That’s me with 1963 snowman says the Quay’s Jill (April, 2009)


                          

The picture of Exmouth’s biggest ever snowman in the last Quay News evoked fond memories for Pennant House apartment owner Jill Mansergh. She was a nine-year-old at the time of the big snowfall in 1963 and has provided us with this treasured family snap of her with brother Andy and father Richard Weeks in front of the giant, which had been constructed in the Strand Gardens. Her mother Jane took the photograph. “The snowfall seemed to go on for ages, but it was fun and we did plenty of tobogganing,” said Jill. “The Strand snowman was enormous. We didn’t build any of it, but the harbourmaster Keith Graham knows a man who did!” (Keith confirmed to Quay News that a young Peter Hockings, who became a local river pilot, started the whole thing off with his mates). Jill said there was a day when her father, a commercial traveller, couldn’t go far out of town in the snow, so he decided to visit a customer in Lympstone and pulled her and Andy with him on a sledge. The family had lived in Hulham Road before moving to a chalet at 52 Shelly Road, which was sited very close to Jill’s current Pennant House apartment block. They eventually moved to Manchester, but always returned to the chalets for holidays. She said she loved to sail in the estuary and learned to swim in a lagon near the  sailing club, which is now just a stream. Jill lectures at Bath Spa University.  

 “There was stormy weather and he looked exhausted,” said Alec. “Eventually he waddled off like a duck along the walkway down to the docks basin".

There were several wildlife visitors to the Quay in 2008 and Andy Buchan spotted a pheasant at his Cutters Wharf home. “After strolling around in my garage for a time, he sat on a fence and then flew off to the docks", he said.


                                            

This squirrel appeared in Alec Huett’s back garden and presumably it is the same one that  was seen at bird feeders outside Windward Court - far away from the nearest tree!

                                                          


A black swan was seen moving gracefully around the boats in the marina. As Quay News reported last January, the black swan had fled from Dawlish after being scared off by an angry nesting swan. He was eventually recaptured in the river off Cockwood and returned home.


                        


It is reported that in recent years a badger and a fox have also been seen at the Quay.