IN 1953 Geoff Chesson was a 17-year-old milk boy working with Harold Wollage at the Co-op Dairy.

"I lived at Barton's Hill, Minster, and I walked to work at 5.30am. At Sheerness East I was turned back and advised not to go any further because the town was under water.

"I trudged back home and told my Dad. He must have thought I was skiving because when he looked out of the window on high ground he said there was nothing there and sent me back again.

"I got on my bike and pedalled to Cowstead Corner where dead bloated sheep were floating on the marshes.

"Later, much later, I finally got to work by lorry hauliers were operating a shuttle service.

"We delivered milk from a lorry and also used paddle boats taken from the boating pool. The milk was hauled up by ropes and in baskets by the people cooped up in their bedrooms in Clyde Street and James Street.''

Bob Allison, working for dairyman Percy Mount, had a complete change in delivery routines. First he had to collect it in churns from the docks before it could be taken to the depot for bottling.