 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.
The Bob Dale Letters
