! ! ! ! !EastbourneLocal HistorianEastbourne Local History Society Issue 161 Autumn 2011

www.eastbournehistory.org.uk £1.50

ContentsA Message from the Editors 3

Belle Tout: The Little Lighthouse That Moved 4

Research Enquiries 8

Additions to our Archive 10

The Society Style Guide 10

The Story of Silverdale Road 11

A Visit to St Nicolas Church, Pevensey 13

Eastbourne’s Appeasement Years 1938 14

The Old Dower House 17

A Mystery Photograph 18

Staveley Court 20

Operation Sussex Study Day - Funds for Macmillan Cancer Care 24

Newsletter Award 2011 25

The Society’s Publications inside back cover

The Society’s Programme 2011 back cover

Eastbourne Local History SocietyChairman of the Society: Lionel Jones2 Cherry Garden Road, Eastbourne, BN20 8EY ☎ 01323-734562

Hon Secretary: vacant

Hon Treasurer: vacant

Membership: Jack Putland11 Ringwood Court, Seaside, Eastbourne BN22 7RB ☎ 01323-649506

Editors: Michael Partridge 2a Staveley Road, Eastbourne BN20 7LH, ✉ mjpartridge2a@btinternet.com Tony Crooks53 Mendip Avenue, Eastbourne BN23 8HP, ✉ tcrooks@gmail.com

The Society may be contacted at: www.eastbournehistory.org.uk or info@eastbournehistory.org.uk

Cover Picture: Belle Tout at sunset (see page 4)

You will see in the revised events programme on the back cover that a further open meeting to discuss the future of the Society has been arranged for October.

In the summer edition of the journal a number of the issues facing the Society were outlined. One of the most serious is the lack of a full complement of Officers and committee members to organise and manage the running of the Society. Rather disappointingly, nothing has changed.

Like everyone else involved in the running of the Society, your co-editors volunteer their time to try to ensure that the journal is as good as possible. It had been hoped that our appeal for new contributors would yield results and we are grateful to Elizabeth Wright for the article on Belle Tout and Chris Neighbour for his article on Silverdale Road.

Quite recently a member had a letter published in the local paper about the proposed new cycle way along part of the seafront. It is quite likely that there are some members who are keen cyclists, so we wonder if anyone is willing to writing either an article for the journal, or a rather longer text about the history of cycling in Eastbourne, or perhaps its lack of popularity?

The Publications Sub-committee is working to publish monographs on the Abadie family of Eastbourne and

Canterbury and one on Holywell, both by L iz Moloney, and a dra f t manuscript on Bourne Street Schools has been submitted by Peter Allen, as well as a very substantial text on the history of the Langney Peninsula by Peter Allen and Tony Smith. The new extended edition of Eastbourne Street Names is nearing completion.

The Events Secretary always tries to arrange an interesting and informative programme for the year. If you any ideas for meetings, visits, etc., please pass these to a member of the main committee. Contact information on the inside front cover.

Members will note that the article, Newsletter Award 2011 (see page 25), which is potentially of great local interest and which would have been good in bringing our society to notice, was ‘spiked’ by the editor of the Herald – who, we understand, lives and works in Portsmouth. So it never appeared. This is what is known as a ‘local’ newspaper!

Comments please to the editors, or to K e i t h R i d l e y , G r o up Ed i t o r , keith.ridley@trbeckett.co.uk or to           Laura Sonier , Content Edi tor, laura.sonier@trbeckett.co.uk.

Michael Partridge & Tony CrooksCo-Editors

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A Message from the Editors

How do you stop an 850-ton lighthouse from toppling over the edge of crumbling cliffs and falling into the sea below? Simple -- you lift it up on runners and drag it slowly back some fifty metres onto safer ground. This is exactly what happened in 1999 to Belle Tout lighthouse, situated on the top of the famous Beachy Head cliffs. This quaint historic building, just 15m high and being used as a family home, was perilously near the eroding cliff edge. In 1834 it was situated some forty metres away from the edge, but now, one more rock fall and the lighthouse would

be a heap of rubble on the beach below.

But for 172 years Belle Tout has proved itself a survivor, having been built and abandoned, shot at and shattered. Its present owners, Mark and Louise Roberts, were not going to give up without a fight.

The seas around Beachy Head were known as the ‘Mariners' Graveyard’, full of rocky outcrops below the surface, causing many ships to founder. Parson Jonathan Darby (1667-1726), rector of East Dean, became so concerned by the number of shipwrecks and resultant loss of life that, single-handedly, working with chisel, pick and axe and often wearing his familiar beaver skin hat, he set about enlarging an old smugglers’ cave in the cliffs. Here, on stormy nights, he hung out lanterns to warn passing ships of the dangers.

After his death in October 1726, the abandoned cavern was once again taken over by smugglers and little appeared to have been done to prevent further shipwrecks. That was until February 1822, when The Thames, an East Indiaman, was beached after hitting a rock off Beachy Head. A concerned Captain of the Royal Navy, who himself had narrowly escaped a similar disaster, vigorously petitioned Trinity House, an association concerned with lighthouse erection and maintenance, to take some action.

John Fuller (1757-1834), a wealthy Member of Parliament for Sussex, exerted his inf luence to get a lighthouse built on top of the cliffs. The first was no more than

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Belle Tout: The Little Lighthouse That MovedBy Elizabeth Wright

a temporary experimental wooden structure, which became operational on the 1st October 1828.

The building of a proper lighthouse, Belle Tout, started in 1829 to the design of W Hallett and J Walker, using huge blocks of Aberdeen granite that were hauled over the downland by teams of Sussex oxen. Its 30 oil lamps, each housed in separate ref lectors fixed to a platform that revolved every two minutes, were f irst lit on 11 October 1834. They threw out a 22,000 candle-power light visible 23 miles out to sea, using two gallons of oil per hour. But one important factor had been overlooked in the choice of site for Belle Tout. Sea mists often hugged the cliff tops, obscuring the light. The shipwrecks continued, so in July 1899 work began on the erection of the present Beachy Head lighthouse at the foot of the cliffs. On October 2nd 1902, Belle Tout was decommissioned and eventually sold off as ‘a small, substantial 3-storey building’.

In 1923 it was purchased for £1,500 by distinguished neurologist Sir James Purves-Stewart, KCMG, CB, MD, who constructed an access road, installed an electric generator and added an extension to the building, turning it into a unique family home.

