Whatever happened to boy pulled from canal?

I make the inquiry as a result of responses I had to the publication in Memory Lane a few weeks ago, of an old photograph of rows of houses at Tallow Hill which have long since disappeared from the city scene.

Mrs Pam Mezzone of Sherwood Lane, Worcester, wrote to me to say her uncle Harry Bick had lived with his family in one of the houses at Tallow Hill and had hit the news locally in 1938, when he rescued a child from the nearby canal.

She referred me to her cousin David Bick of Glenthorne Avenue, Worcester, who told me he was only about nine when his father died in the early 1950s. However, his mother, Mrs Elsie Bick had often been proud to recount to him and his sister Jean the exploits of their father in that canal rescue of 1938.

He had been sitting in his "Sunday best" at their home when he heard that a child was drowning in the Worcester-Birmingham Canal near the George Street Bridge.

David Bick proudly possesses the framed certificate presented to his father in 1938 by the Royal Humane Society for his courageous life-saving exploits, plus an Evening News photograph of the Guildhall presentation by the Mayor of Worcester.

However, what David Bick dearly wanted to know was more details of the rescue, whose life had been saved, and who was the Mayor who presented the Royal Humane Society certificate.

By researching in the bound archives of the Evening News and Berrow's Journal, I have been able to answer all David's inquiries.

Both our local newspapers reported at the time on the canal rescue of May 15, 1938:

"A Worcester man jumped fully clothed into the canal near George Street Bridge on Sunday afternoon and rescued a four-year-old boy who was sinking for the third time. The boy was Kenneth Mears of 59 Stanley Road, while the rescuer was Mr Harry Bick of 3 Tallow Hill.

"This was Mr Bick's third rescue of a child, the second being in 1931. On that occasion he was presented with a watch by the Mayor and Corporation in recognition of his action. He is 30 and employed as an chameller by Windshields of Worcester."

Thus we discover that not once, but three times did Harry Bick rescue children from the canal close to his home!

David Bick tells me his father was encouraged by his brother Charlie to join the Territorial Army in 1938.

"People couldn't afford holidays in those times but uncle Charlie assured dad there would be good breaks around the country with the TA.

"Little did dad suspect, however, that just a year later he would be on active service with the TA in the Second World War and, subsequently, be rescued himself from the beaches of Dunkirk.

"He later fought in Africa and in the Sicily Campaign but suffered a burst ulcer at Naples, coincidentally at a time when nearby Mount Vesuvius was erupting. He woke up in hospital and had to be invalided out of the Army."

Afterwards, Harry Bick worked for some years with the Worcestershire Farmers Limited in St John's, mainly on egg collections. He was only 48 when he died and is buried in Astwood Cemetery.

The Mayor of Worcester who presented the certificate to Harry in 1938 was Dr William Moore Ede, a widely-respected local family doctor.

David Bick has worked for the past 37 years with Worcester City Council's housing and contract services departments. His sister Jean - Mrs Bullock - lives in Rose Avenue, Worcester.

n It has been good to pay homage here to a forgotten local hero, and the icing on the cake would be if, through relatives or friends, we could trace Kenneth Mears. Anyone who can help is asked to contact Michael Grundy at the Evening News.

n What I personally would also like to find is a photograph of the former mortuary which was at Tallow Hill.

I recall its layout of blackened and often broken tombstones - all rather reminiscent of the graveyard scene from Dickens' Great Expectations. Alas, I have never been able to find a photograph of the mortuary scene so if anybody has one, I would dearly like to borrow it to reproduce in Memory Lane.