Newsletter No12

By Vic Lander

East Brighton Bygones Local History Society

"Newsletter"

Issue No 12 June 2009

Introduction

It is said that with age time goes by more quickly. If that is so then I must be ancient for is it really a year since we produced our first newsletter? That year has certainly flown.

In the year we have grown as a society with a lot more recognition within the area of what we are about and our willingness to work with others for the benefit of the community. Our credibility as a history society has grown and we should feel proud of our achievements.

Our membership has increased and continues to do so. Existing members seem to agree that we have become a friendly and supportive group who care about each other and the areas we represent.

Well done everyone.

News of members

Betty Netley has now returned home from hospital and we wish her a speedy recovery to good health.

Bob and Betty Nutley arrived safely in France and straight away fell into the French way of life. No sooner had they arrived than they were whisked off to a family party for the daughter of the farmer on who's farm they keep their caravan. This was followed by another "do" where the wine ran very freely.

Keith no longer owns a car and as members will know he used to kindly give Flora a lift. Without Keith's kind assistance poor Flora has now become disadvantaged in getting to meetings. If any car owner can help it would be most appreiciated.

New Members

At the May meeting we had three new members join us. They are Elizabeth, Ruby and Penny. We extend a warm welcome to them and hope that they will enjoy their involvement with us.

General news

The tours of the air-raid shelters to coincide with the Brighton Festival have now come to an end. The school and the Parent Teacher Association all agree that the involvement of our volunteers enhanced the visits.

Charlie and Sheila Coverdale, Norman Foord in particular deserve a massive thank you from us for the way they conducted the tours and cemented our reputation with all concerned with the visits.

Tours took place on each Wednesday afternoon and Saturday morning during the festival and going by the comments of the visitors were a great success. In fact all visitors unanimously agreed that they felt owing to the value of the tours the entrance fees should be increased.

During the break from tours we plan to carry out some maintenance and cleaning of the shelters so we will be looking for volunteers. If you are not too mobile you can still help with such things as documenting the artefacts that are on show.

Many of the items that are on show suffer from deterioration owing to the damp atmosphere. If you have any items from the 1940's please donate them or loan them to the shelters so that our supplies can be replenished.

All the members agreed that the members contact booklets produced by Hazel Bradley were just what the doctor ordered.

Recent activities

Our speaker at the May meeting was Trevor Povey who gave a most interesting talk entitled "Nurses Nuns and Naughty Boys". The subject was mainly the institutions that were located in the Portslade area but which served the wider Brighton community.

The nurses were those dedicated souls who worked within the Foredown Isolation Hospital. The nuns were those from the religious order that ran the home for wayward girls and the naughty boy's were the in-mates of the Mile Oak reformatory.

Every one agreed that Trevor's talk was most interesting and delivered in a light hearted manner.

Six members attended the May 'Char and Chat' afternoon. Once again the discussion was very lively.

External contacts

Through the good offices of our Chairman, Bob Cristofoli, we have been invited by the "Whitehawk Crime Prevention Forum"to provide an article for publication in their quarterly newsletters. The article will take the form of a short story of local history. This contact once again gives us another vehicle for spreading the name and reputation of Bygones.

Forthcoming events

We have been invited as a society to the remembrance service held annually at Whitehawk Primary School. We are invited as VIP's because of our involvement with the Parent Teachers Association. The service will be held on November 4th commencing at 10 p.m. We are also invited to the reception in the school hall following the service. The organisers need to know numbers attending for catering purposes so those wishing to attend should give their names to Vic Lander.

The planning for our annual outing has been rather delayed but there is a suggestion that we visit the "Weald and Downland Open Air Museum" at Singleton near Chichester.

For those that have never visited the museum will find it a most interesting and beautiful place. It consists of historical buildings from all over the South East of England representing different times and social developments. Each building has been carefully dismantled from its original location and lovingly re-erected in its original form in the beautiful parkland of Singleton.

If we can get fifteen or more persons to form a party we will qualify for a group discount allowing us an entrance price of £7.50 per head.

We want to avoid hiring a coach so if you are prepared to drive and give a lift to others it would be much appreciated. If you are a passenger it will be only fair to reimburse the driver for fuel used.

Attached to this issue is a booking form which those wishing to attend the outing should complete and return to Vic Lander The next 'Char and Chat' get-together will be on 24th June commencing at 2.00 p.m.

Members' Stories

There are no specific members stories for this issue but recently I got into conversation on the businesses that used to be situated in Whitehawk Road. I could'nt remember them all, perhaps members can help me out. Those that I can remember are as follows:-

At Arundel Road there was the Chemist Rees Morgans on the Southern Corner of the junction of Arundel Road and Bristol Gardens was a Florists, Anscombes I believe,on the opposite corner was Roses a Grocers. At the end of Whitehawk Road there was a newsagents, was it Nash's? Next came Joe Lewrie the boot and shoe mender. A little further up was Mr. Miller the Dentist, I believe the next business was Mr. Guy the Gents Hairdresser and close by Davies the wool and haberdashery shop. My mind then goes a complete blank I think there was a Ladies Hairdressers and a Butchers but I am not sure. My memory returns with great clarity on reaching Mr. Boxall the Greengrocer and directly next door Mr. Cracknell another Greengrocer. Going farther on I know there was another Grocers, a Fish and Chip Shop and a wet Fishmongers.

I also seem to remember a shop where people took their radio accumulators to be re-charged but again I am not sure. Can any members remember any others?

Subject and date of next meeting

The next monthly meeting will be held on 8th July 2009 at the Whitehawk Valley Social Centre in Whitehawk Way commencing at 2 p.m.

The speaker will be. Harry Gaston speaking on the subject of "The History of the Royal Sussex County Hospital".

And finally ......

Women over 50 don't have babies because they would put them down and forget where they left them.

My mind not only wanders it sometimes leaves completely.

The nice part about living in a small community is that when you don't know what you are doing someone else does.