However, in his book Sands of Time, Sir James wrote, ‘Soon after taking possession we read a warning article in the local press stating that owing to coastal erosion, grave fears were entertained for the safety of the lighthouse. We decided to secure expert advice. A professor of geology came down from London and, after examining the position, informed us that coastal erosion was undoubtedly going on at a steady rate, and that at the end of six hundred years our tower would find itself at the very edge of the cliff ’. This deduction appears to have been partly based on measurements showing Belle Tout to be 34m from the cliff edge in 1835 and 30m in 1890.

In 1935 King George V and Queen Mary visited the lighthouse while His Majesty was convalescing in nearby Eastbourne. Sir James recounted that they were delightful visitors and easy to entertain. He is quoted as saying, ‘My wife conducted Queen Mary all over our home, displaying our modest family treasurers.

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Meanwhile King George entrusted himself to me as a separate guide and took a keen sailor's interest in the various gadgets that had been fitted up. When we came to the foot of the spiral staircase leading to the lantern room, Queen Mary was already aloft, enjoying the stunning view. She called down to him, “George, don't come up here, it's far too steep for you”. To which his majesty replied, “Dammit, I'm coming”’.

During the Second World War Belle Tout was left empty, its owners having been evacuated from this vulnerable part of the English coast. By 1942 a firing range had been constructed some 200 yards east of the lighthouse. The Canadian troops, blasting away with everything from light howitzers to cannons, used old cars as targets, but managed to hit Belle Tout several times. By 1943, daylight could be seen through the shattered 6-foot-thick walls.

In 1948 Sir James, having received £5000 war compensation, offered the lighthouse to Eastbourne Borough Council. A councillor had suggested that, for an estimated cost of £10,000 for purchase and repair, there might be the possibility of turning Belle Tout into a tourist attraction, but with heavy expenses and little prospect of an immediate financial return, this idea was dropped.

However, as a valued historical building, Belle Tout was eventually taken over by the Council anyway, and in 1956, it was leased out to Dr. Edward Revill Cullinan, who embarked on a rebuilding programme to the domestic part, adding a septic tank, mains electricity and water.

In 1962 the lease of Belle Tout was sold on for £15,000, and changed hands as a private dwelling a number of times. The BBC purchased it in 1986 and spent a rumoured £250,000 in alterations, so it could be used as a backdrop for a TV film, The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, by author Fay Weldon. They added a temporary stage set on the seaward side and a fake lantern, and constructed tiered gardens, sun terraces and a patio. When all the filming was complete Belle Tout was up for sale again, and bought by businessman Paul Foulkes and his wife Shirley, who continued with the restoration, sympathetically keeping to the unique maritime features of the lighthouse. But as much as they loved the building, it eventually proved to be too far away from their home to be an ongoing weekend retreat. So, in 1995, the lighthouse went up for sale again, this time for £350,000.

Bought by Mark and Louise Roberts in 1996, because ‘we fell in love with it’, it soon became evident, that, after a number of substantial cliff falls nearby, Belle Tout was soon going to end up on the beach 285 feet below. Ambitious plans to do the almost impossible and move the whole lighthouse back some 50 metres were revealed by the Roberts in 1997. The scheme, carried out by the Abbey Pynford company, involved excavating the ground around the building, putting up beams to support each wall, raising the lighthouse two feet in the air with

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hydraulic jacks, putting in sliding tracks and lowering the whole 850 tons onto grease skates.

The South Downs Lighthouse Trust charity was set up to raise the necessary £250,000 for the rescue package. Every contributor to the moving process would get an entry ticket to watch this piece of history in action.

Further massive cliff falls and the discovery of unexploded World War Two bombs on the beach provoked many worries for the Roberts, who began to fear their treasured listed building would never be moved in time. Their patio was now only three metres from the edge. Mark Roberts told the local press, ‘I couldn't believe it when the coastguards said there might have to be a controlled explosion. I just thought, I don't need this. It would be devastating to lose this building’.

But by 17 March 1999, after a year of planning, everything appeared ready for Belle Tout's monumental move. In bright sunshine hundreds of media from all around the world watched as Joy Cullinan, who had once lived in Belle Tout, switched on the hydraulic pump at 9.25 am and the whole operation began.

At a painstakingly slow pace -- just two feet in the first three hours -- the lighthouse was moved 28 feet in the first day, every millimetre controlled by computer. So procedures would not be hampered by further cliff falls, no heavy digging machinery was used on the site and all the chalk from the foundations was taken out on wheelbarrows. By the evening of Thursday 18 March, Belle Tout reached its final position. Louise Roberts is quoted as saying, ‘We need a long ladder to reach our kitchen door now. But the magnificent views we had are even better now. And all our glass bottles are still perfectly in place!’

Having originally leased Belle Tout from Eastbourne Borough Council, after three years Louise Roberts was legally entitled to buy the freehold for £900. In 2001, there was a Charity Commission probe into where the Belle Tout donations to finance the move had gone. Thousands of pounds collected through the supposed charity of ‘The Southdown Lighthouse Trust Ltd’ had not been properly documented. Mark Roberts then offered a full refund.

After a period of renting out Belle Tout for between £2,500 and £3,000 per calendar month, the lighthouse was put up for sale in 2007 for £850,000. Rob Wassell, an IT manager from Redhill, in Surrey, set up ‘The Belle Tout Preservation Trust Ltd’ in an attempt to raise extra funds to buy the lighthouse and open it as a B & B.

But in March 2008, it was confirmed that Belle Tout had been sold for £500,000 to Tenerife businessman David Shaw (69) and his wife, Barbara. They have spent a rumoured 1.4 million pounds on a complete overhaul and opened up a successful B & B business.

1. Lloyd’s Signal Tower (joshwhitesservices@btinternet.com)

Mr White inquired about the tower at Beachy Head and how communication was made with London. Index references to back numbers were supplied and mention was made of the (octagonal?) brick structure that later became a kiosk for postcards.

2. Belle Tout (elizabeth.wright62@btopenworld.com - Eastbourne)

ELHS member Liz Wright has been commissioned by Phillimore (The History Press) to write a definitive 50,000 word illustrated book on Belle Tout lighthouse and would welcome any information. Details and photographs have been provided from the ELHS publication Canucks by the Sea and by Peter Tyrrell.

3. Hamilton Henry Mortimer Dent (nedwilliams@toucansurf.com - West Midlands)

Dent built up a chain of cinemas in the West Midlands before WW2. He died in Eastbourne in 1958. Nothing appears in our index but details would be welcomed.

