FRED DILLON

Ken Hunnybun and I first met Fred Dillon, with his wife Else, at one of the Sea Fever Festivals at Hull many years ago and I was intrigued by this Dutchman who spoke perfect English, but with a strong Scouse accent.

I got to know him much better later that year when we met him and Else again at the Strontrace in Workum and I discovered that he was in fact a fellow scouser, having been born in 107, Rice Lane, Liverpool. As that was the same address shewn on my birth certificate, Fred suggested that we may be related, till I pointed out that it was the address of Walton Maternity Hospital!! It was at this juncture that Fred and I formed the Rice Lane Old Boys Association! The photograph of Fred shewn above was taken in Rice Lane in November 2006, when we were attending the festival commemorating the life of Stan Hugill.

One thing for which Ken & I shall always be grateful to Fred is for introducing us to SNERT - Dutch Split Pea Soup!

Over the years, we met Fred & Else many times at festivals in the U.K. and the Netherlands and we spent many happy hours yarning together.

We last saw Fred at the Stan Hugill Festival in Liverpool and although he was very ill at the time, he fought his illness valiantly and was an inspiration to us all.

Fred grew up in Liverpool and eventually went away to sea in the Merchant service, serving with a number of different companies.

He went to Holland to work in 1980, or thereabouts. He met and fell in love with Else; they married, and he became a Dutch citizen. The date that he got his Dutch citizenship turned out to be May 10 1986 and as he died on May 10th 2007, he was a Dutchman for exactly 21 years.

He was born an Englishman, but died a Dutchman and I know he was very proud of that fact.

The shanty fraternity is going to miss Fred's smiling face in the audience at shanty festivals.

I am proud to have called Fred a friend and I am sure we shall all always remember him, as his daughter, Kerry, said at his funeral, as a happy, friendly, popular man, whom people loved.

At his funeral, Kerry read the following words of Victor Hugo and they a very appropriate:

WHAT IS DYING?

I am standing upon that foreshore.
A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength and I stand and watch her until at length
she hangs like a speck of white clouds just where the sea and sky come down to mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says,
"There! She's gone!"
"Gone where?"
"Gone from my sight, that's all".
She is just as large in mast and spar and hull as ever she was when she left my side;
just as able to bear her load of living freight to the place of her destination.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her.
And just at that moment when someone at my side says, "There! She's gone!"
there are other eyes watching her coming
and other voices ready to take up the glad shout,
"Here she comes!"
And that is dying

Alan Hardy
BITTER END

MESSAGE FROM BRIAN BRINKWORTH
I work for Johnson's coaches I have known Fred for many years when he lived in Henley in Arden. We worked together at the Tudor Dairies ice cream and spent many happy hours working together. At the time I was the officer in charge of Henley Fire station and yes I soon recruited Fred into the brigade as a retained fireman and he turned out to be an excellent fireman, and when he was helping others in distress he was in his element; but that was Fred. We were sorry to loose Fred when he moved to Holland, but we did keep in touch and we would meet up when I was visiting Amsterdam. I am attaching a photo we had taken on one of my visits. Fred will be sadly missed by myself and everyone who new him my deepest sympathy go out to all his family, and many thanks to you Alan for your email god bless you all.
Brian Brinkworth.

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MESSAGE FROM DES & LIZ PAWSON, FOOTROPE KNOTS, IPSWICH
We enjoyed Fred’s company [and Else’s] at many festivals. What some people will not know is that when Fred went to sea in the 1950s he was taught by the Bosun on the “Carlton”, whilst on the Liverpool-Vancouver run, how to make knotted belts . We are proud to have an example of Fred’s work, made in 1962, in The Museum of Knots & Sailor’s Ropework. This he gave to us in 2000 and, apart from being admired by our visitors, it was loaned, for a special exhibition of sailors art, to the new Time and Tide Museum in Great Yarmouth in 2005. It is wonderful to have a documented piece of sailor’s work and is all the more precious now that Fred is gone.
Des & Liz Pawson
Footrope Knots
The Museum Of Knots & Sailor’s Ropework
Ipswich

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A TRIBUTE FROM SHANTY JACK, FRIEND:
What a nice man Fred was. You always got him the same. Cheerful and talkative, even to the end when he was probably suffering quite a bit. Always ready with a yarn or a bit of advice and never a bad word about anyone.
There was always a warm welcome in Amsterdam from Fred and Else for folk singers and shantymen alike. A peaceful haven for a weary traveller, with good company and craic, a laugh and a joke and a bed for the night if you needed it.
He never lost the sea out of his blood. He was often a crew member in the “Audrey”, the Waterways Museum ship based in Goole U.K and acted as her unofficial “agent and ship’s husband” on her trips over to the Netherlands.
Fred and Else were a great help to me when I was searching for a “Dutch Barge” and when I found one that I wanted, Fred helped me to check her out and negotiate with the owner. When she goes back in the water I reckon he will be there in spirit and “keeping a weather eye out for squalls.”
If there’s any justice in the next world, he will find a snug berth in the final harbour.
Shanty Jack

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