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'GEM' OF A COUPLE...
Diamond day for Charles, Hannah
REDCAR's old man of the sea, Charles Picknett, tots up the score
tomorrow - 60 years married and 70 lives saved.
But the irrepressible
Mr. Picknett, who at 81 describes himself as the "Cassius Clay of Redcar" will have to forget all those daring exploits on
the high seas just this once.
For 84-year-old Hannah,
his wife - pictured with him above - has heard it all before. And this weekend it is their score together that counts.
"You can't shut him
up once he starts," she complained as Charles jumped to his feet to rattle off those oft repeated rescues.
He said: "When the
Earl of Craven went aground I took 21 off in my own boat and the water was within an inch of coming over. Then there
was the Demetrius; sixteen saved, including the captain. And there was the time..."
But Hannah cut in:
"Oh he'll keep you talking all day if you let him. I wouldn't say I didn't like the sea. I love it - but from
a distance. I went out in his boat once, but never again."
And is Charles her
hero? "How can he be my hero? He's my husband" was the reply. Hannah says she can't swim and she refused
to get into her husband's boat for a picture. "I don't like boats. It's cold in there" she said.
But Charles, who
lives at 7, South Terrace, Redcar, wouldn't be put down. He went on "I reckon I've saved more lives than everyone in
Redcar put together. And always on my own - in my boat or somebody's I borrowed. I didn't just jump in the lifeboat.
I've saved 70 - it's like a cricket score."
"And if you
come back next year it will probably be half a dozen more. I'm the greatest in the world. I'm like the Cassius
Clay of Redcar."
The Picknetts are one of the oldest families in the town, as Charles was quick to point out.
"I was born in this
house. The family goes back hundreds of years. Why, the first body buried in St. Peter's churchyard was a Picknett.
And as for these other so-called 'old' Redcar families - I remember most of them moving here. It was the Picknetts brought
the Zetland lifeboat to Redcar you know - the first lifeboat in the country."
Their life has not
been without tragedy. Their only son was drowned off Huntcliffe - from the Picknetts' own boat. But their six
daughters have brought them 15 grandchildren and eight grand-grandchildren. And fishing is still in the blood. Said
Hannah: "our son-in-law helps Charles in the boat and whenever he can his son, Alan, goes along. He is fishing mad.
But it's the little ones keeps me young. We both love the bairns."
Tomorrow night at
the Park Hotel, Redcar, there is a grand family get together to celebrate the diamond wedding.
EVENING GAZETTE, Friday, Nov........? 1979 | 
