ARCHIVE: Part One

IN THE BEGINNING...

THE BIRTH OF AN ENVIRONMENTALIST

PETE PERRY was born in Benfleet, Essex UK on 30th 

June 1937 in the middle of the depression.

Pete hung on in the womb for ten months before being

born, and who could blame him?

Earlier, in December 1936, there was a constitutional

crisis,

when King Edward Vlll abdicated for the love of his life. His brother, King George Vl

succeeded him, his coronation taking place on 12th May 1937.

Pete then decided things were safe enough in the world to be born on 30th June 1937, after complications.

Remember, this was before the advent of The NHS, and Pete's father could only afford enough insurance to cover a visit by a doctor. He could not afford the fees for a hospital admission, so Pete was born in a small bungalow in Bread-and-Cheese Hill in Benfleet, Essex.

His mother Doris (pictured below) had been starving herself in order to feed her two daughters, Patricia and Eileen, as The country was in recession, and Pete's father, a master carpenter by trade, was struggling to make ends meet. He even had to reluctantly ask his landlady if he could defer the rent for a week, so that he could buy some wood, to make a set of ladders, and start up a window cleaning business in nearby Southend. (Frank Henry Perry was a very proud man!)

The last thing they needed was another mouth to feed, but Pete (and, as it turned out, a twin) was unplanned (condoms were not very reliable in those days) so Pete's mother attempted her own abortion with slippery elm and castor oil (old wives tales) neither of which worked.

As I said, his mother was very weak, and as a result, she fell dowstairs causing a miscarriage!

Then came the shock news that she had been carrying TWINS, and that one of the twins perished, whilst Pete clung on, against all the odds.

This trauma caused Pete to hibernate in the womb for a further four weeks, so that, by the time he was born, at ten months'he weighed in a TEN POUNDS!

As we said, pete's mother, a small woamn anyway, weighed only SIX STONE, so that giving birth to a ten pound baby was far from easy.

The doctor and midwife (a voluntary charitable service that didn't cost anything) fought to save his mother, as she was bleeding profusely, and dumped the infant Pete on to a nearby armchair.

Fortunately, Pete's aunt, Amy Card, (pictured above with Pete's Uncle Herbert) who lived in the next bunglaow, was waiting outside the bedroom door, and, hearing all the commotion, rushed in to see Baby Pete shivering, naked, and going blue in the chair.

Amy grabbed him and held her tight to her, wrapping him in a spare blanket.

AGAINST ALL THE ODDS, BOTH PETE AND HIS MOTHER SURVIVED!

* * * * * * *

Due to war being declared on 1ist September 1939, Pete's father was called up to his old regiment, The Seaforth Highlanders.

Pete's dad Frank was stationed at

Fort George, in the Highlands of Scotland, so as soon as war broke out, Pete, his mum and two sisters were sent to Fort George, where they lived in Married Quarters inFort george itself,

 In married Quarters.

The picture above shows Pete with his Aunty Ethel, on the beach at Lossiemouth.

Below, is the Married Quarters where Pete and his family lived, and a Red squirrel, which Pete often encountered in the woodlands nearby

Here, Pete learned to love the wildlife that abounded in

the Highlands, and would spend hours on 'The Golden

Common'watching wild hares, deer and even wildcats.

Nothing happened in the first few months of the war,

- they called it 'The Phoney War', so Pete was sent back

to Walthamstow London.

Unfortunately, he arrived just as the London 'Blitz' started, so experienced the

horrors of bombs, air raids and doodlebugs, having a few 'near misses', with a

flying bomb landing on houses just up the road from him.

He was promptly sent back to Scotland, to live in Old Mills Cottage in Elgin, where

he helped on a farm. He returned to London to find bomb sites everywhere.

Noticing how plants soon colonised these

bombsites, he realised that, whatever Mankind

did to the world around him, nature would always recover.

He then noticed that, once the flowers started blooming, - bees, butterflies and other insects began to return to pollinate them, and this, in turn, encouraged birds, which had deserted London during the blitz, which would feed on the insects and resulting seeds.

At the age of Eight years old, Pete became oneof the first environmentalists,

vowing to protect the Earth from Mankind's greed and destruction.

Pete had started drawing and writing stories at a very young age, and by the time

he was 11 years old, he was producing a weekly comic, KOMIC KAPERS WEEKLY,

known affectionately as the KK, for his mates at Chapel End Secondary Modern

School in Walthamstow. E17. Pete even ran a story of Ossy & Willie, in the future,

taking refuge from a CO2 Laden atmosphere!

Since then, he has gone on to write illustrated articles for magazines

on The Environment, Horticulture and Social Justice, and writing childrens' and

adult books.

