Ex-Canty league coach caught up in UK flood

NICK TOLERTON | 27th November 2009

Former Canterbury rugby league coach Gerard Stokes lent his weight to something different this week – helping with the clean-up in Cockermouth, the place worst hit by the Cumbrian floods.

Mr Stokes, now coach of the Whitehaven league team, lives in Cockermouth and his own house on the main street escaped flooding by "an inch."

He had it sandbagged and turned down an evacuation offer by police as the waters from the local Derwent and Cocker rivers rose in the township.

"My neighbour 30ft across the road was totally flooded out, although to the eye we looked on the same level," he said. "We were very, very lucky."

Most people in the town of 8000 weren’t, and instead of sitting down planning the start of Whitehaven’s pre-season training which begins this weekend, Mr Stokes, who has lived in Cockermouth since 2003, has been out helping his neighbours.

"Many friends own shops and pubs, and I’m helping them cleaning out," he said. With so many people he knew affected, it had been an "emotional" week.

Cockermouth was a "quintessential English market town," very quiet and pretty, he said.

The floods were described as a 1000-year event.

"You can see all the film and the pictures, but if you were not involved, you can’t understand the magnitude," he said.

"Our main street was like a river – not a slow flood, I’m talking about a torrent. Trees and cars came floating past."

For several days Sea King helicopters were constantly flying low overhead, shaking the house.

The street looked like a war zone, he said. Trees, cars, and debris smashed the fronts of all the shops, and when the water started to recede there was an awful lot of sludge and mud.

"And there’s no quick fix – it could be a year before some businesses are up and running, and a couple of pubs won’t open until Easter. Everything the water touched is contaminated."

Many bridges in Cumbria were destroyed, and a village 10min away from Cockermouth suddenly became a 150km, two-hour trip.

A former Kiwi forward, Mr Stokes coached the Canterbury Bulls and guided them to victory in the first Bartercard Cup final in 2000, winning the New Zealand coach of the year award.

He has coached both Cumbria’s professional clubs, Workington and Whitehaven, and last year also coached the Serbian national team.

With a forecast of more heavy rain, life in Cocker-mouth wasn’t great this week, but Mr Stokes has one thing to cheer him up.

His son Ben, 18, who plays county cricket for Durham, has been selected for the England team for the under-19 World Cup here early next year.

England have matches in Christchurch, which will bring the talented batsman-all rounder back to his hometown for the first time since he left as a 12-year-old.

Mr Stokes was a keen lower grade cricketer in Christchurch, but reckons his son got the cricket talent from his wife Deborah, a successful sportswoman.

"I’ve told Ben we’ll support you as long as you’re not playing New Zealand!" he said.