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'They don't know the real cost of fish and chips'

Pamela TickellNorth East and Cumbria
News imageSupplied A composite of Brian Chambers as a young man and now. On the right, he has greying short hair and is wearing sunglasses and a white shirt with a life ring logo embroidered on the front. He is sitting at a table and looking to the right of frame. On the left, Chambers is standing with one hand in his pocket and the other on a banister. He has mid-length black hair and is wearing a red scarf and green-checked shirt. He is smiling at the camera.Supplied
Brian Chambers (right, pictured in 1969) started working at sea as a teenager

Fishing communities will gather this weekend to remember those who died at sea.

Annual National Fishing Remembrance Day services will be held across the country on Sunday, including in North Shields and Maryport. There will also be a service in Hartlepool for the first time.

One of those taking part, Brian Chambers, 75, from North Tyneside, lost nine of his best friends in the 1974 Gaul trawler tragedy, saying: "People truly do not understand the real cost of fish and chips."

The Fishermen's Mission North East England officer Peter Dade added the services would include sea shanties and give families "recognition and comfort to know that they are not forgotten".

Dade said fishing was one of the most dangerous peace-time professions.

He is leading the service in North Shields and said all were welcome.

On 8 February 1974 the Gaul trawler sank in the Barents Sea, off Norway, claiming the lives of 30 trawlermen from Hull and six from North Shields.

News imagePA Media A black and white image of the vessel which has a dark hull and white platforms atop. There is a tall triangular equipment erected at the back of the ship. The main quarters are closer to the front. There is antennae at the top and sectioned lined with windows below it.PA Media
The Gaul trawler sank in 1974 with all 36 crew on board

Chambers, who had worked at sea since he was 16, was due to be on the vessel but stayed on land for a wedding.

"Nine were my best mates, I sailed with them for years," he said.

"Every trip I did at sea, I did with Stan and Harry," Chambers remembered. "I knew more about their wives and their kids, than what their wives and their kids knew."

Chambers said his mind was on those who perished "all the time".

"It was just such a large loss of life and after the Gaul sank I packed the sea in. I'd had enough."

He is now the secretary of the Association of Retired Fishermen in the area.

"I do this for the lads that are lost at sea," Chambers said.

"I do it for my friends and I do it for all fishermen."

News imageBrian Chambers A group of people stand on the pier looking on at one person speaking on a microphone. The back of a Fiddler's Green Fishermen's Memorial is on the left, which is a tall brown sculpture depicting a man wearing a flat cap sitting and looking out to sea. Two flags fly behind the group. On red flag with a union jack in the corner and another red and blue one which reads: "The Fishermen's Mission."Brian Chambers
National Fishing Remembrance Day services will held across the country, including in North Shields

The national remembrance day is in its third year.

Dade said: "Even though we're an island nation, people don't appreciate we have a fishing community and seafarers all around us.

"There's this misconception that fish just arrives on our plate, and in actual fact there's a lot of work that's gone on behind the scenes."

Dade added: "The flip side of the coin is that fishermen love what they do."

He said equipment had become safer over the years.

But said the day was important to show fishermen who had paid the "ultimate price" were not taken for granted.

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