Above is Pete at 11, when he began The KK...

His friends called him 'The Professor' because of his seemingly outragous views on the

environment, his high forehead and national health Glasses.

Very often, his friends would groan and say, 'Oh no, here comes another Perry Theory!'

  
Not only did the pupils enjoy reading this comic,- it was also

popular with the teachers, as Pete found out one day when he

had to report to the staff room to find the teachers

having a good laugh over it...

Pete is second from the left, next to his friend brian Sayers, and the little girl (arrowed) with the bow in her hair is Doreen Wells, who went on to become Prima Ballerina for The Royal Ballet, and holds the title of The Marchioness of Londonderry.

Pete and Doreen are still in touch to this day.

Above: Doreen at The Royal Ballet

He also often argued about nature & The environment with his

biology and science teachers.

But back to Pete's Birth...

ABOVE: Pete's Mother, Doris Ivy, and his Dad, Frank Henry, in his Seaforth Highlander Uniform

We must remember that this was before The post-war Labour Government introduced The NHS and The Welfare State, and all medical treatment had to be paid for.

Pete's Dad Frank Henry Perry, had taken out Health Insurance, but this only covered a call-out for a doctor, and a midwife, which was voluntary in those days. He could not afford for his wife Doris Ivy to go to hospital, as this was far beyond his means, especially during the depression of The 1930s.

Doris was a frail little thing, weighing only six stone, and, as explained earlier, Pete had held on in there for TEN MONTHS, so when he was eventually born, he weighed TEN POUNDS!

Doris's body could hardly cope, and the birth almost killed her, so believing that The Mother's life is the most important, The Midwife uncerimoniously dumped Pete on to an armchair in order to help the doctor stem Doris's bleeding.

It just so happens that his Aunty Amelia Card, The wife of Doris's Brother Herbert, (both pistured above) heard the commotion from within the room, and opened the door to find baby Pete going blue and not breathing on the armchair.

She grabbed a blanket, wrapped the baby in it, and held him tightly to her, massaging his back as she did so.

Gradually, Pete began breathing, and the colour returned to his body - Amy had saved Pete's Life!

 Doris also pulled through, and gradually gained weight, although she was always a small, petite little lady, who people always called 'Little Dot'...

Here is a potted history of Pete's origins, starting with his Grandmother and Grandfather...

 Above: Pete's Grandma Mary Anne Caroline Card (nee Mee) and Pete's Granddad William Joseph Card, who, like Pete and many of his aunts, uncles and cousins, was an accomplished Artist, and also a gardener, specialising in Madonna Lilies...

William was known for his quick wit, and it is said that, when he asked Mary Anne to marry him, he asked her: 'Will you marry Me, Mary Mee?'

This wit has also become a very big part of the Card descendancy, and we have often wondered if the name 'Card' itself came from the fact they this family were known for their wit and eccentricity - Cards, in fact!

* * * * * * *

Pete entered The RAF in 1955, and decided to train as a Nursing Attendent. Because of the intensive training, he had to sign on for three years, instead of the regulatory two.

Whilst stationed in The Sick Quarters

at RAF Ruislip, he took over the

station radio record request show.

He broadcast on Tuesday evenings,

which was 'Bull Night', so he called the

show 'After The Bull', and it was an

instant success....

The launch of Pete's new show

coincided with the start of The Rock

'n' Roll era, and he interspersed the

playing of records with short

humorous sketches.

He also arranged 'Hops' (early discos

) in the NAAFI, and produced posters

for dances, and even recruitment

posters!

It was during his time at RAF Ruislip

that he met his future first wife,

Corporal Dorothy Storey...

* * * * * * *

Above: Photograph of Dorothy in

Uniform at the time Pete met her, when

she became a Corporal ...

Above: Dorothy was athletic, and took part in Military tattoos, like this one, taken at The Aldershott Tattoo, where she met The Queen Mother...

Dorothy and Pete were married

in 1959, for almost nine years, when

she tragically died of a Brain

Anuerysm.

They were blessed with two daughters...

She gave birth

to Vivien in 1961, and Deborah in

1966...

Vivien as a baby

Deborah as a baby

Pete, Dorothy, Vivien and Deborah at Offley Place, where Pete worked as Garden Steward.

The last ever photograph of Dorothy with Vivien and Deborah at The Woodland Garden created by Pete in Blackpool, Lancashire...

You can continue with this archive of Pete's life by

CLICKING HERE



INSPIRATION FROM AN INSPIRING TEACHER...

