I started my schooldays in 1944 at St Peter's RC School in West Street at its junction with North Road. The teachers were of the Catholic faith and included Sisters of Mercy, Aloysius Clarke, Sisters Baptist and Mary Mercy. Others included Miss Haggerty, Miss Sirrett and Mr Hilton. It was a happy school with strict discipline and some of the children up to the age of 15 years were from expatriate Irish families. My father and grandfather had also been educated in the same school.

Lessons each morning started with the Catechism and the school curriculum related very much to that of any school of a similiar size. There was a problem with heating and plumbing for wash and toilet facilities but the important Three Rs were taught, and not forgotten. I remember most Miss Haggerty who lived in John Street with her mother. Out of school she worked as receptionist for the Doctors' Surgery in John Street where Drs Partridge, Riddle, and some others saw patients and performed minor surgery. Miss Haggerty owned an Austin Ruby motor car and she sometimes tooted to those she knew. I also recall that at the junction of Victoria Road and Connaught Avenue a car failed to stop and crashed into Miss Haggerty's little car. Fortunately she and her elderly mother were not badly hurt but the Austin Ruby was a write-off or damaged beyond economical repair. I think this was in the early 1950s.

In 1944 for a time I lived with my grandparents, Bill, and Ellen White of West Street. Grandad was a member of the Home Guard and had served with the West Kent Regiment during the Great War. Grandma lived her most of her life in Shoreham and was well-known, particularly for her knack of 'reading tea leaves'. This was of course before the advent of tea bags. Some of her neighbours often called to have their tea leaves read. Births, death, and courtships were forecast with uncanny accuracy.

Ellen was the daughter of William Bareham who had migrated to Shoreham from the Blackwater area of Essex, where her father had been an Oyster fisherman and skipper of an Oyster Smack sailing from Shoreham. Her brother Bill Bareham was the skipper of a smart yacht called Rosalind, a model of which is in Marlipins museum. To continue about Ellen; she was mother of six sons, all of whom were serving in the Armed Forces. They were diversely in different regiments but I believe that they had been inspired by the loss of a favourite uncle; Leonard White who as a Fusilier was killed in the Great War, in 1918.

There was a number of characters living in West Street. Mr Marsh was a middle-aged chap who had a garden at the railway station which is now a car park. Mr Marsh balanced a number of seed trays on his head, mounted his cycle and went to his allotment with half a dozen trays on his head. As boys we would shout at him to unbalance him but they stayed put.

Mr Sidney Saunders, nicknamed ' Crutchy' Saunders, had lost a leg. He was a shoe repairer and worked from his home. Crutchy had a pet white duck which followed Mr Saunders everywhere. He always had a pint of beer at lunchtime and he went to the Bridge Hotel every day. The High Street traffic stopped as Crutchy swung on his crutches and his pet duck waddled behind him. The duck lapped bitter from an ashtray. On a visit to the King Alfred swimming pool I once saw Crutchy climb the ladder to the high diving board, hop out to the edge and dive into the pool. Depite his handicap Sid Saunders was a good swimmer.

The shop on the Twitten was owned by Mrs Leaze who had a love of all animals, wild and domestic. The shop was poorly stocked but this was due to the fact that many goods were not available for sale. However, the window display was several boxes of Blue Cross matches and a row of lemonade bottles filled with coloured water. Bread, penny buns, and some cakes were in large wooden trays as delivered by the baker but the effect was spoiled by the constant presence of several cats. They lounged anywhere. In her garden Mrs Leazel had a large aviary for injured birds. If anyone took an injured bird into the shop they would be rewarded with a penny bun or cake. No one was surprised when the shop became a Vets.

Opposite the Twitten there was a stable where Mr Patching stabled his horse Dobbin. On Saturday mornings I was paid sixpence to sweep the stable and paint Dobbin's hooves with an oil. I also waxed the leather reins and tack, and polished the brass buckles. The stable doors opened onto West Street and the area behind the horse is where the delivery cart was kept. It smelled of paraffin. The hardware where the stock was kept was at the High Street end of West Street. For many years Mr Patching presented an annual trophy for a Mile Race which started in Mill Lane, and finished on the Upper Shoreham Road. This trophy was competed for until the late 1950s.  If I remember correctly a classmate, Terry Wells, won the race. Terry used to run everywhere but following National Service in the Royal Sussex Regiment he immigrated to Canada.

