... to this blog of the life of Robert Henry West BEM of Sheringham, Norfolk UK, better known as Henry “Joyful” West. Known as Henry to his fishing and lifeboat
colleagues; by the family nickname of Joyful
to RNLI management and Dad in his
closest family of wife and sons, for
this blog we will call him Henry.
Henry: Recently elected as Coxswain of the Sheringham Lifeboat
His life spanned the lean years of the 1920’s and 30’s, World War II and the many changes in the fishing and lifeboat activities at Sheringham up to his death.
Henry died in 2009 and amongst his personal papers were found
several which could be described loosely as “Henry’s Memoires” for the period
1923 to 1945. In addition, he wrote many notes, and collected photographs, on
lifeboat activities covering the period from when joined the Sheringham Lifeboat
crew in 1946 through his active career until his retirement as coxswain and for some 20 years after, as an active supporter
to the lifeboat station. Less was written about fishing but Henry did put names
to faces on many fishing and lifeboat group photos.
We consider that
Henry wished to share these items with anyone who was interested – and when we
had such a request from a long-standing friend of his - we decided to proceed!
Wherever, possible we will use Henry’s own words (black
text) and any other comments will be identifiable (blue text). Photos used will
be from the family’s collection unless otherwise ascribed.
