There we were at Waterside Farm Leisure Centre waiting for the Island Boys Under 11 match to kick off. Suddenly, we smelt smoke, and turned to see that a fire had broken out in the reeds near to the road. Smoke was bellowing acrosss the busy lunchtime traffic and the flames seemed to be spreading quite quickly. Having had to call the Fire Brigade the previous evening to another grass fire over the road I reluctantly pulled out my phone, wondering whether they would think that I was a firestarting photographer with a fetish for men in uniform. Fortunately some-one else had already reported it, and we were assured that a pump was on it’s way.

As I was watching from a prudently safe distance (all thoughts of football now having been postponed by all the spectators and both teams) members of the Canvey Railway and Model Engineering Club proceeded to calmly tackle the blaze with long shovels and buckets of water. All was under control by the time the fire brigade turned up, so they damped down and left.