The children of Old Shoreham Road and Freehold Street area considered themselves lucky .Tom Smith owned a fair which had its Winter Quarters opposite the Swiss Gardens. I can remember the huge haulage vehicles and a mammoth power generator. One of the rides was a wonderful Carousel, with Galloping Horses and organ, which played catchy tunes of the day. Another was a Chairoplane which whirled the riders out in a seat suspended from chains. The fairground children, Harry James among them, attended local schools. Harry was one of the last persons to live in a Caravan on the site.  

I can remember when old Mrs Smith died the body was laid out in a coffin on the site. The showmen and women from far and wide paid their respects. There was a queue of expensive vehicles, Rolls-Royces, Bentleys and the like, stretched up the Old Shoreham Road along the Upper Shoreham Road right to the park. This was in the early 1950s. It amazed the people of Shoreham who were astounded at the number of mourners there were. 

Ruby Smith, who ran a children's ride on Lancing Beach right up to the 1980s, showed me a framed certificate that Tom Smith had been presented with. It was from the Treasurer of the wartime National Spitfire Fund. Tom had raised funds to buy a Spitfire. Mrs Smith had lived in a beautifully decorated caravan. It remained empty on her death, rumour was that it was going to be burned. However, it was so expensively made surely no one would set fire to it. One day it disappeared. I never asked about it. Hopefully it still exists, belonging to another family of showmen. Often on my travels I have seen Carousels and Chairoplanes just like those owned by Tom Smith. Even today they are as popular as ever with people who enjoy a visit to the fair.

To anyone who knew of Charlie Miller with his ground on the Steyning road which was full of old carts, boilers, mangles and a few broken down motor cars, he was a Steptoe of Shoreham. He sold bean sticks and poles; anyone needing a set of pram wheels for a barrow knew where to go. He lived in Old Shoreham Road in a terraced house adjacent to Worleys nurseries. The garden was a rambling but interesting junkyard.with Elders growing through old tin baths., If you needed a replacement part for an old gas fire boiler then Charlie Miller may help. An old wooden shed was full of old second-hand cycle parts. Nothing it seemed was ever thrown away.

At the Red Lion public house Bob Firthkettle was mine host and he knew many of the employees of the Ricardo Engineering works. He had a fund of wartime stories of events on the Airport and tales about the Free French airmen stationed there who used his popular pub following flying duties.

In one of those small cottages in the Street adjacent to Adur Lodge, they had no services, only a water stand pipe in the garden, lived an unfortunate man who had been in the RAF as an Aircrewman. Whatever happened to him affected his mind.  He was very tall, well-dressed and always clutched a book behind his back as he walked endlessly around Shoreham, talking aloud as he went. As children we called him the Mad Professor. However, looking back now as an adult we were most rude and unfair.  I can envisiage him with his bushy grey beard muttering to himself. Sadly I never knew his name.

One of the shops on Victoria Terrace, was called 'Jack's Bargain Stores'. Jack was a larger-than-life looking man, with a disreputable appearance. He was overweight and always wore the same huge green pullover with a large hole in the front and a number of food stains. His assistant was a slim small lady, with very ginger waist-length hair. When not in his shop he could be found in either the Arundel Arms run by Sid Page, or the King's Head public house. 

The interior of the shop was a riot of old books, furniture, hatstands, tin baths, wooden boxes, reels of old film, boxes of cigarette cards, jam jars full of marbles, and picture frames. Many boxes were full of old cutlery long past its useful time, and perhaps the odd carving fork and rusted sharpening tool. Much of the junk was set out in boxes placed on tables with a way to the shop door. During inclement weather the valuable books and post cards were taken into the shop. Much of Jack's bargains came from house clearances in Brighton.  Occasionally an old wind-up gramaphone might appear with several boxes of ancient records. Sometimes a bicycle could be found, with rotted tyres and rusted wheels and chain. "That?" Jack would say. "Give me five bob, and it's yours."

