A MALVERN man has been re-united with the friend he saved from drowning during a rescue in the River Severn more than half a century ago.
Ed Stone and Les Dixon met up 52 years after the dramatic August day in 1966 which saw the friends decide to take a dip in the river near Clevelode after a long day working at the nearby Stone Chance factory.
The pair had lost touch in 1967 with Ed living in Canada since 1974 and Les living and working in several countries which made it difficult for them to find each other.
Message
However, a chance post on the Malvern History Facebook page led to a message from Les’s wife Angela who put the pair in contact and ensured a reunion took place in the town more than five decades after the incident.
“Angela had mentioned Les had also tried hard to locate me, so you can imagine how exciting it was to finally get together and ‘catch- up’ after all these years,” Ed told the Observer.
“We arranged a second meeting in Cornwall at the Tinners Arms in Zennor as my daughter and grandchildren live nearby in Penzance before we had to return to Canada.”
Ed, the son of crime novelist Austin Stone who was a former chairman of Malvern Writers’ Club, recounted the events of the dramatic day which began 10 minutes after the pair had taken to the water.
“Les suddenly put his arm up out of the water and cried ‘help’, he was always fooling around so I thought he was just playing games. But after the third yell he suddenly disappeared under the water,” he said.
After swimming over to where his stricken friend had disappeared, Ed dived underwater to see if he could see Les.
“The water was murky but incredibly I turned around and saw Les, he was caught in a current and was turning over and over,” he said.
“I grabbed him by the long hair he had back then and swam as best as I could back to the river bank and yelled at his then girlfriend who was sitting watching us to get help.
“Every time I tried to get him out of the water he slipped back in but I eventually got him out.”
Ed launched a desperate attempt at CPR despite not knowing how to perform the life-saving skill and valiantly continued after he was ignored by passers by before a passing boat heard his calls for help and returned with medical help.
“I think Les’s girlfriend had managed to call the ambulance as it managed to get there in seven minutes, I couldn’t believe I had saved him.
Ed was congratulated by staff later that evening when he went to visit his friend and his act of heroism even graced the pages of the local press at the time.
“Many times I have had nightmares about trying to save someone from drowning, for some reason it was never Les in my dreams, but they all died.” Ed added.
