THE closure of Emmanuel Church in Okehampton Road, St Thomas, has brought back poignant memories for Dorothy "Dot" Leyman, widow of popular Exeter police officer Sgt Louis Leyman.
It was Sgt Leyman who played a key role in rescuing two young choir boys who were trapped in the church when it was submerged by the 1960 Exeter floods which turned Okehampton Road into a raging torrent.
Mrs Leyman, who lives in Broadfields, Exeter, has provided this photograph which show Sgt Leyman ( third from left) with other rescuers, leading one of the boys, thought to be Dave Bucknell, now of Heavitree, to safety.
Sgt Leyman was helped by the then Deputy Chief Constable of Exeter, Supt Joe Pessell, and PC Peter Grimes. On the right is Exeter fireman Ivor Hatton who died in 1983,
Dave, a 13- year-old choir boy in Emmanuel Church at the time was trapped with another lad, Terry Roberts by the floods.
He recalled: "When we tried to leave at 4pm the water had risen outside and we were trapped. We hoped it would go down but it didn't and when four or more feet of it got into the church, we went and sat on the window ledge in the Lady Chapel, where we pretended to be shipwrecked sail-ors.
"We were still there at midnight, but then a very brave policeman managed to rescue us. He climbed along the backs of other buildings, tying ropes to downspouts, to get to us, and led us back to safety the same way he had come."
