvine]

I read it in the Visitor just now, online, and didn't see the news last night. I can from here see Granada Reports, or Granada in general through the 'Add Channels' feature on Sky Digital. The BBC's are already in, but the ITV's from other area's have to be put in manually. I live in Irvine, which is about 30 miles south of Glasgow, and having Sky helps me keep tabs on the north west of England. Plus I can't abide 'Scotland Today' all that much.

[lifeboat1721]

Time sure goes fast, I even got a phone call last night from my cousin she had seen it on the news and she is in Newhaven Sussex.

Ian

[accykeef]

What a strange night that was. We live only a mile away from where it happened and we knew nothing about it until the following morning.

Morecambe Bay is such a beautiful place and for something tragic like that to happen, it had to be down mankind not appreciating the awesome power of nature. We have these disasters to remind us of just how insignificant we are.

[WillowTheWhisp]

Weren't the people in charge aware of the danger but the poor individual cocklers had no idea?

I remembr being told tales when I was younger of a stagecoach and horses being lost under the quicksand. I think it was a case of drumming into me not to go a wandering out on the sands no matter how safe and solid it looked.

[accykeef]

The stage coach story is true as are many other stories of danger out on the sands. I would have thought that narrow wooden wheels were the most inappropriate type of whell to be on soft sand with regard to spreading the load across the surface area.

Willow - Have you done the walk across the sands?
(The proper one, Hest Bank to Grange-over-Sands not the baby Arnside one.)

[WillowTheWhisp]

No, I've never done that longer walk. Have you? I've often thought I would like to.

[lifeboat1721]

There is one good thing that came out of it, We got to KEEP the Hovercraft, it was only here on trials when the incident happened..

[accykeef]

We did the Hest Bank to Grange-over-Sands walk in 2001. It was a fantastic day, good weather and god conditions. I am not sure whether it can be done these days as the rivers have moved since then. Some pics of our crossing are here if you want a look.

www.studiosoft.co.uk/studiosoft.cgi?call=moretoursel&man=138&startpic=1&sex=Sea

[trevnhil]

The Cross Bay Walks for 2009 are here... www.jmhconsulting.co.uk/Morecambe_Bay.htm

Some are booked up already.

Trev..

[odom]

When the tragedy happened I read about it in The New York papers. My son reads them all the time on line. I was very annoyed at the writer as he trashed Morecambe as a town that was long gone with it's Glory days BUT he continued to make out as if the whole area was in some way to blame the way it read. I send a letter to him several months later to tell him he needed to visit the superb area for the walks and views. Never heard anything back. Should have sent him Daves website. Jean in Florida