I used to live in one of the houses which were on The Mount and I believe Canadian troops were stationed and trained in this area before the invasion of France. This training included the use of live ammunition and it was not uncommon after the war when digging in the back garden, to find remnants of the small arms ammunition they used .

The top picture of the North Quay was taken on the 12th July, 1949

Nice to see a photo of the old swing bridge. One of my jobs was to call out staff to man the bridge controls!

A minimum of eight men were required to man the capstan in the centre of the bridge deck. First the gas main was uncoupled and then the bridge was wound down to the operating turntable.

Sometimes when it was cold there would be a few heart-stopping moments when the ship was due to pass throughand had reached the point of no return due to the tidal movement.

There were a few times when a ship actually tied up at bridge!!

Happy days, we were paid 3 hours for opening bridge.

My father used to turn the capstan, and I remember helping once when I was just a sprog. He was head shunter on the railway.

I can remember getting told off for trying to cycle over the swing bridge as they were getting ready to open it. I was probably late for work.