4. Volunteer Fire Brigade (martin.b.mattock@btinternet.com - Hillingdon)

Martin Mattock sent a photograph of his great-grandfather, John Willy Hocking (1856-1913), in uniform at the studio of William Atkinson in Grove Road. We came up with references from our back numbers and passed the inquiry to Frances Muncey, who wrote a series on photographers. Frances recalled: ‘The Eastbourne Chronicle of 6 October 1894 records the death of a lady patron in this studio. She apparently had a stroke brought on by the mini-explosion as the f lash powder ignited as the photographer took a likeness of her pet dog. The fate of the dog was not recorded. It would seem that having your photograph taken could be a hazardous business!’

5. Handyside (derbyphotos1@virginmedia.com - Derby)

Andy Savage has compiled information about the iron founder responsible for the Curling Drinking Fountain near the Leaf Hall. This firm also cast some of our Victorian post boxes. Peter Tyrrell has prepared fresh research on the above and included details of the Leaf Hall and the Salvation Army riots. Details of Mr Savage’s research can be seen at: http://friargatebridge.blogspot.com/

6. Farmhouses in Meads (pw@patw162.plus.com - North Walsham)

Patricia Wilson asked about the Rason family of Meads. The index was checked, an old photograph reproduced and a 1921 article unearthed. An article will appear in the journal.

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Research EnquiriesCollated by Maureen Copping, Report by Michael Ockenden

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7. Cavendish School (lsibson@Cavendish.e-sussex.sch.uk - Eastbourne)

Luke Sibson asked about the history of this school, in particular the period prior to its change from Eastbourne Girls High School. Did pupils from Bourne and Bedewell Schools transfer to Eldon Road? Material our archive and been copied and sent.

8. Walter Streets and Partners – Stardust (jacquimeekins@hotmail.co.uk - Ealing)

Jacqui Meekins inquired about this local firm, the manufacturer of a children’s coin-operated horse ride called Stardust in the 1950s. A scan from ‘The Billboard’ of 23 Jan 1954 was sent with the article, British Firm Enters Kiddie Ride Business.

9. Crunden Road (jenniescott0@gmail.com - Islington)

Jennie Scott’s maternal family name is Crunden, and she is interested in the etymology of the street name. Details were provided from our Origins of Eastbourne’s Street Names.

10. WAAC at 4 Devonshire Place (a.melsson20@googlemail.com - Stratford-on-Avon)

Further details have come from Bob Elliston, the latest member of the Research Group, who comments: The property backs on to the Esperance Nursing Home in Hartington place and was used in later years as a residence for nuns staffing that home. During World War One there were several army establishments in the town where members of the WAAC might have served. Following the then conventional practice for female personnel, they would have been accommodated off base. The Borough rate books might have shed some light but alas they were disposed of when local government reform was implemented in 1975. It is possible that her army records at Lambeth may have survived the 1940 Blitz. The medals register may provide additional information, and there could be files on the stationing of WAACs at the National Archive at Kew. 1 Devonshire Place was used by a Roman Catholic order from 1917 to 1921 to care for convalescent officers. However, some renumbering of the area took place in the war.

11. Southbourne Road (musgravemuseum@googlemail.com - Eastbourne)

Glenn Smith inquired about the Roselands estate, in particular Southbourne Road, and what was there before building took place. References were provided from our back numbers and attention was drawn to the publication, Eastbourne - The East End (2002) by Peter Stoner and John Hollands.

12. Oral History Project (pabel9@btinternet.com - Eastbourne)

Unfortunately the above project headed by an organisation called ‘Sound Architect’ and reported in the last issue has failed to obtain funding. However, they are planning to reapply and will keep us informed of any new developments.

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13. William Rainey RBA -RI 1852 -1936 (mfjeffs@btinternet.com - Hellingly)

Mike Jeffs is interested in this artist who worked in Eastbourne. One of his famous pictures is The Beach at Eastbourne. Unfortunately Rainey does not feature in our index but it is known that he retired to Eastbourne in 1922 when he was 70, lived in Granville Road and died at a house in Grand Parade. He was London-born and London-educated, and lived in various other parts of southern England.

Research: Hazel Blake, Maureen Copping, Tony Crooks, Robert Elliston, Elizabeth Moloney, Andrew Murray, Michael Ockenden, Michael Partridge and Peter Tyrrell. If you know or require further details, contact: info@eastbournehistory.org.uk. Post (with SAE if reply required) to Maureen Copping, PO Box 2951, Eastbourne, BN20 9WZ.

Additions to our ArchiveRoborough School Prospectus c.1920. (purchased).

Eastbourne College on the Second World War, 80pp A4 format, illustrated. 2nd edition pub. 2011 (Presented by Michael Partridge).

The Hoo by Tom Mann, 166pp A5 format, published privately in 2010. This is the story of the Edwin Lutyens house in Church Street, Willingdon, and of the people who lived there. The Society provided information and illustrations to Mr Mann and this is acknowledged in the preface. (purchased).

Made in Sussex by Elizabeth Wright, 112pp A5 format, published by SB Publications in 2000. An illustrated account of 24 mostly defunct Sussex industries. (purchased).

Eastbourne Schools 1936 A pamphlet listing 33 private schools in Eastbourne in 1936, with summary details. (donated).

The Society Style GuideLike everyone else involved in the running of the Society, members of the Publications Sub-committee volunteer their time and effort to bring articles for the journal and manuscripts offered for publication to fruition as finished printed products. It makes for an easier and speedy outcome if the authors of everything presented to the Society already conform to the ‘house style’ that has been developed over recent times.

The first version of a Style Guide is now ready and available free for electronic distribution or at cost if printed. The 24 page guide covers ‘house style’, consistency, grammar, spelling and usage, and punctuation. Contact the editors of the journal if you wish to have a copy sent to you, indicating the media type.

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Among the documents I received from my solicitor when I moved to Leahurst in Silverdale Road last year was a Land Registry document showing that the present apartments first came onto the market in 1982 and 1983. It also records the transfer of use for the land from the Duke of Devonshire to George William Booth in 1902. Variations to the Licence are recorded for 1932, 1934 and 1974, the latter being in favour of a development company which applied to demolish the existing property and build the present apartments. So what, I wanted to discover, was the original house like? And how much have the landscaped gardens changed since the modern development?

By searching the Street Directories for Eastbourne, starting with 1885, it has been possible to trace the development of Silverdale Road, from the seaward end to Meads Road. In the 1885 Directory itself, Silverdale Road appears to consist of Nos 1 - 12 and a handful of other properties on the west side. There are no properties listed for the opposite side of the road. Two years later, building on the west has extended to Southdown College and there are 11 properties on the east side of the Road. It is in the 1902 -1903 Pike's Blue Book that the first reference to the existence of Leahurst appears at No 65, with Bella Vista on the corner of Granville Road and Silverdale Road, followed by Compton Grange.

