Snakes in the Quarry.

[Rambo]

My late dad was a great embroiderer of the truth.
One of his many tall tales (he swore all of them were true) involved a wartime railway shipment of bananas which was parked in the sidings down near the milk bridge.
He said that a number of snakes slipped out of the trucks and colonised the quarry between the sidings and Red House Farm (west of Bluebell Wood) He made this sound plausible by reminding us that the quarry face was south facing and so absorbed the suns heat making the area more ideal for the reptiles to survive.
The snake colony was considered to be a danger and my dad insisted that the army were asked to deal with the problem. He said that they filled the quarry with a large amount of petrol which was ignited and consequently the prob was dealt with.

What do you think. Is there any evidence to support his story???

Regards

Alan

[Kleener]

Hi Rambo,
As far as I can remember it wasn't possible to get bananas during the war. I bet the next post says that it was spiders not snakes!!!

[Rambo]

Hi Kleener,

I was always sort of aware of the scarcity of bananas at the time but Tots tall tale always mentioned snakes.

Regards

Alan

[Alan Thompson]

I remember whilst at Timothy Hackworth Junior School,(up to 1951) during a hot summer period, that we were given a talk about the excessive numbers of adders/vipers in the Shildon area, and the danger from them. The teacher, I think Mr. Appleton, held a dead one out at very long arms length, so that we got a good view of what the snake looked like. Where the danger area was for them though I cannot now remember.
There was also stories of snakes and tarantula spiders being found in the banana boxes at the "Banana Factory" on the trading estate off Redworth (?) Road, but I cannot remember if there were stories of any of these escaping.
Alan
Strood