Floods: Quick thinking saves village homes

Sharp-eyed volunteer marshals have saved hundreds of homes from flooding - with a bit of help from the RAF.

The village of Old Windsor had been spared most of the flooding that hit its neighbours.

But on Thursday, February 13, Martin Clist - who is co-ordinator for the village's volunteer marshals - and his colleague marshal Nick Bromley noticed something worrying in Church Road.

Brown water was pouring down following the path of an old Saxon ditch. It looking all set to travel across a field where it would have swelled the water already collected in the flood plain backing straight onto Meadow Way. 

An emergency call to the army which was helping out at nearby Datchet, brought an immediate team of 18 lads from the RAF in lorries.

Over four hours they had built a massive wall made up of thousands of sandbags.The rising water was trapped by the new wall and safely pumped into the river.

Martin, 47, of Queens Close, said: "If it was not for the wall 12 million litres of water would have swamped Meadow Way and two other roads."

It has been nicknamed Bromley's wall by the village.