Soggy bottom boys

With reference to the letter from Michael Cookson concerning Roy Salvadori’s accident in the Oulton Park lake, I enclose a photo taken after one attempt to remove the car from deeper water. Marshals were not allowed to take pictures so this was the work of news photographer Colin Colbeck.

The second print shows the dinner arranged by the Mid-Cheshire Motor Racing Club where the two people involved in the rescue, Arthur Horton and I, are being presented with engraved tankards to commemorate the event (l-r, Alan Atkinson, Horton, Roy, me, Peter Birt). I ruined a pair of trousers and spent a very uncomfortable hot afternoon covering my modesty in a pair of waterproof overtrousers. Where the story of the watch gift came from I have no idea, because the only gift we got was the tankard and a big “Thank you.” Roy lived on until 2012, so it was well worth saving him.

Brian Vaux, East Coker, Somerset