Hearsay 7 Two Baptists

Dominic Robb sat on the quayside watching the river slowly flow by. It seemed to help his mind drift back and forth.

He heard himself think, "Are preconceptions views? Did dinosaurs ever have a view? Did they think the planet was made for them. Much good it did them. Is a paddle-steamer a dinosaur? Is that why I care about Compton? Nostalgia for the underdog."

He wondered where all those thoughts had bubbled up from.

"The service; must have been the service."

A few hours earlier he had been sitting with a group of ‘pilgrims’ in the Baptist Church in Chapel Lane, Dartmouth, where Thomas Newcomen had worshipped as a leading member. The service of celebration was to mark the 300th anniversary of his birth.

On the previous evening around 200 followers had gathered in the Dart Marina Hotel where the president had welcomed to the meeting, members and friends of the Newcomen Society, and the Dartmouth Newcomen Association.

The president recalled the earlier meeting of 1929 commemorating the 200th anniversary of Newcomen’s death which no more than 30 stalwarts had attended.

He then bought members up-to-date on the progress of the Newcomen engine in store in Dartmouth awaiting a permanent home. Then he reminded folk of the next day's programme.

"At 10 am we will gather at the Butterwalk, where we will move in procession to the Royal Avenue Gardens and the Newcomen Memorial. At noon we will gather in the Baptist Church to unveil and dedicate the memorial tablet which is being presented by the Dartmouth Newcomen Association."

Dominic Robb had been among the congregation celebrating the life of this pioneer. As he looked across the Quay and over to Kingswear his eyes settled on a small derelict boat which he thought was only fit for the scrap yard. He had been quite encouraged when he had earlier heard of the possibility of it being sold to a youth club in Brixham. But now he knew it was not to be. He pictured himself walking her decks on those ‘educational’ trips. Then the real irony of it all hit him. Over there, obsolete, of no use, out of her time lay a paddle steamer. Yesterday's idea. Forgotten. Yet just now, back in town, the man who had started it all was being revered and praised, at last recognised for the value of his invention. The creator honoured. The offspring discarded.

It had been good though to meet up with Ida and Barratt Steer again at the service.

"Nice hat, Ida.”

"Same as the one ’er always wears," said Barratt.

"Still nice."

 

 

He thought of the words spoken from the pulpit and was surprised just how important a figure Newcomen was.

"Many names have been linked with the steam engine, but as my eminent colleague Dr Joseph Needham so eloquently stated, 'No single man was father of the steam engine, no single civilisation either. Yet no one comes nearer deserving the title than Thomas Newcomen.' "