Robert Dale There must be many ways of making your mark on the world that we all so briefly pass through. Some are born to greatness, whilst others spend their lives in selfless service to the community and are often rewarded with a lasting memorial. Others go through life just surviving, as they bring up their children and bestow on them a way of life which thus continues when they are gone. They seek no other reward. Bob Dale was such a man. A fisherman for most of his life, but also for a while a Metropolitan policeman. He lived through two floods, two world wars, the decimation of his industry and so much more during his life in Whitstable. So, what legacy did this unassuming man leave us which should be recognised? Quite simply, he wrote about his experiences. Not in a book for that would have been too grandiose, but in his latter years to the local newspaper, the Whitstable Times.

In doing so he left us with a personal insight to life in the town during those years, written from the heart and from first hand experience. In bridging the years he brings out the character of the Native in a way that paints the picture so much more succinctly that recorded facts could ever do.

Now being published here for a world-wide audience, Bob's letters have something for everyone who has ever lived in the town or is descended from the town. Delight in them and honour the man who was proud to be a Native and a fisherman.

5342 Warmer Weather Would Help Oysters. Bob writes about the scarcity of the Native oyster since 1921 and why he thinks that the current fine weather may lead to the recovery of the stocks.

5751 Watching the bombs go by. Life was tough in the North Sea during WW1, especially 3,000 ft up in a spotter balloon. Bob tells how his skills and guardian angel saw him through the war.

5753  Swalecliffe slaves! The reason why oyster brood 'lifted' from the Faversham beds produced a new bed at Swalecliffe, but the oysters were almost impossible to dredge.

5754 Hardy Whelk... The local whelks and how fishermen with new techniques from Sheringham, Norfolk, with family names of Cox, West, Green, Johnson, Bishop and Able became integrated into the Whitstable families.

5758 The day of the flood. Men rowed boats down the High Street in 1897, the Fisherman's working clothes and the cost of kitting out a youngster in them.

5760 Perfect Pilot. 'Whitstable did have its fair share of men a little above the average.' Bob recalls the skill of Jack Dunn, the pilot who manouvered the sailing ships in and out of the harbour.

5761 Ship that wouldn't sink... Salvaging pianos, and John Warner, who's faith in his boat, the Stormy Petrel, was almost too much.

5764 Hazards of oyster fishing. Bob describes the hard worked he entailed as a young dredgerman and the various forms of sea creatures he commonly came across.

5767 The day of the 'Wets.' Writing in 1975, Bob explains that the current level of abusive behavior at football matches was nothing new, remembering a local football game played on th Salts in the early 1900's.

5768 Time to revive the goal runners. Bob's letter about the Goal Runner teams of the past woke brought some old pictures and names to light.

There are many other letters from Bob that we haven't yet traced or transcribed. As we do they will appear on this index.