The Story of Silverdale RoadBy Chris Neighbour

In the early days of development

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To the rear of Leahurst is Fairfield Lodge, formerly St Winifred's School for Ladies, which appears to have its own fascinating history.

The first owner of Leahurst is listed as Lieutenant Colonel AB Mein. Later, in the 1930s, the property was in the owner ship of Samuel M c M u r r a y K i r k p a t r i c k . Subsequently, like some of other large buildings in the area, Leahurst was divided into a number of individual dwellings before being sold on to P & A Developments of Hove.

By reading books and articles on the development of Eastbourne I discovered that in 1872 Henry Currey, on behalf of The Duke of Devonshire, produced detailed plans for Meads that was to become 'the Belgravia of Eastbourne', with grand mansions and large villas. In those early days these would have been occupied by well-to-do families with their servants. The streets were wide

and tree-lined. A number of properties still retain their date plaques from the 1880's. It is this development that has provided the backdrop to my current research.

Although I have seen a few photographs of properties and gardens in Silverdale Road going back to the 1900's, I have not been able to trace any photographic or written evidence relating to the original Leahurst, Compton Grange or Bella Vista properties. If any readers are able to help by providing information on these or other properties in Silverdale Road, or adjoining roads, or have recollections of families or events relating to the area, I would be very pleased to hear from them. I can be contacted via e-mail on chrisneighbour.sussex@btinternet.com.

Spring 2010 - Leahurst now

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A Visit to St Nicolas Church, Pevensey On 27 July Hugh Miller, who has lived in Pevensey for most of his life, led 12 U3A and ELHS members around the church and churchyard of St Nicolas Church, where he has been a member of the choir for 70 years.The church was dedicated to the patron saint of seafarers, as the village was a f lourishing seaport when it was built, and became a place of great importance and part of the Cinque Ports system. It is a splendid example of Early English architecture, built between 1200 and 1216. We were interested to learn that greensand stone, mined from Eastbourne seafront, was used in its construction.There are three incised crosses on the north doorway arch. These are probably pilgrim crosses from medieval times when Pevensey port was used for journeys to and from Europe. Inside is a beautiful 1616 alabaster monument to John Wheatley, with curly hair and an elaborate cloak, lying rather uncomfortably on his side. He was a wealthy parishioner, who gave £40 towards the fitting of a ship for the Spanish Armada.

The cradle roof at the east end of the chancel is most impressive. It is constructed of hand-sawn and jointed Sussex oak, and is virtually untouched since its construction in c1205. When Robert Sutton arrived as vicar of Pevensey in1875, he found the chancel in a state of ruin, where cattle were housed, coal stored, and kegs of brandy and contraband spirits kept by smugglers! Under his care the church was restored. There is a memorial plaque to Archdeacon Sutton in the south aisle, in which his parishioners express there reverence for ‘his godly, generous and genial personality’.Hugh Miller’s knowledge, enthusiasm (and anecdotes) were much appreciated by everyone present.

Hilary Carter

John Wheately monument

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In March Germany annexed Austria. In September the Munich Agreement signed away the border regions of Czechoslovakia to Germany

January: A financial report states that prosperity will come in 1938. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain told the nation that he wished to settle the German question without war. The Great War memorial tank in Gildredge Park is reprieved from scrapping. ARP duties were allocated to Borough officials, utilities managers, lifeboat men, the Transport Department and Fire Brigade. The Chief Fire Officer tells the local ratepayers meeting that there will be no national fire service; the needs of each locality are different. (On 1 January 1942 after the German Blitz all local fire brigades were nationalised.) The first of the fortnightly ARP Bulletins to all households was issued. 300 men are wanted for the auxiliary Fire Service; so far 100 have joined. Still wanted: 20 foremen and 112 men for the rescue engineers. Also needed are 200 first aiders and 336 wardens.

Brig JK Manley said that the local Territorial Army is short of 100 men. The Rotary Club appealed for more recruits. Eastbourne lags behind other towns. It would be a sad day if this were a nationwide response. The League of Nations Association meeting notes that the Czechs were quite happy until Hitler’s designs became apparent. Colonel Dunlop, Adjutant General, said that a town the size of Eastbourne should have a Territorials strength of 300 men instead of the 200 enrolled so far. Nationally there were 76 infantry battalions in five divisions and one cavalry divisions

February: A series of ARP lectures attracted 2,500 people who were given the opportunity to try on gas masks. Fire proofing of properties and methods for dealing with incendiary bombs were explained. At a local meeting Mr Charles Taylor MP detailed why Mr Anthony Eden, Foreign Secretary, resigned over the policy towards Italy. The 1937 ARP Act is now on the statute book.

March: Germany acts as a bandit and gangster nation. Members of the local branch of the League of Nations Association are urged to boycott Japanese goods. Boycott advert from Scotch bakery: order your Hot Cross buns now!

A letter is to go all householders about the poor response for help with the ARP service. Incendiary bombs now present the greatest danger.

April: A local debating society subject was that the two greatest inventions for war were the internal combustion engine and wireless, while the Rotary Club speaker from the Peace Pledge Union advocates tearing up the Versailles Treaty and returning the former German colonies. Willingdon ARP lecture residents were told that the nation should respond to the events of the last three years and get on

Eastbourne’s Appeasement Years 1938By Bob Elliston

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with ARP. First aid, gas and fire demonstrations are staged in the Susans Road coach station. May: Mr Charles Taylor MP at an International Friendship meeting stated that the League of Nations was doomed by the American absence. Arms are a means of defence and intervention in Spain would have meant war.

June: Two councillors carry placards ‘Franco shows his love of children by bombing them. Strike a blow for Spain’. A wardens’ air raid shelter was on show in Saffrons Road; a scaled down version would be suitable for home use. A councillor suggests that camouflaging the Police Station would be more effective than sandbagging. ARP going ahead as planned but more volunteers are needed.

July: The Revd Wallace Bird, vicar of St Elisabeth’s, said that ARP should mean prevention not precautions. An RAF f lying boat of the London class landed off the beach on a recruiting drive. A further appeal is made for ARP volunteers to participate in intensive training courses. A complete list of the wardens appointed in the nine wards was to be circulated. There was a need for more recruits for the Auxiliary Fire Service. Gas masks in three sizes, large, medium and small, were to be stored in sealed tins in the Grove Road and the Latimer Road police station until needed. A census was carried out to determine totals of the sizes needed. From the pulpit of St John’s, Meads, the Revd Harry Walton said that the Japanese people were perplexed and needed sympathy and understanding in the decline of democracy in that country. The Revd Egerton Williams of All Souls, speaking as chaplain of the 44th Divisional Artillery called for more to volunteer for the Territorial Army. According to Col Dunlop Eastbourne should have a TA strength of 300 instead of the present 200.

