Seawatching Hide, Filey Brigg – After the storm!
The ‘Old’ hide (or ‘Hut’) before the storm (Peter Dunn)
On the night of Friday 6th December 1990 severe storm force north-easterly winds gusting up to seventy-five miles per hour battered the north-east coast, it was said to be the worst storm to hit Filey for sixty years. Roofs were torn off and dozens of trees crashed down blocking roads. The worst tragedy to occur however, certainly for the members of FBOG was the destruction of the old wooden seawatching hide, the ex-café which had stood at the base of the Brigg since 1941.
Early visitors to the Brigg next day could find no trace whatsoever of the hide or its contents, later that day some planks were found in the bay corner together with one or two photos and copies of ‘British Birds’. It appeared that the exceptionally rough seas, combined with the storm force winds washed the hide off its foundations into the bay, where it was broken up by the incoming tide. This was later confirmed by local fishermen who had seen it floating out into the bay early Saturday morning.
The day after the storm (Ian Robinson)
Minds turned at once to thoughts of a replacement, but it soon became clear that we should be thinking of a more permanent stone structure, build on solid foundations, with less chance of being swept away in a future storm. This, however, would be a more difficult project and certainly much more expensive. Undaunted by these thoughts an early New Year start was made on two fronts, – preliminary drawings and raising money.
The demise of our hide and headquarters was obviously a major disaster for the Group and left us looking for a temporary meeting place during the early part of 1991. The obvious choice was the Country Park Café and we were very pleased when Brian Wade, the proprietor, kindly offered his premises for meetings and the sale of FBOG reports, badges and car stickers. We were even more pleased when Brian managed to sell over 130 copies of our 1990 Bird Report during the summer months.
Brigg Hide appeal (Ian Robinson)
Spurred on by our success at the Dams and now with the full support of both Filey and Scarborough Councils, the Group set about raising £12,000 through sponsorship and grants.
Fund raising events by members with their wives and girlfriends included coffee evenings, bingo sessions, slide shows and raffles. The sale of souvenirs made from wood salvaged from the old hide was a huge success bringing in much needed funds. Generous donations were received from far and wide and the promise of further grant aid gave us the confidence to embark on our most daunting challenge to date – building the finest seawatching hide on the East coast.
After eighteen months of meticulous planning, work finally commenced on 18th May 1992, but as so often happens, the best laid plans can go astray, our plans, we might add, were no different. RAF Leconfield agreed to move the building materials from the Country Park to the Brigg site using their Sea King Rescue helicopter. Lifting weights were expertly calculated and two flying days were allocated to complete the lift. The flights were used as a training exercise with several crews gaining experience of carrying under-slung loads in difficult terrain. The helicopter, piloted by Andy Ball arrived for the first lift with news that they were on rescue stand-by and that they had to carry sufficient fuel to carry out a mission at any time, so consequently after two days of lifting, sixteen tonnes of sand, cement and stone were still sitting on the Country Park. It took another three flying days to complete the lift of over thirty tonnes of materials. All RAF personnel including air and ground crews were superb and we couldn’t thank them enough.
RAF delivering material (Ian Robinson)
Building the new hide (Ian Robinson)
Water was another headache, our local builder Hughie Carroll, has never had to estimate water usage before, because of the availability of running water at all normal building sites. A water tanker was kindly loaned by Yorkshire Water and over 250 gallons (plenty of water the builder said to finishing the project with a little to spare for his dog) were lifted to the Brigg end site, but after two days of mixing concrete for the hide foundation in very warm, sunny weather, the tanker was almost empty. I personally blame the builder’s dog, as it always had its tongue hanging out.
Over thirty tonnes of materials had to be man-handled from the drop area on the Brigg to the hide site. The cement mixer weighing in at almost a tonne had to be dragged by hand up a series of vertical ledges from sea level using ropes and scaffolding planks. It was a very hard struggle and you can imagine the comments, when we discovered the builder had filled the mixer bucket with a load of very heavy engineering bricks intended for the hide base, -and forgot to tell anyone.
It was not all problems, however, once started the building work progressed very well, we were extremely fortunate with the weather, having no measurable rain from the time we laid the base to felting the roof. On 21st June the Sea King returned to carry three loads back to the Country Park including the cement mixer and water bowser, – and that was it, job done!
The hide was officially opened by Mrs. Wendy Hudghton, Filey Town Clerk on 2nd August 1992. Normal service had been resumed.
Ian Robinson
Official opening of the hide (Peter Dunn)
Many thanks to the following contributors to the Brigg Hide Appeal Fund 1991
FBOG Members
Barnsley Bird Club
Filey Town Council
Birdline
Paul D. Goriup
Birdline North-East
D.H Greaves Ltd
Bradford Ornithological Group
K Horner
Diane Burdin
Hull & District Ornithological Group
Stephen E. Chapman
Lindley Plant Ltd
T D. Charlton (RSPB trip)
McCain Food Ltd
T M. Clegg
G & A Moss
Mr Coddington
North Yorkshire Small Projects fund
R J. & N A, Donner
M H. Rowntree
East Yorkshire RSPB Group
Scarborough Borough Council
B Eckersley
Seekings & Wardle Ltd
English Nature
I S. Smith
W Eves & Co. Ltd
Brian Wade