Although I was born 12 years after the end of the Second World War, it was fresh in many people’s minds and there was still physical evidence to be seen in the form ‘bomb-sites’; I particularly remember the gaps, like missing teeth, in the smart terraces of The Avenue in Eastbourne and also old Home…
Category: WW2
Brighton’s Bent Cops
I knew a bent cop once. His name was Derek Ridgewell who was a British Transport Police (BTP) Detective Sergeant. He seemed to have a haughty arrogance about him and certainly looked down on me, a mere uniform PC. Ridgewell was the head of the ‘Dip Squad’ responsible for arresting travelling pickpockets, particularly on the underground….
The Cuckmere Railway
The Cuckmere Railway The Cuckmere River (never the River Cuckmere!) has always decided its own route to the sea. This map shows the various places where the mouth of the river has been since the eighteenth century. The map shows something else of interest, a thin black line at the top marked ‘Tramway’. Cuckmere Haven once had its…
The Long Man & Bluebell the Cow
I have always had an affinity for the Long Man of Wilmington. It has been a constant part of my life, and I know that my family, particularly my grandmother, Bessie adored it too. The Long Man was even on my school badge. (Willingdon County Secondary School as it was then) The Wilmington Giant stands tall…
A Sussex Life (Part 2)
My Mum, Jean, was born in 1930 and, before her death a couple of years ago, she wrote down her earliest memories. In Part 1 she told the story of her difficult early years in Eastbourne and how she lived with her grandparents in East Dean. This second part of her story records how she was adopted…
Alone with the Doodlebugs
My grandmother Bessie Gordon was in her early 40s during the Second World War. Her husband Alex, had been seriously wounded in the Great War and it is likely that he suffered from ‘shell-shock’. Alex and their 9 year old son Roger, had been evacuated to Dursley in Gloucestershire along with his sister Dorothy (Dolly)….
The Remarkable Adventures of a Sussex Bee-Keeper, Film Maker, Explorer and Rebel
In 1898 a swarm of bees made their home at Exceat Farm, close to Cuckmere Haven on the bend in the road between Seaford and Friston. Some would consider this lucky but sometimes bees can stray inside an old house and become a nuisance. In 1909 it was decided to remove the swarm. The man who was chosen…
The Story of a Pock-marked Grave
The grave of Mary Ann and Edmund Sinden in Ocklynge Cemetery, Eastbourne is badly damaged. The couple married at Folkington Church on 11th May 1856. Edmund was then living in Brighton and Mary Ann was from Wannock. She was the daughter of Henry Thomas who was a farmer there. Edmund’s father was also a farmer, John Sinden…
Preparations for the Dieppe Raid and the D-Day Landings.
Postman George Martin (1908-1976) lived in Seaford, Sussex. During the Second World War he was a volunteer fire-warden and ran the Seaford branch of Toc-H, a Christian organisation which helped visiting servicemen. He witnessed the build up of troops in Seaford prior to the Dieppe Raid of 19th August 1942 and the D-Day landings of…
A Sussex Camera Obscura
Paul Dixon’s wife knows that there is another love of his life – a beautiful if rather elderly lady whose recent makeover has given her a new lease of life. Paul is the Chief Engineer for Eastbourne Pier and it is clear that he loves the old lady very much indeed. I met Paul a…
Quirky Sussex History by Kevin Gordon 