August: Best ever air display at Wilmington. No 79 Fighter Squadron f lew in from Biggin Hill. The new clubhouse was opened and hundreds of people attended.

September: The Munich agreement gives Germany Czechoslovakian Sudetland. Women’s transport section of the new Territorial army require drivers for the Royal Army Service Corps. Lobbying took take place to try to find public work for the unemployed. The Peace Pledge Union had no support for war over Czechoslovakia. 60,000 gas masks arrive in the town. Helpers are needed to assemble them as concern was expressed at the non-issuing of gas masks. The Home Office said that proper storage is imperative. Mr Charles Taylor MP said that conscription would be needed if recruiting did not improve and arms are a means of defence.

October: A crowd of 500 stood in silence at the bandstand and heard Hitler ranting through loudspeakers. Afterwards the national anthem was heard in silence. One thousand people packed the Winter Garden for a thanksgiving service for peace. Plans were made available to householders detailing the construction of air raid shelters with wooden strutting and corrugated iron. The Auxiliary Fire Service

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has 75 members out of 300 needed. A resolution at a conference of war wounded sought peace. Evacuee housewives ask ‘How would two women get on in the same house?’ Joint voluntary hospital Thanksgiving for Peace appeal in aid of Princess Alice, Leaf, ENT and Eye hospitals.

November: Mr Charles Taylor MP at a public meeting said that at the Munich crisis the options were war, settlement or ignore it, and reports on the good news from Munich. The Mayor thanked ARP workers who had stood to for duty at the time of the Munich crisis. Girls from department stores in the town, Dale and Kerleys, Marks and Spencer and Woolworths and Eastbourne College boys had helped assemble gas masks. Distribution centres would be at Albert Parade for Old Town, All Souls parish rooms, Seaside baths, Old Town baths and schools. Residents were reminded to take care of their gas masks. Mr Charles Taylor MP at a public meeting in the Town Hall said that ARP must continue. The price of peace was heavy. The crisis presented the nation with options: war, settlement or ignore the threat. The greatest danger was from high explosive, fire and then gas. Police Sergeant Froude commented that in 1914-18 war 18,000 tons of bombs were dropped on Britain and this amount could now be delivered in one day and one in three would be chemical, tear, lung or blister gasses. Home Office plans for billeting of evacuees. Lt Col Roland Gwynne said householders faced for the duration (of the war) being saddled with undesirable elements; hospital accommodation for the county was barely adequate, let alone able to cope with the needs of the 36,000 planned for East Sussex. The town raised £33 for Czech refugees. The sum £3,500 was to be spent on relief work for the unemployed in the town. Gas masks to be issued to all residents. The Observer Corps went on watch, and large numbers of evacuees were expected. Large supplies of iron rations: corned beef, chocolate and condensed milk arrived in the town by road and rail. This month brought protests from the townsfolk about the Home Office plans for evacuees. Mr Charles Taylor MP expressed the view that factories, farms and business premises might be used.December: A bid for a second tranche of money for unemployed relief failed. Major Christie reported that the town had 250 ARP wardens and stocks of sandbags stood at 170,000. Suggestions that civilian service gas masks for the population of Eastbourne would cost an extra £21,100.A 250 strong squadron of the Air Training Corps is formed for boy’s ages 14 – 18 years.The Home Office decided that domestic shelters would be needed in congested areas, which Eastbourne was not. The Home Office urge completion of gas mask distribution. The sirens at Motcombe Baths, St Mary’s hospital, the Destructor works Devonshire baths and Willingdon Laundry are tested. The Destructor works siren not heard in the east end of the town.This article is based mainly on the content of the three local newspapers. The Eastbourne Chronicle, Gazette and Herald, which is hereby acknowledged. To be continued.

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The Old Dower House stood on the south side of High Street (about where the service station is now) and was demolished for road widening in the 1930s. It was where my father was born in 1869 and where he lived until he married in 1899. It was a three-storied, pebble-fronted building with casement leaded windows which opened straight onto the pavement. In his time it was divided into several units and my father’s bedroom was up an iron ladder from his parents’ bedroom.

Water came from a well in the back garden but this was evidently not adequate for washing day, as my father remembered that on Monday mornings, before going to school, he went to the back of The Lamb with a wooden yoke across his shoulders to fetch buckets of water for his mother’s copper. Perhaps this was in summer when rainwater was short. There was, of course, no oven, and my mother remembers that when Granny Wilkins made a pie it had to be taken along to the bakers to be baked in his oven.

I have an almost dreamlike memory of a very old lady in a four-poster bed with dark red curtains. I am told she was my grandmother, as she died in 1909. I can only have been two years old when, presumably, I was taken upstairs to see her in bed.

My father remembered that in his childhood their living room was redecorated and layers and layers of paper were stripped from the walls uncovering a door and cupboard by the fireplace which they had not known was there. A shaft gave it ventilation into the chimney. As a food cupboard next to the fire seemed so unlikely it was thought that perhaps it was a ‘priest hole’.

My father was educated at St Mary’s School up to the age of fourteen and he attended the parish church. A school friend, Simon Hart, was a son of the verger and the two boys used to climb up in the church tower and pick off the bats which hung on the walls during the daytime. Another very early memory of his was of a large, poor family named Mann who lived in a part of the old parsonage which, like his own home, was divided into more than one dwelling.

In my own childhood, during the 1914/18 war, the old parsonage was a ruin, with glassless windows and rafters open to the sky. In the nineteen twenties it was beautifully restored.

After leaving school and going to work at the age of fourteen, my father attended the Technical Institute, thought to have been the Pitman Institute, then in Church Street.

The Old Dower HouseSubmitted by John Markwick. This is an edited version of an article written by the late Miss Irene Wilkins

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Notes by John Markwick:

1. Albert Wilkins, despite his humble beginnings, ‘made good’, and at the time of his early death at the age of 63 was General Manager of the Eastbourne Waterworks Company.

2. My maternal grandmother was Albert Wilkins’ sister and the wooden yoke referred to hung in an outhouse at my grandparents’ home.

