The Sunderland man who possibly faced the trickiest walk home of any Wearsider after finishing work
Did Bill have the trickiest walk home from work in Sunderland history?
Spare a thought for Bill Emmerson who might well have had the trickiest walk home from work in Sunderland history - unless you know different.
It might not have been so bad when the weather was nice in the Summer.
But imagine having to trek 2,880 ft along Roker pier when a storm was up. Bill would have had to do it in his job as the lighthouse keeper at the 77ft hight pier at Roker where he was pictured in these Sunderland Echo archive scenes.
An Echo report from 1952 said: “For 365 days it is a landmark. By night, it is a guiding light for North Sea mariners. The house, built with the precision of a Pyramid, is made of Aberdeen and Peterhead granite blocks to withstand the pounding seas.
“The lamp-house is the nerve centre of the lighthouse, for the beam it casts - by an electric bulb through a dioptric lens.”
The beam that the lighthouse gave out could stretch 15 miles out to sea and would have been vital to shipping approaching Wearside.
The Echo report added: “Keeper Bill Emmerson begins his daily tour of maintenance and inspection, and when fished he starts on his walk home along the 2,880 ft pier to the Lighthouse Keepers' houses.”
The Echo was privileged to get these views inside the lighthouse including a close-up view of the light which was described at the time as ‘the beacon of the port of Sunderland.”
Tell us if you had a job in Sunderland which had a trickier walk home than Bill’s back in the day.
Share your memories by emailing [email protected]