The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Amphibious landing crafts could become a memorial to the last time Crowland was an island.
The Crowland Buffalo/LVT Association has been formed hoping to bring some of the crafts back to the town that helped out when flooding around it left it stranded.
It was in January 1947 that ice blocked Little London Bridge in Spalding backing water up.
On March 21 it had backed up so much the water breached North Bank near Crowland flooding 25,000 to 30,000 acres of farm land.
Around 16 Buffalo LVT 4 Personal Carriers were brought in to seal the gap.
Now The Crowland Buffalo/LVT Association are researching the history of those craft and want to use at least one as a permanent memorial to the event.
The group’s Daniel Abbot said: “I’m a historian and I like to keep history alive in this town I call home.
“Councillor Byan Alcock and Philip Green asked me to look into recovering information about the 1947 floods.
“Back in January I started my research and was amazed what was on offer and soon I became overwhelmed with the amount of memories and photographs there are still about 72 years on.
“These Buffalos are still somewhere 72 years on this year.
“Our plan is to locate and rescue a couple to turn into a monument memorial to all that helped and to keep this history going for generations. I’m 95 per cent sure where they are.
“The MOD has said they are happy for us to use them as monuments.
“We are also looking for people’s memories and photos to help with filling in the spaces.”
The group recently had a stall at the Crowland Show.
“We had a brilliant reception from the public,” Daniel said. “The responses for information as a result are still coming in.”
The group has a Facebook page @Crowlandbuffalos