Outside of the Marlipins Museum, Mr Clements had a flat topped hand cart. He sold freshly caught fish, crabs, prawns, shrimps, and whelks. Winkles were sold by the pint, fish type depended on what had been caught that day. I  recall that Mr Clements had been selling his fish from his barrow for many years and was part of the High Street scene.  He always wore a flat cap, summer and winter.  Wrappings were usually clean wrapping paper, all folded in clean newspaper. I always called him by his name, Mister Clements, but older folk called him Jack. He used weighing scales on the barrow.

Whiterod brothers Bill and Tom lived in Corbyn Crescent. Bill was a timber porter at Whites & Co timber merchants. Tom had a newspaper barrow. It had canvas cover like a small prairie schooner like those seen in old Western movies. Tom kept his barrow outside The Buckingham Arms, against the wall of Eade Stores, now an opticians. Tom sold and delivered the Argus daily and late night final newspapers. Tom was very introvert and often could be seen as late as 9pm delivering newspapers in Western road. People were very trusting then and when away from his barrow on a delivery Tom left a small tin in which to place monies for the newspapers on sale. I believe Bill and Tom were bachelors and Bill devoted his life to caring and providing a home for Tom, his autistic brother,.

It seemed that Shoreham had a wide selection of Butchers. Evans and Upton next to the Swiss Gardens on Commercial Terrace, Ted Harmsworth at the West End of the High Street, Dewhurst, adjacent to FW Woolworth's, Harold Snelling opposite the footbridge, and Mr Jack Shepherd who had a shop in East Street. There were others but the passage of time has eroded their names from my memory.

One chap had a wonderfully tiled shop in New Road. I remember rabbits hanging alongside pheasant and pigeons, all in row outside of the shop. Of course, this was in the days of Pounds, Shillings and Pence and the meat prices were very often fixed on a pin which was stuck into the meat on offer. 2/6d or 5/- meaning Two Shillings and Sixpence or Five Shillings. When Decimal currency was introduced Mr Paul Plumb refused to alter the prices in his outfitters and was told that unless he changed to decimal prices Customs would take him to court. Paul retained his £ s d long after everyone else. Paul was very well known in Shoreham for his contribution
to Country dance, and founded the 'Chanctonbury Morris Men'. On retirement, Paul went to live on a very small plantation hill farm in North Wales. However, after several years away he returned to his roots.

A popular pastime, and social activity , Old Time Dancing, was held on Saturday nights in St Mary's Church Hall, the ladies attired in layered Crinoline dresses and gentlemen wore evening suits and white gloves. This form of dance was very extremeley well supported and the ladies carrying dance shoes would accompany their partners as they walked through the town to St Mary's Hall. The floor was powdered with talc and sometimes grated candle wax was scattered on the dance floor to help with this form of dance. Music was almost always  provided on a record player and sometimes a small dance band was engaged. Mr Dudley Richards, husband of 'Robin', had a small band. He played drums when not woking for Chad Valley toys, he being a salesman in Hove. I should have said that Robin Richards was a councillor, as an independant candidate on the Urban District Council and later on the Adur Council serving as Chairperson. Some bungalows on Middle Road are named Richards Bungalows.

One of the popular institutions in the town is the Royal British Legion, the Shoreham Branch being one of the oldest in the country. The first club was in Connaught Avenue, it later became the Grammar School Gymnasium. Then the branch moved to the Haig Hut on the Ropetackle. Following closure in the 1960s, the branch continued holding it's meetings in public houses with an activities room. Late in the 1970s Mr Lionel Martin, who ran Streamline taxis and lived in Shoreham, collected some small businessmen who were ex- servicemen and they purchased a dwelling house in Buckingham Road where the Club is today. Mr Freddy Ansell, Morton Mitchell, a resident of St John's Street and an ex Medical Corps man, with Mr George Osborn and Mr George Care formed the Branch Committee under the Presidency of Lionel Martin. Much of the Royal British Legion's welfare work is unseen but the ex-service community in Shoreham were well served by the service committee.  The dediication of some was led by Mr Buckwell, who carried the branch standard for over 40 years from its formation in 1921.

