SalfordOnline.com published a story last month telling how in 1965 four-year-old Dave Greene was rescued from the waters of Eccles Baths on Cromwell Road by 14-year-old David Jordan.
The story met with great success and so we decided to try and track down both boys and reunite them after all these years.
Sadly we could only trace Dave Greene, a father of three and (not surprisingly) a keen swimmer these days, who told us what he remembered of that fateful day and how he owed his life to the teenage rescuer.
He said: “My son Paul showed me the article on SalfordOnline and I was truly amazed when I read it.
“I had loads of people calling me up and messaging me saying I was in the local online paper.”
“My only memory of that day is being in the showers at Cromwell Road and for some reason I had wandered off and ended up in the pool.
“I do recall the steps leading down to the shallow end, which was only 3ft deep, so I can only think that’s how I got into the water.
“My mother tells me that I was taken to Hope Hospital and I was kept in for three days.
50 years ago: 14-year-old hero saves toddler from drowning at Eccles baths
“Ironically enough, the next week my mother took me and my younger brother Paul back to the baths to help conquer my fear of water.
“Believe it or not, our Paul accidentally pushed me into the water, it wasn’t on purpose, he was only two years old!
“My instincts must have kicked in and I managed to stay afloat – despite the fear this really helped.
Over the years Dave grew in confidence to compete in swimming for his school, St Patrick’s in Winton, as well as the 1/3rd Eccles Scouts.
“Now I have a great marriage, three lovely children, a job that I really enjoying doing, and none of these things would have been possible without David.”
Dave, an avid Manchester City supporter, is a now a site manager at Godfrey Ermen school in Peel Green.
When the Headteacher Mrs Clancy heard about the remarkable rescue she told all of the schoolchildren what had happened and invited Dave to go on stage and tell his story.
The school has been running a project called, ‘Random Acts of Kindness’ which aims to teach the children that if you do one good deed for a stranger, it can not only change your life but that of the person who you have shown kindness to, which we think is a great lesson for children to learn.
So where is the elusive David Jordan? We were told that he was living in Ellesmere Park recently but we have had no luck in tracing him.
He would be 64 today, if he was still with us.
Dave added: “I would dearly love to meet up with David Jordan again after all these years and thank him for not only saving my life but to thank him for all the positive things that have happened to me in my life – which would not have happened if he hadn’t have rescued me.”
If anybody knows where David is could you please ask him to contact tonyflynn@salfordonline.com so that we can introduce him to Dave Greene, and show him how his quick thinking all those years ago changed one man’s life for ever.
