ALAN WHALLEY'S WORLD

FOR more than 30 years Alan Winstanley agonised over the identity of a modest hero who had rescued him from drowning during his teens.

Then, to his astonishment, he discovered that the man who had plucked him from Carr Mill Dam was actually working alongside him! They were then employed on fork-lift trucks at the Pilkington Cowley Hill works.

All of this came flooding back for Alan, of Stafford Road, Toll Bar, when he attended the funeral of his rescuer, Bob Owen, from Billinge.

And now, he shares his remarkable story with us...

It all happened in the summer of 1950. Alan got into difficulties while swimming across the dam and began to drown.

"Bob and his wife were having a picnic by the side of the lake when he heard cries for help. Quickly stripping off his top clothes he plunged in and managed to pull me out.

"Then he pumped all the water out of me, plus my dinner! Bob's wife said I must have had a big meal with all that came out."

For years after that, Alan had thought that his rescuer was a policeman. This was because his parents had always referred to him as Bobby Owen after visiting the modest hero's Billinge home to thank him for saving their son's life.

Explains Alan: "When I was a kid, bobby meant police officer.

"I never saw Bob Owen again until about 15 years ago - a gap of 33 years - when I got into conversation with a workmate at Cowley Hill."

Alan had mentioned his brush with death at the dam when he was just 17.

And he added that his rescuer had been a policeman living opposite the Brown Cow pub at Billinge.

His colleague, born and bred in Billinge, argued that no police officer had ever lived facing that pub, and added that the only good swimmer he knew from those parts was a fellow called Bob Owen.

This helped unlock the secret.

For, by an incredible coincidence, Alan was working on the same shift as a man with that name. So he ventured over to ask if he'd ever pulled off a rescue at Carr Mill Dam.

Bob replied: "Yes, but you're going back a bit . . . to the 1950s."

Alan then asked: "Have you ever seen that lad since then?"

"No," replied Bob, "but his mother and father came to see me, to thank me for saving their son's life."

Then to Bob's amazement, Alan revealed that he had been that rescued lad.

What made it even harder to take in was that the pair had been working together for quite some time without the subject ever being raised. Alan was invited home to be introduced to Bob's wife and shown a framed certificate that had been presented to him by Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society for pulling off that gallant rescue.

He was also shown a set of yellowing newspaper clippings reporting the dam drama.

Says Alan: "I am sorry to say that Bob passed away a few weeks ago, and I attended his funeral.

"He was a real gentleman and I'd like him to be remembered for his heroism in risking his life to save me."

The dam rescue attracted front-page attention at the time and still makes interesting reading almost half a century later.

Bob was then a 27-year-old coal cutter. Alan, just 10 years his junior, was employed at Thatto Heath railway station and lived in Emily Street.

During the certificate presentation, in St Helens Magistrates Court, Supt. Jim Ball explained how Alan and a teenaged friend, Albert Cowley, were attempting to swim the 180-yard stretch from the Hollin Hey side of the dam to the old boathouse on the opposite shore.

Three-quarters across, and in 20ft depth of water, Alan Winstanley got into difficulties and sank. His friend tried to help but was too exhausted to do anything apart from shouting for help.

"Mr Owen divested himself of part of his clothing,"said Supt. Ball. "He swam about 50 yards to where Winstanley was struggling and grabbed hold of him.

"Mr Owen had difficulty, because Winstanley was panicky, but he succeeded in bringing the youth to the bank where, without assistance, he rendered artificial respiration."

The young victim was rushed to hospital to recover from his ordeal, never to realise who his rescuer was . . . until that chance conversation on the factory floor.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.