The Royal National Life Boat Institution has installed one of its life saving boats in Shoreham from Victorian times. The Shoreham crew have a history of bravery at sea. The family names of Page and Upton are well-known in Lifeboat circles. Members of the crew come from all walks of life but a non-member who lived on the Old Fort Road, and president of the Ladies Guild for the Shoreham Lifeboat, was Lady Hermoine Colwyn. Lady Colwyn shared her house with her pet dog and although she owned a vintage Rolls-Royce and a vintage Bentley car she drove a little Morris 1000 cc car. Sometimes she let her vintage cars for use by a filming company, which raised a little capital to pay for the running of the Morris Minor. On her death this wonderful old lady left her house and legacy to the RNLI. As a result the new Shoreham boat was named after her; 'Hermoine Lady Colwyn'.

No story of the people of Shoreham who lived in Shoreham in the 1950s would be complete without some mention of someone everyone in those days knew. He was Mr Archie Thomas, a resident of Connaught Avenue and Keeper of Buckingham Park.  In addition to caring for the town flower beds and the park with its football pitches, cricket pitch on hallowed grass, children's swings, and the wonderful Beech trees, and two very old Chestnut trees, Archie was a keen sportsman and gifted musician who played in a dance band. I was lucky to have Archie as a neighbour and knew both his wife and Anita his daughter. In those days of austerity Buckingham Park was admired by all.

The First World War caused a great number of men to suffer all manner of nervous conditions and many who had lost lower limbs in the trench warfare. As a result, the need to find gainful employment for limbless ex-servicemen. It was rather ironic that one of the resettlement trades taught was that of boot and shoe repairer. Also, a workshop for making artificial limbs was set up at Roehampton which has become a centre of excellence for making the aids today. There were several men in Shoreham who repaired footwear and had been trained to do so on the scheme.  Mr Payne, of Aston Cottages raised a family and repaired shoes at his home. Another was Mr Sid 'Crutchy' Saunders from his home in West Street. Mr Bishop, who walked with a very bad limp, repaired shoes in a small lock-up shop at the Western end of the High Street. A Mr Still, had a lock-up shop and repaired shoes on the premises at the junction  of Brunswick Road and Tarmount Lane. I can't remember if he was an amputee.

One of the men who were well-known to a succession of schoolchildren in Shoreham was Mr Granville Eaton. He was a gifted musician, and was the Youth Employment Officer with an office in East Street. Granville lived on the beach and during the war had been a pilot in the RAF and had flown the famous Wooden Wonder, the Mosquito. He had set many young people onto a successful career in many fields of industry. I often saw Mr Granville Eaton, at his bungalow home. He played piano, and directed a choir for practice at his home.

Another gentleman known to many boys in Shoreham was Mr Wills, another ex RAF man who was School Secretary at Shoreham Grammar School when Mr Brude, was the long-serving Headmaster. Mr Wills was at one time an ATC Officer in 1440 Sqdn , when the meetings were held at the Dome on Shoreham Airport. I remember that Mr Wills, although a giant of height and build, was extremely quiet. Mr Fred Parsons, who lived in Ship Street, was the founder of The Shoreham Athletic Club. The early meetings were held in The Haig Hut, when for sixpence a week the youngsters were given lessons in PE and formed human tableaux. The dress was a yellow T-shirt and white shorts and plimsoles.  The  club members, all schoolboys, were trained by Fred and Mrs Parsons and gave the public demonstrations of PE at garden fetes and fairs. The club became affiliated to the National Association of Boys Clubs, and had its meetings in West Street.

A visit to the  Club by singer and President of the National Association of Boys Clubs Mr Frankie Vaughan. He gained popularity in the Top Twenty with a song called 'Green Door'. This was about 1956. I recall travelling with the club to the Dripping Pan at Lewes to give a demo at a fete which was opened by Mr Frankie Howerd who signed all the autograph books. Frankie Howerd, a comedian, was famous for his part in 'Up Pompeii'.

