Incident

[Liam]

As I think some of you already know, I am a member of a boat club on the Bridgewater. Saturday nights are normally pretty quiet but this Saturday was exceptionally quiet. All in all there was only 9 of us in the clubhouse drinking and chatting away.

 

Dave, behind the bar, who had had a boat and had been a member of the club for about 3 of 4 years, who was stepping in for the regular barman, called last orders at about 11.40. As you do, we all ordered another pint each and carried on drinking slowly, and chatting away. We eventually all got up to leave at just after 1am, and was back at the boat shortly after. There were only 2 people left in the clubhouse at the time, Dave being one of them.

 

I have a habit of taking the dog for one last walk before bed and Saturday night was no different. I was out for around 10 minutes and then, after going back to the boat, had a sit down for 20 minutes before having a smoke out of the back hatches. I was in bed after that and reading away for a long while. At about 2.45am I put the book down and had another smoke out of the back hatches before going to sleep.

 

I was woken on Sunday morning at about 9am to panicky voices. I heard the words "is he dead?" and for some reason I automatically thought that our dog, Mac, had been left off the boat earlier by my Dad who was an early riser but was glad to see Mac sleeping soundly on the floor next to me in the back cabin. By this time I was obviously up and pulling my clothes on. At this point my Dad went straight to the engine room to strip off his wet clothes - he was only in his boxer shorts and t-shirt anyway. My mum was on the bank with another member, J, and it was them who told me what had happened....

 

A young couple who were out for an early dog walk together, just before 9am, had spotted a body in the canal and had ran back to a member of the boat club who was feeding the ducks, to tell J. J knew who it was right away and ran back to our boat and shouted for my parents for help. My Dad, still in bed, jumped up and was off the boat in seconds with my Mum not far behind. My Dad, who thought that he had only just fallen in, ran up to see another member, A, trying unsuccessfully with a pole to reach him. Dad lowered himself into the canal and swam over to Dave. At this point he didn't know how long he had been in the water and only thought it was for a few minutes. When he reached him he then found out otherwise and pulled the body to the offside where the boats were moored, it was then A, who found a pole and stuck it in the mud, on the other side of the body, to hold it in place.

 

The younger couple mentioned earlier had phoned 999 on their mobile and it wasn't long before the Police, Fire Service and Ambulance were on the scene, with only the Police left after around an hour. The place was taped off. It really still hadn't sunk in yet and to see "Police line do not cross" and "Crime Scene do not enter" was a real shock. The body wasn't removed from the water for around 2 and a half hours, due to the forensics team etc, and wasn't taken from the moorings until 2.30PM, after the Doctor had visited and the Undertakers had turned up.

 

I have no idea what happened between us leaving the club at just after 1am and 9am on Sunday morning, but, as with most cases such as these, I do have an idea on what happened but I am not going to comment on these here but I will say that I do not think it was in any way suspicious.

[Bones]

Bones lights a candle.

 

May Dave rest in peace and rise in glory, and my thoughts are with you all.

[DHutch]

What a terrible shame. Very sorry to hear it.

[Pie Eater]

R.I.P

 

Steve

[ditch paddler]

Poor man my thoughts go out to all concerned.

[Jason Wilson and Family]

Had he been drinking? I didn't bartenders got to drink on duty.

[Troll]

he`ll be on that narrow boat in the sky now

[Liam]

Jason,

 

Yes he had been drinking. He wasn't the usual bar man, though, but tended to step in, pretty much nearly permanently. It's a private club on the offside of the canal, and no access for Jo public. We very rarely get bothered at all.