There’s something very special about Dungeness. It really is somewhere totally different, unique even.
Big skies and the tiny train. Strange plants growing in the shingle between old bits of industry. Ramshackle wooden huts and the massive redundant power stations.
It’s easy to forget just how harsh and isolated Dungeness can be. Dangerous too.
Dominic Gregory’s book Lifeboat at the End of the World makes that very clear. Published earlier this year, he writes about his life living on Dungeness and his experience as a volunteer with the local lifeboat crew, not least during the migrant crisis in the English Channel.
The first-hand stories of the sea rescues are intense. Overcrowded dinghies full of people trying to reach the UK end in both tragedy and celebration. All played out whilst dealing with hostility from the press and public. “Do you really think all lives are worth saving?” asks a journalist.
It’s an insight into a very different side of the small boats story, but the book also shows the crew on less stressful shouts. A missing kite-surfer refuses a rescue and swims to the shore, closely followed by the lifeboat with the crew watching on eating biscuits and drinking tea.
And you get a fascinating sense of what it’s like to live on Dungeness.
Dominic will be talking about his book at a special Rye Bookshop event at The Mermaid Inn in Rye on Tuesday 12 May 6.30pm in the Tudor Room. Tickets are free and are available from Rye Bookshop.
Image Credits: James Stewart .