A chap who was very well-known in Shoreham, who rode as driver of the Council horse and cart, went by the name of ' Buller' Parsons. Buller always stood up when driving the cart. You could see why he was called ' Buller', he was a huge man and was a very imposing figure. I don't know anything about his personal life, but when on the bins it seemed he could carry two bins, one on each shoulder. This was long before the days of Wheelie bins and recycling. All the council waste was taken to the Tip, where the Adur recreation ground is situated. Large mountains of waste were burned and there was always a bonfire smoking 365 days a year.

A huge bonfire was always built for the celebration of Guy Fawkes Night when the Shoreham Bonfire Society came into its own. My father always talked about old Joe the nightsoil man who emptied the toilets on Bungalow Town.  Word was that on one occasion Joe kept his sandwiches in a OXO tin and in fine weather kept it wrapped in his jacket that was on the seat of his horse and cart. One day the wind blew his jacket and sandwich box into the metal tank. Undeterred he retrieved his sandwiches and after washing his hands in the Adur scoffed the food with much relish. The OXO tin was completely water tight and his sandwiches were untarnished.

On a cold winter's day when in Middle Street the sound of hammering on an anvil was heard. The noise was being created by Mr Burtenshaw, the Blacksmith. In those days of the early 1950s very few ponies were brought around for shoeing. Mr Burtenshaw turned his hand to many forms of metal-working. He could make most items of ironwork for gates, hinges for farm gates, brackets, and all things which couldn't be bought off the shelf. From the dark interior of the forge, sparks flew and hammering could be seen and heard from quite a long way off.  Occasionally, a crowd would gather around whilst Mr B explained what he was doing. The Butenshaws provided Shoreham with several generations of Blacksmiths, They also provided a service to the boat-building community.  I should have said that the Forge was on the East side of the road opposite the Cottage near to the car park. There were large double doors.

I was a regular visitor to Shoreham Airport, especially if a new aircraft type was visiting or a well known aviation personality was visiting. It was at the Airport terminal building that I first met Mr Toon Ghose. He left Calcutta in 1955 and rode to France on a Vespa Scooter. In France he learned to glide. He set up an Indian gliding record by flying up to 25,000 ft. He later learned to fly powered aircraft and came to England where he took a Commercial Pilot's Licence.  In 1968 Toon became the Chief Flying Insrtuctor for Cecil Pashley at the Southern Aero flying club. During the 1970s he set up his own business, Toon Ghose Aviation, but the credit squeeze in the 1980s caused many businesses to go into voluntary liquidation and sadly Toon's company became one of them. Toon Ghose was impeturbable and was very well-known in Shoreham.

The domestic milk supplies as I first remember, were from a milk churn. The milkman had a barrow which was adapted for carrying a small milk churn and milk was dispensed from a skillet, which usually measured half a pint. The householder kept a clean milk jug ready each early morning to receive a milk delivery. In warm weather milk often went sour, so many folk kept their milk in a jug that was immersed in a cold water filled bucket. The milk delivery man had a small hand bell to summon customers. Two or even three different milk suppliers brought milk to West Street. Mr Ansell, had a dairy off little High Street, then there was Battens
dairy man, and the Co-op as well.  In those days only the very wealthy had refrigerators and because the availability of milk was important many families had a cold or stone slab upon which to store their milk. It was also useful to have a lace beaded doily to put over the jug, to keep out unwanted flies and other beasties.

At least once a week, the Rag and Bone Man would shout his presence in the street. This was before the days of noisy traffic when only a few hand and horse-drawn carts were seen on Shorehams streets. There were two regular men, firstly was Mr Tom Bainbridge who could stand at North Road and shout Raaaaaaagg Boooooooonnee. His practiced voice carried the full length the street.  Householders would take him a few old rags, and bundles of papers in exchange for a few pennies. The other man was a very scruffy individual who mainly dealt in scrap metal, His name was Smith, or Smithy, who was alcoholic, and drank his wages in the Swiss Public Bar. A comment about Smithy was that you could grow potatos in the dirt in his fingernails. However untidy, Mr Smith would take away the dated oven or rusted fire grate and served a useful purpose in the Community. Smithy had a type of railway porter's
barrow which he pushed weekly from one end of town to the other.