In 1947. when I was only 10 years old, my history teacher, Mr. Fox, told our class about the theory of producing electric power, by harnessing the power of the waterfall at the Kariba Gorge in what was then Rhodesia. Most of my class were bored to tears, but it inspired me to think that, if we could produce electricity from the power of falling water, then why not use the same technology with the power of sea waves, rainfall, and even wind. This, together with my observations of plants growing on bombsites, despite mankind's obsession with destroying everything that gets in his way, led me to become The Environmentalist that I am today. I have just realised that I have been an environmentalist for more than SEVENTY YEARS...

The Remarkable History of Lake Kariba

As early as 1941, funds were allocated to conduct a survey of Kariba Gorge for a possible ground-breaking hydroelectric dam site on the Zambezi River. 

Both Southern and Norther Rhodesia (Zimbabwe and Zambia as they are today) were in contention as it was theorised that the Kafue site in Northern Rhodesia was a better position to the one on the Zambezi. The question was solved by a board of experts who agreed that the dam should be built on the Zambezi River. In August 1955 the then Federal Government of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, called for tenders for the construction of the dam wall.

The contract for the construction of Kariba township was awarded to Richard Costain, and the main contract for the wall and transmission lines to the Italian consortium, Imprasit. The Kariba South Bank Power Station of the Kariba Dam hydroelectric scheme was officially opened by her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother on 17th May, 1960.

THE DAM

The dam wall of Lake Kariba is located at the former Kriwa (Kariba) gorge, it is the largest man-made dam wall in the world, standing 128 m (420 ft) tall and 579 m (1,900 ft) long. It is a concrete double curvature arch dam, of mass concrete construction reinforced around the spillway gates.

Kariba was designed for the safe passage of a 10 000 year flood, based on river flow data available at the time. In the original design of the dam, the spillway had been designed for a 3-month flood of volume 68km3. During construction, in 1957, a peak flood occurred, the highest on record and created vast amounts of damage to the wall and the building equipment.

As a result, the dam engineers revised their spillway design to a 3-month flood of 74km3. In the following season, 1958, a peak flood was once again recorded. This led to further revision of the spillway design to it’s preset capacity of 92 km3.





OPERATION NOAH

Kariba’s rising waters put the lives of thousands of animals in danger. This prompted the most extensive and courageous rescue operation ever undertaken.

As the dam wall closed and the waters rose, milliards of large crickets, mice, rats, and the like emerged and scurried away from the encroaching waters. The skies above were blackened by swarms of birds sating themselves on the harvest. In the water the voracious tiger fish rampaged and, glutted with drowning insects, died. Many animals, notably the larger carnivores, retreated inland. Others, however, instinctively made for high ground to wait out another seasonal flood, and were trapped on temporary islands created by the unrelenting upsurge as Lake Kariba filled.

Senior ranger Rupert Fothergill, Brian Hughes (an ex-fireman who could not swim) and their assistants arrived. Under-manned and under-equipped, Operation Noah had begun.

They began by trying to manoeuvre the large animals into the water and sheaparding them to safety. In so doing, it was revealed that many mammals could swim long distances – waterbuck a full mile and baboon 400 yards, for instance. They also discovered that hornless female buck could paddle further than the males. And they observed instances of intelligent, adaptive behaviour such as waterbuck ferrying offspring on their backs and large horned bull antelope supporting their heads on logs, or testing them on others’ backs, during their journey to safety.

Others, declining the swim, were driven into the water for easier capture before being trussed and transported to shore. During this time tranquilliser darting techniques were pioneered.

This was a heroic period, when a handful of men drove themselves to the verge of collapse whilst their gains were pathetically small as thousands of animals drowned or died from shock or injuries sustained during the rescue operations.



Through the British Sunday Mail (February 15 1959) the story of Operation Noah fired the sentimental imagination of the world. Soon there were more feature writers, television cameramen, do-gooders, and inquisitive officials than there were designated rescuers and their intrusion severely hampered operations. A request for and nylon stockings to plait as replacements for the ropes which burnt captured animals, saw millions of pairs inundate the locals SPCA in another unstoppable flood.

Provoked by pressures of a press-fed public and humanitarian organisations, the task force was increased and better equipped by the Southern Rhodesia government. Overseas financial aid was refused, however, because of the danger of donors deeming it their right to intervene in the project. These funds were diverted to Northern Rhodesia (Now Zambia) and used to launch their participation in the rescue campaign.

Operation Noah, the largest animal rescue ever undertaken, saved over 5000 animals, including 50 black rhino between 1960 and 62. How many creatures died will never be known. Ironically, in the 12 years up till then, over 300 000 animals had been killed as part of the programme to control the spread of Tsetsi fly in Southern Rhodesia.