A SPOTLIGHT ON LOVE IN LEIGH WOODS

It was a warm autumn evening; it was an Indian Summer evening in the 1960s. The "Dido" was inbound to Bristol from Dublin with a cargo of Guinness, bacon, and other good stuff from Ireland. Captain Norman Llewellyn was in charge and piloting, and I was Chief Officer and steering the vessel into the approaches to the wharf just upstream from the Clifton Suspension Bridge. The Captain put on the overhead searchlight to show up the wharf that was obscured by the lights of the Portway Road below Clifton. [If you visit Bristol then it is the wharf with the bust of Samuel Plimsoll MP, the parliamentarian who introduced load lines to ships.] The picture shows this final approach to Bristol City Docks.

I had the ship on course and so the Captain pushed the light handle to swing the light to starboard [right hand] so that the bright beam hit Leigh Woods on the Somerset bank of the Avon. This was to stop blinding any cars on the road.

It was unbelievable! The spotlight completely hit dead-centre a couple in what may best be called a compromising position; let us say they were in love. Norman could not resist it, he reached up and gave a loud blast on the ship's whistle that echoed through the Gorge. The lad ignored us but the lass put her face from his shoulder and with a wide happy grin waved back at us! Absolutely Amazing! We both laughed, and to be fair, the Captain immediately tipped the light down to river bank to give them privacy.
Another day in the life of a seafarer to be remembered with a smile.

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