I don't remember many bread delivery shops but Spurriers had a delivery bread man who pushed a large wooden barrow. The bread was kept inside a large cupboard with a double door opening to facilitate locating the bread. The barrow was marked with a Hovis bread logo.and two sheaves of wheat in a transfer alongside. Householders sometimes made a street purchase but most of the deliveries were ordered prior to delivery. Reckoning up was usually on a Saturday.

Pounds, Shillings and pence, and Tons, Hundredweights and Quarters avoirdupois were in use until the introduction of Decimal weights and Currency. 

Slang words were in common usage, a quid was one pound, a guinea was twenty-one shillings, twelve pence made one shilling or a Bob. A Crown was a five shilling coin, and Half a Crown was two shillings and sixpence.  A florin was a two shilling coin, parts of a shilling were, a sixpence, three pence or a silver threepence was called a siver Joey. Then there was a penny, halfpenny and the lowest value coin, a farthing. Four farthings made one Penny, and 240 pennies made one pound. It is no wonder that schoolchildren had difficulties at arithmetic. The pound was  subdivided into twenty shillings then, fifteen bob, Ten Bob,or five bob, slang for five shillings.

George Cole who was war blinded, showed me how a blind person , could recognise a coin value simply by feel and how to positively identify a ten bob note or a Quid. He measured them against his hand, and feel of the paper.  Robert Tanner who lived in the town was called One and Six, or Bob, Tanner. Confused...................

I cannot wrap up without saying something, of some characters, who moved to the town in later life, drawn by the attraction of living in a town with a village atmosphere. First I shall mention Roger Simon, who was married to Barbara. A Frenchman by birth, Roger came to  England, a young aviiator when the outbreak of war, and his country had become occupied caused Roger to escape to relative safety. He joined the RAF, trained to fly fighter aircraft and transferred to the Free French Air Force in Exile.  He served on a number of squadrons, and qualified on flying the Spitfire.  In 1943, Roger received a newspaper cutting from a French Vichy sponsored newspaper which, unbelievably, accused him of being a traitor. He was sentenced to death in his absence. The end of war saw Roger in Shoreham having served with No 345 Sqdn Free French air force, which had flown the Spitfire Vb. Many years after the war, and the death of De Gaulle, the Entente Cordiale became a reality, In 1995, Roger and a  number of his pilot colleagues were taken from London by RAF motorcyclist to RAF Northolt, then flown by Harrier aircraft to De Gaulle airport. He was then again taken by a French Air Force motorcyclist to Paris, where he was welcomed by the French Prime Minister. Roger and his colleagues were formally absolved of the 'Trumped Up' Treason charge and presented with The Croix de Guerre and the Resistance Medaille. Later Roger returned to live back in Shoreham. Both he and Barbara have passed on but not before at the scattering of his ashes on Shoreham Airport, a Spitfire carried out a flypast salute to honour 'Mon Brave' Roger Simon DFC Cx de Guerre and holder of the much vaunted Resistance Medaille.

The other chap was also a wartime airman, Alan Mills, originally a Londoner, and educated at Dulwich College. Alan, like many of his generation, was called up. He joined the RAF and trained as a Navigator. One winter's evening in 1940, Alan and his crew of a Wellington twin engined bomber was detailed to carry out a Nickel Raid. They flew over Germany and dropped leaflets over a German city. The aircraft flew into worsening weather. Eventually the aeroplane ran out of petrol, and the Skipper gave the order to abandon the aircraft.  Alan and the rest leaped to safety and parachuted to earth.  On hiding their chutes the crew could see lights in a nearby farmhouse.... They had bailed out over Occupied France.  The farmer called the Gendarmes and the hapless crew were taken prisoner. Later, whilst held in an old Napoleonic Prison, Alan and a number of others escaped through a tunnel. Following a year of being on the loose in occupied France disguised as a film actor, Alan escaped to Spain and then to Gibraltar, where he was flown to RAF Lyneham, where his original journey began. Alan then spent the rest of the war lecturing on escape and evasion to trainee aircrews. Later Alan appeared on the TV programme 'This is your Life'. The subject was Commander Albert Guerese, a Belgian who organised The Comete Escape line, when the story was told.

Gerald White 2009.