Extract from The Old Dower House, Eastbourne

(Sussex Archaeological Collections, Volume 84 (1945), pp.2-10)

Nicholas Gilbert adopted as his manor-house a yeoman’s house, some 250 yards east of the parish church of St Mary, on the south side of the High Street, and this remained the manor-house of the manor of Eastbourne-Gildredge until about 1800, when Charles Gilbert succeeded his brother Nicholas Gilbert as lord of the manor. The Towner then became his manor-house. This house had been built and occupied as a vicarage by Dr Henry Lushington, vicar of Eastbourne from 1734 to 1799. On his death Charles Gilbert purchased it from his son Sir Stephen Lushington, Bt. The Old Dower House ... almost backed on the new manor-house in Borough Lane. It was occupied by Mrs Mary Lushington, the second wife and relict of Dr Lushington and later also by her sister Miss Susannah Gilbert, until their respective deaths in 1811 and 1816. Their residence there no doubt led to the house being called the Dower House.

A Mystery Photograph The interesting picture of Meads, shown below, has been provided by a resident of Staveley Road.  It seems to have been taken from the roof of De Walden Court (or De Walden Lodge, which stood next door) and looks towards the junction of Meads Street and Beachy Head Road. Meads Place, the listed former farmhouse, can be seen in the foreground and to the right, at the junction of Gaudick Road and Meads Hill. The pantechnicon in the distance is in Meads Road, opposite the Meads Men's Institute and the Parish Hall.  The large house on the skyline with the chimney stack on the left of the roof must be Sprays Farm, which stood on the site of what is now Grand Flowers in Meads Street. The tall post is not a telegraph pole but a sewer vent ('stink pipe') and is still at the corner of the triangle.  There used to be a horse trough at the base of the pipe, but it is not visible in the picture. The trough was removed, presumably for reasons of road safety, in the 1960s. The house to the left of the pipe must be the original Moorings, at the end of St John's Road.   It is difficult to see the road leading down to the town, but it is probably out of sight behind the hedge. The neatly laid out garden to the right, with young trees, is part of the grounds of what later became Ascham School.

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Gordon Mackay, who lived in Meads as a boy in the 1920s, recalls: ‘I remember when Meads Hill was just one single two-way lane up and down. The side coming up was not made up for traffic; it was a service road for De Walden Court and the other large houses. In about 1930, they decided to make it  into a dual carriageway - a major undertaking.   My school friends and I used to go during our lunch break from Meads School to watch the steam roller in action; steam was a great attraction to us at that time.’Michael OckendenNote: We are anxious to borrow a photo of the original Moorings, earlier known as Gwernaffel, and/or of any of its original owners. Please contact the editors if you can help.

Spray’s Farm

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Staveley CourtBy Michael Ockenden

Staveley Court, the fine house at the end of Staveley Road, was designed in 1911 by William Hay Murray, grandfather of ELHS member, Andrew Murray, for Dr Henry Colgate whose practice at 2 Seaside Road (now Trinity Trees) had been started by his father and who was on the staff of the Princess Alice Hospital for many years. It continued as a private residence until the war and there is an unconfirmed story that French marine commandos were billeted there. The Kelly’s directories for 1951-1955 show it as a preparatory school for boys with the Principal named as Revd E Ridley Lewis; from 1953-1955, G Eric Hunt MA FRGS is listed as Principal. In 1956, the building was acquired by Eastbourne Borough Council as a rest home for 43 elderly people and in 2005 it was converted and extended to form the high-class apartments which stand on the site today.

However, missing from the above chronology is John Basil Cartland, a colourful character who had been the business partner of Revd E Ridley Lewis and whose murder in the south of France, reminiscent of that of Sir Jack Drummond and his family 21 years previously, hit the headlines on both sides of the Channel in the spring of 1973. The case is reminiscent in that the victims had been killed while spending the night in their caravans at the roadside – but with one important difference. The person convicted in the Drummond case was a 75-year-old local farmer, Gaston Dominici; in the case of Cartland, the French police levelled a murder charge against his own son, Jeremy.

Staveley Court from Staveley Road

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Cartland, born in Putney in 1912, had links with Eastbourne extending back to the local preparatory school which he attended before Bradfield College and Oxford. He graduated with a double first in modern History from Worcester College in 1933 before embarking on a teaching career, first at Cranleigh School and then at Peshawar in what is now Pakistan. In 1938, he was transferred to the Sudan, where he became education officer in the Blue and White Niles. His talent for languages – f luent in Arabic, French, several Indian dialects and Italian – prepared him for wartime intelligence work in the Horn of Africa, Libya and western Europe. He joined the Political Warfare Executive in London and was involved with the dissemination of ‘black propaganda’ from its headquarters at Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire. He was the first British officer to enter Brussels towards the end of 1944, and at the deserted Gestapo headquarters stumbled upon some 50,000 dossiers relating to French collaborators – evidence aplenty to convict many of those who had betrayed their fellow countrymen. However, the action that followed this discovery almost defies belief for instead of handing this treasure trove to his superiors, Cartland promptly set about burning the lot. Apart from a demotion, he was never brought to book for this extraordinary and impetuous action in the courtyard of 12 Avenue Bernard but it was something that would later cause him considerable anguish and fear of reprisal. His reasoning at the time was that millions of lives had already been lost in the war; now was not the time for revenge or witch-hunts.

After the war, Cartland first stood as the National Conservative candidate at West Willesden but failed to be elected to this safe Labour seat. In 1946, he became Secretary of the Oxford Society and Assistant Secretary to the Oxford University Appointments Board before joining the United Nations Special Agency in Geneva. It was here that his son, Jeremy, born in 1944, went to his first school. When the family returned from Switzerland, Cartland came to Eastbourne where he joined Revd E Ridley Lewis as a partner in Staveley Court School, a short-lived arrangement which ended on acrimonious terms. In any event, John Basil Cartland sold his share of the business to a Peter Alexander (whose son later married Jeremy Cartland’s mother) before the school passed into the hands of Eric Hunt.

Cartland’s next move was to Kuwait, where he worked for the Education Service although he would claim that the post was an important mission to keep an eye on Britain’s oil interests. He returned from the Gulf after three years, according to his son ‘with more money than he could reasonably have saved’, bought a house in Brighton and set up a language school, buying two more houses and renting another on London Road for his business. The explanation for this sudden wealth was that he had returned to the UK via North Africa to call on his old wartime pal, Snusi, who had meanwhile become King of Libya. As they were saying

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goodbye, the King handed him a suitcase telling him not to open it until he got home. While sitting on the bus to Tunis he opened the case and found it stuffed full of dollars.

