We’ve all heard about the heroic actions of people who dive into the frigid waters of a lake or river to save people or animals who are at risk of drowning. Sometimes those things turn out well and everyone survives. Other times, well, things don’t turn out quite as planned, and the rescuer and/or the victims don’t make it out. My question for you is this: Do you love your saxophone enough that you would dive into the water to try and save it?
Cheesy photo aside 😉 , most of us would agree that we all love our horns. But, do you really love your horn that much that you would dive into the water and try to retrieve it?
This morning I happened across an interesting story on the BBC’s website. The story involves a saxophone player in the UK. At first glance it would appear that he did indeed love his horn enough to try and retrieve it from the waters of a canal.
According to this story, published December 2, 2013:
Musician falls in Llangollen Canal trying to rescue saxophone
A musician suffered hypothermia and had to be rescued from a canal after he fell in while trying to retrieve his saxophone in Denbighshire.
Rescuers say the man, in his 50s, was lucky to be alive as he was thought to have been in the water at Llangollen for some time.
The alarm was raised on Sunday by an early morning dog walker who called the emergency services to Llangollen Canal.
His saxophone was handed in to police after being found floating in its case.
The man was taken to Wrexham Maelor Hospital for treatment. No further details are known.
Source: BBC News, December 2, 2013
My friends from the UK will likely not be surprised to learn I had no idea where the Llangollen Canal is. Apparently it crosses the border between England and Wales.
According to Wikipedia:
The waterway links Llangollen in Denbighshire, north Wales, with Hurleston in south Cheshire, via the town of Ellesmere, Shropshire. In 2009 an eleven-mile section of the canal from Gledrid Bridge near Rhoswiel through to the Horseshoe Falls, which includes Chirk Aqueduct and Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO.
After figuring out where the Llangollen Canal was, my next stop was Flickr. I was stunned by the hundreds, if not thousands of photos of the canal and surrounding area that people had uploaded to the social media site.
White Bridge, No 59, Llangollen Canal.
Photography by: Andrew Batram Source: Flickr
While looking at the picturesque beauty of the landscapes, I started to wonder: How could someone accidentally drop their saxophone in their Llangollen Canal? Was the player drunk? Was he the victim of an assault, and the perpetrators afterwards threw his saxophone into the canal? Did he try to commit suicide, and take his sax with him? Did he trip, and his saxophone flew out of his hand and into the canal? None of the above? A combination of events perhaps?
We’ll likely never know what happened on that early December 1 morning, and exactly how that saxophone ended up in the Llangollen Canal. One thing is for certain though, it certainly has me pondering what extent I would go to if my saxophone was in peril.
How about you? Would you jump in the water, or otherwise risk your life to save your sax? What if it’s your favourite one? How about your only one? What about if it’s the sax you spent years saving for?
Hi Clive.
Is this the Clive Jones I knew from Newcastle college of music in the early 80’s?
If so, please reply.
Derek
Hi sax lovers I can confirm I had the misfortune of taking a early morning swim in the llangollen canal ,however the location where I fell in was actually near to where I had been gigging that night i was returning to my car with my instruments down a very narrow pathway in the pitch dark so
i wasnt aware of the canal.
i was carrying Selmer mark vi alto yamaha soprano buffet clarinet and Miramatsu Flute plus a teapot and nose flute.
i kept hold of alto and managed to place it onto bank however the other instruments flotaed away which
i thought
i might retrieve however in pitch blackness i failed but unfortunately found my self stuck in water and could not manage to climb out as the sides of canal where concrete and sheer so could not grip.I tried using my knees to shimmy up but kept slipping back in
luckily for me around 7.30 am a dog alertd his owner to my presence in water as it was still pretty dark and he alerted emergency services who rescued me and took me to hospital where my body core temperature was just under 29 degrees.Good news however was that over course of couple of days instruments have been retrieved and are drying out nicely bad news is
i will require skin grafts on both knees due to creating two craters from using knees to try and get out and the gig was a cheque payment so i have to pay tax on it best regards clive jones wales uk
Hello Clive.
Welcome to my website.
Well I’m really glad to hear that you will eventually be OK. I’m very sorry to hear about the necessary skin grafts on your knees though. That said, you are a very lucky man. With a core temp. of 29 degrees, it doesn’t sound like you had a lot of time left. I’m amazed that you were conscious enough to be able to keep your head above water. Lucky for you that dog alerted its owner that you were there.
As for your horns, I hope that they can be fully restored. Is the Buffet clarinet wood? Do yo have any insurance that will cover the repairs & new cases? Do you have horns that you can use if you need to, until these are repaired?
I’m really glad you stopped by and filled in the details to your incredible story. Yours in yet another example of how the media so often gets only part of the story, or in other instances, gets big parts of the story wrong.
I wish you well in your recovery Clive. All the best this holiday season.
Warm regards,
Helen
In defence of the unknown saxophonist:
The picture looks like a bridge on a towpath where horses can change to the other side of the canal. They where designed for horses pulling ships.
These towpaths look scenic, but are basically roads near deep water.
When you stumble once you can end up in the water.
Horses frequently fell in and had to swim fast to avoid being hit by the ship they where pulling.
Scenic, but not safe.
And yes I would have jumped too.