Spotlight On...

JOHN BARKER

Credited by the author of the History Of Sutton Bridge (available on this site) as being of great help in correcting assertions made on the operation of the Bridge, John, 85, has lived in the Bridge for his entire life. His father was a Horseman working for local farmers and spent his childhood living in rented houses which came with his father’s job. To this day, many villagers know John through not only his interest in the history of the area and the jobs he has done during his working life, but also as a one time Governor of Westmere School and as “Santa” for the school and for the local Scouts troop/

As was the accepted practice at the time, John worked in a local Grocery shop (Mac Portass) mainly as an errand boy but also helping out in the shop, to help contribute to his family’s income and on leaving school, it was his ambition to find employment with the Timber Yard, as he had shown an aptitude for working with wood, or as an alternative, wanted to work on the Railway. One day, he went to see Mr Robinson who was the Foreman in the Joinery section to seek employment. He knew many of the men who were employed in the yard as John’s sister had worked making ammunition boxes there during the war and they told him that unfortunately, the foreman was not in that day and suggested John come back the following day.

Taking this as a sign, John went to the local, Sutton Bridge, Railway Station which at the time was located opposite where the swing bridge is now and where his brother-in-law worked as the Foreman so he was soon sent for a medical examination at Cambridge. The following day, Mr Robinson sent word to John that he would be glad to have him in the Timber Yard but John replied that it was too late, he was already going to work for the railway as a Lad Porter!

John started his working life at Terrington Station but after 6 months of this, there was a vacancy at Sutton Bridge Station as the man who held that position had gone away on National Service. His first period of working at the Bridge Station was short lived as John himself went to do his National Service from 1955 to 1957 serving in Malaya in the Lincolnshire Regiment.

Jobs were guaranteed to be held open for those serving their country so when John returned, Sutton Bridge Railway Station was waiting for him and soon afterwards, he was promoted to “Shunter” which he did until 1959. The passenger service from the Bridge closed on the 28^th. February 1959 leaving a Goods Spur from the Bridge to Spalding with 2 goods trains running each day as with the flower and fruit traffic, this level of service was viable. Everything that was brought into the stations at Sutton Bridge, Long Sutton, Gedney, Fleet, Moulton, Whaplode, Weston and Spalding was transported, as in those days, the railways were used in preference to road transport but this gradually changed and road haulage took over with the railway’s local goods service finally closing in April 1965

As John’s role diminished, he was sent off to act as a relief in various other local stations and crossing points such as Deeping, Boston, Algekirk, Kirton, Spalding and Bourne and in 1961, John applied for a job as a Relief-man on the swing bridge, a post he held until the closure of the Bridge Station in 1965. The poor full-time operator of the Bridge had been asked to delay his retirement until John was free to replace him as the railway were reluctant to let John go until the final closure of the local station at which point, he could devote all his time to the working of the Bridge. In May 1967, the Department of Transport came to an arrangement with Lincolnshire County Council to take over responsibility for the Bridge so at that point, John and his colleagues became “Council Workers”.

In those days, there were 3 Bridge Operators and a Fitter. The Fitter worked 5 days a week from 8.00 until 5.00 and one Sunday a month with the task of keeping the bridge working no matter what! The 3 Operators had, between them, to man the Bridge 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and as the Operators were permitted 2 weeks holiday a year and a further 7 days in lieu of Bank Holidays and the like, and with absences due to sickness, it was not unusual for them to have to work 12 hour shifts to cover for each other. Fortunately, John had a very patient wife, Joan, who had to put up with the long hours he put in at Bridge and who he will be married to for 60 years on 31st March 2022, all being well.

There was no radio communication with shipping whatsoever in those days so the Operators were required to look out for (or at times of fog, listen out for) anything on the water which would require the Bridge to be opened and to open it in good time to allow passage. This was quite a responsibility as in those days, with 2 tides a day and upwards of 850 ships a year going into and out of the Port, small fishing boats plying their trade and Petrol Tankers going to and from Wisbech, the Bridge and it’s operators worked hard! For some reason, the Tankers seemed to be captained by Scotsmen so it could be guaranteed that on Christmas Day, there would always be one through as the men were keen to be home for Hogmanay – far more important than Christmas to those from north of  Hadrian’s Wall!

This heavy shipping traffic produced no financial benefit to the owners of the Bridge as an act of Parliament had decreed that Shipping had priority, the railway was next in line and road and foot traffic (including Drovers taking cattle and Geese and other livestock to and from Norfolk) a poor third so there could be no change for opening the Bridge. Vehicles however were charged a toll and the Bridge Keeper’s Cottage that still sits by the Bridge today was originally occupied by the people who would charge the tolls to cars, horses and carts and foot traffic wanting to cross, until 1903 when it became free from tolls. The current Bridge, the third to be built, was originally designed to allow for road traffic on the seaward side and rail usage on the Wisbech side.