Jeremy Cartland trained as a teacher and when his father became tired of the day-to-day running of the language school, it seemed natural that he should take over. The business was run purely as a summer school and this would leave Jeremy time to concentrate on his writing. In the spring of 1973, father and son set off on a motoring trip – partly on business to recruit new students for the language school – but also to move a caravan from Spain to France. On the night of 19 March 1973, they pulled off the road and parked their Hillman Avenger and the caravan by the side of a main road near Salon de Provence. In his book The Cartland File published in 1978, Jeremy Cartland describes how they cooked supper before turning in. During the night, he heard voices outside and woke his father before going outside to see what was happening. He saw someone apparently trying to steal the car but was then struck from behind and lost consciousness. When he came to, he saw the caravan ablaze but no sign of his father. Passing motorists stopped to help and Jeremy was taken to hospital but given no news of his father; instead he was subjected to a lengthy interrogation by the police during the course of which he gradually became aware that his father had been killed with an axe which had been in the boot of their car and that he was the prime suspect. In his book, Jeremy is highly critical of the investigation by the police who appeared to want a conviction at all costs in order to avoid a repetition of the furore which had surrounded the earlier Drummond case and the conviction of the farmer who was eventually pardoned by President Coty in 1960. The book speculates over involvement by former members of the French Resistance: had Drummond been looking for a secret stash of gold which had been parachuted into France during the war? What credence could be given to the story of a suitcase full of dollars handed to John Basil Cartland by a North African king? Was it a case of revenge for his destruction of evidence in Brussels which could have led to the conviction of collaborators?

The book explains the weakness of the case put forward by the police and how Jeremy Cartland was eventually permitted to return to the UK. The threat of extradition and the guillotine, however, remained and then began what he describes as ‘the waiting game’. It was the French Minister of Justice who finally put a stop to any idea of an extradition. It seemed that the French authorities had found themselves in an embarrassing position and wished to extricate themselves from it. The case was passed to Scotland Yard for further investigation, but at the beginning of 1974 it was announced that no charges would be preferred. Despite his relief, Jeremy Cartland remained bitter at his treatment by the French police, by the press on both sides of the Channel, the considerable legal fees which he

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incurred and the effect of the case on the Brighton language school, which had to close. The whole disturbing story is described in detail in The Cartland File, which is still available via Amazon and at the Eastbourne public library. There is also coverage in The Times and, because Cartland senior was known locally, in the Eastbourne papers.

Jeremy Cartland was himself a pupil at Staveley Court. A group picture taken in 1952 shows him in the back row with Mr and Mrs Hunt centre stage f lanked by staf f members and the popular vicar of St John’s, Revd Philip Richards, who had lost a leg during the war. The former pupil has fond memories of Mrs Hunt, who knew reams of poetry by heart and would recite to the pupils on Sunday evenings. He recalls a particular memory of her dramatic rendition of the Pied Piper of Hamelin and how the couple had contacted him with support after

the murder.

In the autumn of 1954, Staveley Court Preparatory School closed and Eric Hunt took some of his pupils to Herne Bay where they merged with another school by the name of Eddington House. In 1957 the name was changed to Bramdean and in the early 1960s to Beaumanor. The school then closed and the building was sold to developers for £55,000. It was demolished in favour of a housing estate (also called Beaumanor) in 1968. Mr Hunt is shown as the penultimate Principal, the last being a Mr JC Betton.

Sources

* William and Colin Hay Murray, Architects by C Andrew Murray, ELH Number 147

* The Cartland File by Jeremy Cartland, Linkline Publications Brighton (1978)

* Information from Herne Bay Historical Records Society, Schools and Colleges in the Herne Bay Area by John Fishpool and Pauline Turner, provided by Craig Bowen, Collections and Research Manager, Canterbury City Council Museums and Galleries

* www.townandaround.co.uk/(February 2011 issue)

* The author is grateful to Bill Bowden for invaluable research assistance

Staveley Court from the south

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The Operation Sussex Study Day held at Newhaven Fort on 28 May 2011 raised the sum of £400 for Macmillan Cancer Support. The cheque was presented to representatives of Macmillan Nurses at All Saints Hospice in Eastbourne by Peter Tyrrell and Stewart`Angell of the organisers Sussex Military History Society.

The innovative event was held in the casemate schoolroom at Newhaven Fort where the ESCC facilities and ambience ideally suited the function. The idea for the Study Day came from a similar activity held at Dymchurch a year previously. Driving back after that meeting the conversation drifted variously until Stewart said ‘We could do better than that’. Peter paused and offered ‘What shall we call it? A few miles further along the A259 Stewart came back with ‘Operation Sussex’ - to which Peter added Study Day to qualify the content. Thus on the evening A259 the SMHS Study Day was conceived.

Within Sussex Military History Society a member, Ron Martin, was then researching medieval Rye, Winchelsea and Camber defences and developments. Across in Worthing John Goodwin specialised in Napoleonic forts and sites. The third speaker became Pete Hibbs who has a degree in War Studies and specialises in a Virtual Reality presentation from Cuckmere Haven inland. The fourth speaker was Stewart Angell who expanded his interest in underground bunkers into Cold War retreats and rationale.

Thus was created a spread of speakers to cover the Sussex coast on a journey through the centuries. At midday the capacity audience were given a guided tour of the Fort by Ed Tyhurst who is an enthusiastic member of SMHS and who works at Newhaven Fort.

To conclude the talks Colonel Anthony Kimber delivered a professional resumé of regional defences under the title ‘The Threat from across the

Operation Sussex Study Day - Funds for Macmillan Cancer Care

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Channel’. Overall the Sussex Military History Society felt quite pleased with their inaugural public event and they are having a break before planning for another event next year.

Since May the Lewes based SMHS have also raised £305 from raff le events and a sponsored walk completed by Stewart Angell. The group’s latest fund raising collection is for Gurkha causes. Meetings are held monthly at The Royal Oak, Station Street in Lewes and monthly speakers cover a broad spectrum of military topics. Visitors are always welcomed.

Newsletter Award 2011At the annual awards event of the British Association for Local History (BALH), held in London on Saturday 4 June the Eastbourne Local History Society was presented with a prestigious prize, The British Association for Local History Newsletter Award, 2011. This is a national award which identifies the local history newsletter deemed by the judges to be the outstanding one among all those published in the UK in 2010. So, congratulations to editors Tony Crooks and Michael Partridge, graphic designer Martin Bannon who revitalised the style, format and typestyle, to the Town Hall Printing Unit and to all those contributors who helped to make each issue interesting and informative.

