Uncle BOB FINN ... contributed by Frank Penny 14 Feb 2008

 Bob Finn was another character that made up the composition of Port Alfred. He was a lot older than I but although I didn't know him that well I certainly do remember him.

The first thing that I recall about Bob was when the fishing boat the “Walena”? arrived at the Kowie around about 1942. Bob was the skipper of the boat. It was a fairly large boat and could not go under the old bridge and therefore moored about 75m downstream from the bridge.

One night there was a terrific wind storm and when we went to school the next day there she was “High and Dry” on the sand bank on the East side of the river.

I think the boat was a bit too large for the Kowie river scenario and it wasn’t there that long.

Bob joined the P.A.M. roads department and could be seen driving a grader, truck or whatever was thrown at him. As I recall he nearly always wore a cap (Bobby Locke type). I think he was also involved with the quarry which at that time was located directly across the river from our house in Van der Riet Street. (The quarry was later moved up river). When blasting was about to take place guards were dispatched to stop people nearing the blast area. On odd occasions flying rock fell in the river immediately in front of our house.

Nobody thought to warn the folk across the river (that’s us) that a blast was about to take place !

During the war years there was often heavy concern in our household when an unexpected explosion occurred.. 

Bob was above all a man who loved the simple things in life – the sea, fishing and the like, and always had time to return a wave or a greeting.

Bob's oldest son Frank, was a year or two ahead of me at school  and his daughter Olive and I were in the same class. A younger daughter Winnie was a year or two behind.

...enters Martin
Aaaah, Frank calls it correctly when he describes Uncle Bob. He was a very special man. After Winnie came Eddie, who was my pal as we were in the same class. They lived just out of town. My time was spent with Uncle Bob when my Dad used to haul me in as a swimming prawn picker-upper, which, being nimble, I became expert at. My Mom's mince meatballs were always greatly admired on our trips upriver to the horseshoe to throw prawns with a throw net.

Uncle Bob knew the river better than anybody else...Black Rock, Cob Hole, Faierie Glen, up to the Horseshoe then Ebb & Flow. We always got HUNDREDS of prawns. And due to Uncle Bob knowing where the fish were at any given time, we caught LOTS of fish. And came home with a large crab or five.

He had the jetty closest to the bridge, and we had permanent permission to fish from his boat. One night my cousin Paul, SAA Manager at Rotunda in Johannesburg and I (working at Standard Bank at the time) had a wonderful evening's entertainment in catching grunter.

We put the small ones back.