Newsletter No.2

By Vic Lander

East Brighton Bygones Local History Society

"Newsletter"

Issue No 2 August 2008

Introduction
The idea of a regular "Newsletter" was welcomed by members therefore this will now become a norm of the Society.

Like all other activities within Bygones the success of the Newsletter will depend on the involvement of members.  Anyone having an item they think would be of interest or assistance must have the item to the editor by the 1st Wednesday of the month.  This will allow publication and distribution to be made at the monthly meetings.  For the immediate future Vic and Brenda Lander have volunteered to act as editors, they can be contacted on 01903 763885.

News of members
Beryl Tucknot has been given the dates for her knee replacement operation and I am sure that all members wish her the very best for a successful outcome.

Brenda  and Vic Lander will not attend the August meeting as they will be on holiday.

It is good to have Sue Marshall back with us and seeing how active she is on her two new hips

New members

We had no new members join us in July.

General news
The move to the new office at the Valley social centre has now been completed.  The telephone has been installed and is operative.  Trish Leonard has made the answerphone message that will be heard when the office is un-manned.  For those that may have mislaid the number it is 01273 608807

We have taken ownership of a set of bookcases for the office.  They have obviously been made by a craftsman of the Chippendale standard (the furniture maker not the male strippers).

The bookcase has now allowed us to display the books that are available in our library for the use of members.  A book will be made available and those members wishing to borrow a book will be asked to insert the name of the book they have borrowed and the date it was taken and returned.

Recent activities
The talk at the July meeting was presented by Trish Penney the subject being the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

The talk was extremely well received all members agreeing that it was a very interesting subject.  Trish spoke on the work of the Institution and it's equipment.  In addition she told some anecdotal stories of rescues both recent and in the past.

On the 16th July 20 members visited the AmberleyChalkpitsMuseum.  The museum is devoted to industrial and craft heritage and is an inspiring place to visit.

The area that the museum covers is very large so there are various means of transportation that can be taken.  These range from ancient buses with old time tickets being issued to a train that was used to move materials around the area when it was a working concern.

The exhibits are so diverse that everyone could find something that interested them personally.  The Vice Chairman was delighted that he could still send the Morse Code on the equipment located in the Radio exhibition.

An excellent cafeteria is available for a range of food and drink, which the Chairman took full advantage of.

The weather was very kind for the visit and everyone agreed that the day was a great success

The first of the informal tea and discussion meetings was held at the Valley.  Sadly only five members attended which was a disappointment to Beryl.  It has been decided that we are going to call these events "déjà vu", (hope this is spelt correctly

Articles and stories received
Research is on-going into the exact details surrounding Bob Nutley's Great Grandfather and his involvement in the building of Belle Vue Cottages.  These cottages are located at the top of Bear Road near to the junction with Warren Road and adjacent to the reservoir.

Bob had been told by his Grandmother that his Great Grandfather, who was a master builder employed on the building of the workhouse, had been able to obtain sufficient waste material from the site to build the eleven cottages,

Several of Bob's relatives lived in the cottages up until the 1960's.  The latest research seems to suggest that it was not the workhouse but the BevendeanIsolationHospital that was the site in question.  There will be more news later on this intriguing story.

Our close relationship with St Mary's hall leads to the next item that we are researching.  We are trying to find evidence and details of a dairy that is thought to have existed in the vicinity of Church Place.  If any member has any information it would be gratefully received.

External contacts
Bob Cristofoli and Vic Lander accompanied by Tricia Leonard visited St Mary's Hall at their invitation to view their archive.  This proved to be a most interesting visit and it is hoped that members will be able to view some of the fantastic content at a later date.

Forthcoming events
The next "déjà vu" get together will be on the 27th of August commencing at 2'0pm.

Requests for information

Other than the items mentioned earlier there have been not requests.

Subject and date of next meeting.

The next monthly meeting will be held on the 10th of September when the subject will be called "Hilly Laine to Hanover" and the speaker will be Jacqueline Pollard.

Stop Press

I am sure that members will be delighted with the news that Debbie, the manager of the Valley Social Centre has recently given birth to a baby son who is to be named Stanley.  He will be a welcome brother for Jack.  Debbie is the person who helped us so much in obtaining our office at the Valley.