The award was accepted by co-editor Michael Partridge from Professor David Hey, President of BALH. In her speech made before presenting the award, Dr Evelyn Lord, Reviews Editor, said,

First of all I would like to say that it is very difficult every year to declare that some are winners and others are losers. All the societies, editors and editorial committees producing newsletters, whether monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly or twice yearly should be congratulated for their dedication and the interesting information included in their publications, and I would like to thank them for sending these to The Local Historian for listing, as this brings notice of their articles to a wider audience. However, there can only be one winner every year, and this year it is the Eastbourne Local History Society’s Eastbourne Local Historian.

The Eastbourne Local Historian contains news and information about and for the society, and about the locality, and importantly it

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encourages non-members to attend lectures by including the annual programme on the back cover, and when and where meetings take place, and inviting non-members to come along. Encouraging more people to take an interest in their home town or village is, I think, an important role of local societies. As well as local and society news, the Eastbourne Local Historian also includes more substantial articles. It is published quarterly, and has been received regularly for listing the whole time I have been review editor of The Local Historian, and during this time there have been some notable photographs and pictures on the cover, which encourage one to look inside. In particular the Winter 2008 issue photograph of the Technical Institute in the early 1900s, followed in Spring 2009 by the building after it had been bombed in 1943; some good editorial thinking there.Every issue includes a secretary or chairperson’s report containing information about the society. There is a section on research enquiries received by the society, some from family historians and other more general enquiries about people and life in Eastbourne, and this section keeps the society informed about research projects from across the world about the town. The Spring 2011 issue has information about the society’s e-mail research group who endeavour to answer research enquiries on line. This is an innovative new undertaking, and another aspect of a local history society’s role. Additions to the society’s archives are listed each quarter, as are new listings of buildings, and book reviews of publications of interest to Eastbourne. There are usually three or four more substantial articles on Eastbourne’s history. For example in the Spring 2011 issue there are articles on the Browne Family of Eastbourne, academic entrepreneurs, Eastbourne AA defences, and Norfolk Connections with the town. In this issue I noticed that at an open meeting the future of the Eastbourne Local Historian was discussed. I hope that it will be able to continue in some form or other in the future, and offer my congratulations to those who, over the years, have published a well produced and interesting addition to local history.Finally, and on anecdotal note, one of my former colleagues, a geologist at the Institute of Continuing Education in Cambridge, was born and brought up in Eastbourne. After listing I would lend her the current issue, and she was so pleased to read about her home town; each article bringing back memories, and I think this demonstrates another function of local history societies, keeping those who have left the area in touch with their roots. The Eastbourne Local Historian demonstrates that local societies and their newsletters are not just for the members, but look outwards to attract new members, keep in touch with current research about an area and as a point of contact for those who have left an area, but still have fond memories for it. My congratulations once again, and I look forward to the issue of Summer 2011.

Evelyn LordReview editor of The Local Historian

Copies of our publications are available to members at meetings or by post from Peter Tyrrell at 8 Chiltern Court, Albert Road, Polegate, BN26 6BS, tel 01323 487170, email: pltyrrell@btinternet.com Cheques should be made payable to the Eastbourne Local History Society.

The society’s publications

The 1841 Census for EastbourneA meticulous transcription of the names, ages, employment and addresses of those living in the Parish of Eastbourne on the night of 6/7 June 1841. An invaluable reference for genealogical researchers. £3 + £1 p&p.

The Redoubt Fortress and Martello Towers of Eastbourne 1804-2004 Rosemary Milton and Richard Callaghan An impressive illustrated record of the origins and use of these defences against the Napoleonic threat, together with details of the soldiers and military units which manned them. 88 pp. £6 + £1 p&p.

Origins of Eastbourne’s Street Names John Milton An illustrated record of the origins of the names of every one of Eastbourne’s streets including their historical context or derivation, together with their dates of origin. Currently out of print. A completely new edition shortly.

A History of the Eastbourne Aviation Company 1911-1924 Lou McMahon and Michael Partridge A detailed, fully illustrated story of the men who learned to f ly and of the machines in which they f lew; also a record of the RNAS occupation and the 250 aircraft that were built here.174 pp. Hardback £5 + £2 p&p.

Canucks by the SeaMichael OckendenThe story of the Canadian Army in Eastbourne during the Second World War. Fully illustrated. Extended second edition193 pp. £9 + £1 p&p.

Turnpike Territory, the Glyndebridge Trust and the Lewes to Eastbourne Turnpikes Peter Longstaff-TyrrellA guide to the old coach road from Lewes to Eastbourne. Fully illustrated in colour. Extended second edition.40 pp. £4.25 + 50p p&p.

Local Historian IndexIssues 1 to 124Now available on CD-ROM. A replacement CD will be provided when the Index is updated to end-2009£5 + 50p p&p.

The Stream That Gave Eastbourne Its NameHarold Spears, revised by Peter Allen and Lou McMahonAn illustrated history of the Bourne Stream. Third edition.28pp £3 + 50p p&p

Tuesday 27 Sep 7:30pm Derek Legg: RNLI - Its history in Eastbourne

Tuesday 11 Oct 2:45pm Brian Freeland: History of Eastbourne Theatres

Tuesday 25 Oct 7:30pm Open meeting for members to discuss the future of the Society, their own research, ask for any help

Tuesday 8 Nov 2:45pm Edward Preston: Blue Plaques of Eastbourne and Sussex

Tuesday 22 Nov 7:30pm Chris McCooey: Sussex scandals, salacious and sad

The society’s programme for 2011

All welcome. Members free. Please remember to bring your membership card to show at the door. Visitors and Guests £1. All meetings will be held at St Saviour’s and St Peter’s Church Hall, South Street, BN21 4UT. Car parking is free at the church. Doors open 15 minutes before the start of meetings.

Membership subscription of the Society from January 1, 2011 is £10, £7 per person for two people at the same address with only one copy of the quarterly journal, the Eastbourne Local Historian, and £5 for just the journal sent by post anywhere in the UK. Subscriptions become due from 1 January each year. In the event of non-payment by the date of the AGM, usually held in April each year, membership of the Society terminates.

All work on Eastbourne Local Historian is voluntary and payment cannot be made for any published material. All material remains the copyright of the contributor unless specifically stated otherwise, and may not be reproduced in any form without the express permission of the copyright holder. All contributions for possible inclusion should be addressed to the Editors (see inside front cover). Closing dates for submission of material are 15 February, May, August and November. Views expressed by authors do not necessarily ref lect those of the Society.

Published by the Eastbourne Local History SocietyISSN:1464-556 Registered Charity no: 283924