Description
SEA, SALT & SOLITUDE
CHRIS HEWITT & DEBORAH RICHARDS
A FUNDRAISER FOR THE FISHERMAN’S MISSION 2018
SUMMARY
The Fishermen’s Mission is a small national charity providing support and short term welfare payments to fishermen and their families in ports and coves around the country. Fishing is the most dangerous peacetime activity: 100 lives have been lost at sea in the last 10 years. The Mission supports with small payments towards rent or mortgages or meeting small needs, as fishermen cannot qualify for the benefit system. The aim is to keep hearth, home and family together following an accident or death at sea, helping to get fishermen back on their feet and working again. It also works in conjunction with the NHS providing dockside access to medical and dental services and help fishing families and communities stay in touch. They provide dignified and personalised support to those in desperate need.
Following the huge success of Salt of the Earth, about the fishing community in Newlyn which raised £40K or so in 2014. Julian Waring (Fundraising Manager for the Fishermen’s Mission in the South West) wanted to repeat the idea in different ports. Moving North to Newquay, Padstow, Rock and Port Isaac this project would be similar to but not slavishly like the Newlyn book.
Photography was done on location, at harbours and in boats in a range of weather conditions. The backgrounds giving as much as the individuals: fish cellars in Port Isaac on a miserable wet March day, Newquay harbour portraying a challenge to the surfing stereo type and shots of individuals as working pictures rather than studio portraits. Individuals talking or laughing together, relaxed, human and varied, straight down the lens and comfortable. Some are magnificently creative, some bleak, others raise a smile. Chris’s photographs tell a story alone, all in black and white.
Narratives have been written from ‘interviews’ this time. The aim being to give direct voice to their stories. Large amounts (95% or so) are formed from exact quotes taped while talking to people, only re-configured to make them readable. Thus meeting Deborah’s wish to create a record of people involved in fishing today. A type of oral history. The interviews were intended to be like conversations over a pint in the pub or over a coffee at lunch. Each worked from between five and ten minutes recording. Some refused some were reluctant, fearful of ‘getting it wrong’. Some astonishing short stories are recorded while others could have filled whole books.
Across the four ports themes have appeared; rather than repeat the same words, different aspects have been chosen to weave into a whole. The thread is the same, but different tones and shades of the same colours are included. This gives the reader a sense of the complexities in these communities and how much individuals work to preserve their traditions and community spirit.
For further information about the Charity that this book supports, please visit www.fishermensmission.org.uk
Each purchase helps support fishermen, women, and their families across the UK; through everything from mental health problems, bereavement, and financial stress.