The Bridge was refurbished in 1989, following which, the Fitter left. John had often worked with him so had a good understanding of the mechanics of its operation and because of that, he was made Senior Operator. Until this point, the Bridge had worked on water pressure (750 psi or pounds per square inch) but the refurbishment changed its operation to an Oil Hydraulic system. John is quite happy to explain in great detail how both systems work and the differences in operation between them but this could be difficult to follow unless you have a sound understanding of engineering principles so no further explanation will be offered here. Suffice to say that one of the reasons for the change to oil was because two years previously, a part of the system broke which meant that two men had to operate a manual jacking system whist the duty operator worked the controls for it to be able to operate!

At the time of (essential) refurbishment, an argument raged between those who wanted to completely replace the Bridge with something more “modern” and those interested in preserving the old one for historical value but the conclusion was foregone when it was brought to light that the Bridge had a Grade 2 Preservation Order on it, which is equivalent to Windsor Castle, and that is why the Bridge still remains to this day. Just prior to the refurbishment of the Bridge, an official of the Department of Transport came to inspect it and decide if a new one should be built, keeping the old as a secondary means of crossing or to keep it as the sole means. During that visit, he told John that he had made his mind up but refused to explain further, saying John would have to wait and see!

It was subsequently found that the official had decided to incorporate the Bridge into the bypass as opposed to trying to build a fly-over as to build a reasonable approach to a fly-over would have required lengthy access on both sides and the fear of the issues caused by high winds, likely in the area, at the top of any such fly-over was the final deciding factor.

Work is soon to be undertaken to repaint the Bridge again but John recalls a time when the whole thing had to be sand-blasted and the several layers of old lead paint carefully bagged and taken away. With this removed, strange numbers were revealed and John’s investigations at the time showed that the Bridge had been originally constructed in Derbyshire in pieces and transported to Sutton Bridge where the numbers helped identify which piece was supposed to go where, a bit like a Lego puzzle.

John ceased his employment at the Bridge in 2001 but was frequently called upon to “help out” by covering for holidays and the like of the employed operators but eventually decided he had had enough when he realised he was almost invariably being asked to do night shifts! Despite his retirement, he kept his association going with the now private owners of the Bridge Keepers Cottage whom he helped with the annual Sutton Bridge Galas, much loved by the residents and others from far and wide but these eventually had to stop as the insurance premiums that had to be paid in order to run the events became prohibitively high.

Still not fully escaping his association with the Bridge, the Council regularly asked John to go back when they had open weekends for visitors to look over the Bridge and its operation as there was no one more knowledgeable on the subject than him. This was not a hardship for John who thoroughly enjoyed showing off “his” Bridge and he often put shows on in the Bridge Hotel showing how it all worked. Sadly, most of the current staff have no interest in showing the Bridge to the public so there is no opportunity to look round this fascinating structure anymore which John finds sad as in his day, people would queue for ages to have their turn to be shown round. That said, John believes that one of the operators, a man called Bob Baker, is now trying to get the Council to allow him to start to do open days again. No doubt Bob would appreciate it if any reader who would like to see around the old and new workings of the Bridge were to contact Lincolnshire County Council asking for open days to be restarted?

John Barker has always had an interest in local history and the huge amount of time he spent at the Bridge in his younger days, in between operating it to allow shipping through, was spent devoted to this interest. With his phenomenal collection of local memorabilia, old photographs and documents and the like, he contributes regularly to the Facebook sites “Tales of the Riverbank” (https://www.facebook.com/groups/579834052515649) which also publishes the booked times that the Bridge will be open and “Bygone Sutton Bridge” (https://www.facebook.com/groups/Brooksy) and he is more than happy for people to copy anything he has so that it is all preserved for future generations.

Although the village of Sutton Bridge only really existed from the 1730’s, much has happened in the area and John bemoans the fact that so much of local interest is stored in Wisbech, Spalding and other, even further-flung locations, including Australia, as well as in the ownership of people like him and wishes that a Museum had been created through the years where this local treasure could be stored and viewed by those interested. John mentions Australia as he has a Diary written by an Emily which speaks of the many who set sail for the land down under from Sutton Bridge and the records and reminiscences they kept on arrival there.

2022 marks the 125^th. Anniversary of the Bridge so maybe it will be possible to commemorate that in with any celebration on the Jubilee? One thing is for sure, John Barker, this fascinating, life-long resident of Sutton Bridge will, I am sure, be more than happy to contribute his knowledge and display his memorabilia for the interest and pleasure of its current residents.