Riverkeeper Steve Kemp shares memories of a long career on the water
1. SWEETS TIN
For a youngster of the 1950s, fishing was more exciting than going to the sweet shop with sixpence in your pocket. It was always a journey of discovery by the water with untold mystery and thrills.
We lived by the lake at Sunray Gardens, at the bottom of Red Post Hill, South London. I spent hours on the coal bunker peering over the fence at the anglers, marvelling at their patience and what was caught. They all seemed to smoke pipes, seated on small canvas stools with brightly coloured tins to hold their hooks, weights and baits. I found this tin on the bankside, no sweets inside, just a few hooks. Ah, those days of innocence.
2. JOB INTERVIEW
I arrived at Wherwell Priory soaking wet. There was no bus from Andover, so I walked in the pouring rain to the interview for the trainee riverkeeper’s job. After that appearance, I don’t think Major Palmer or headkeeper Paul O’Toole had any choice but to give me the job.
The estate and five miles of the River Test were owned by Lady Brecknock. I loved the village life; the four seasons were steeped in tradition, everybody knew how they fitted in.
3. IRISH LOUGHS
The inland seas of Ireland, Mask, Corrib, Derg et al, have unique character, flora and fauna — an entomologist’s dream and fly-fisher’s mecca. Dr Michael Kennedy, Inland Fisheries Trust chief biologist, under whom I worked, was the most knowledgeable person. His Trout Flies for Irish Waters, 1969, is timeless. He undertook other research, notably the effects of eutrophication on many Irish lakes, a man-made disaster understood by so few willing to do something about the causes.
4. THE RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR
This map of Darwell and Powdermill reservoirs was drawn by R. A. F. Palmer, from personal observations. He was a member of Hastings Flyfishers’ Club, which leased both waters, where I worked. Another member was Viktor Ivanovich Popov, the Russian Ambassador, who had a dacha nearby. When he fi
