In Days Gone By with John Dowling

NOT a sign could be discovered at the Local Government Board inquiry on Tuesday of the “strenuous opposition” which had been threatened against the Council’s application for a loan of £3,900 for the purchase of certain land near Egerton Park for the purpose of public walks and pleasure grounds. Not a single ratepayer outside of councillors was present at the proceedings, and nobody appeared to protest against the levelling of the low-lying portion of the ground with the town’s refuse. – Early reference to the creation of Polegrove.

THROUGHOUT the whole of Thursday morning a severe gale blew from the south west with heavy and continual rain; it was almost impossible to make one’s way along the parade. The wind blew the rain in sheets, and the effect was almost blinding. For an hour before and after high tide, mountainous waves were thrown against West Parade, practically from one end to the other, while the Central Parade was also washed. As a result of the attack, the demolition of the old sea wall, east of the Clock Tower was nearly completed.

1961

COLLECTIONS at the Central Station Christmas tree are due to begin on Monday. Last year the tree raised £127 for the blind, while this year the target is £130, the honorary secretary of the Bexhill Voluntary Appeals Committee for the RNIB told the ‘Observer.’

ELEVEN bungalows and six houses were completed in the borough in October, and 156 dwellings were in the course of construction. Sixteen new blocks of flats totalling 195 units were being built and 27 houses were being converted into 80 flats.

1971

AFTER almost a generation of wrangling and debate over the development of the site, the once-derelict land on West Parade adjoining Polegrove has at last been put to use. Variously talked of as the site for a new swimming pool for the town and for a ‘botel’ combining an hotel and an inland yacht marina, the land is now being developed by R.A. Larkin and Brothers Ltd., with flats.

INDUSTRIALISTS on the Brett Drive industrial estate are losing production, it was claimed on Tuesday, because workers could not get a bus connection if they worked overtime. ‘It is the same answer every time we ask our people to work overtime,’ one industrialist told a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce Industrial Section. ‘They say it is impossible to get a bus.’

1981

FOUR flower sellers charged with obstructing the pavement in Devonshire Road were given an absolute discharge by Bexhill Magistrates on Wednesday. They were charged following a long wrangle in the summer when local florists complained about unfair competition from the street sellers who, they said, did not even have to buy licences so had no overheads.

THE sky is really the limit for girls who enlist in the Girls’ Venture Corps. It is the only girls’ youth movement in the world to possess and fly its own aircraft and to award flying scholarships to enable members to qualify as pilots. Plans are afoot to resurrect the old Bexhill unit in the early months of 1982.

1991

IN a rare display of unanimity, Rother councillors have rallied behind St Jude’s Women’s Refuge in its hour of need. St Jude’s trustee Deborah Scott-Bromley revealed two weeks ago that the charity must find £5,000 or risk closure before Christmas, making homeless six women victims of domestic violence and their families.

2001

A PASSIONATE plea was made this week for the community to back Bexhill Carnival. The “use it or lose it” warning came at Monday’s annual meeting from Carnival deputy president Ken Rushbrooke. The July Carnival procession was one of the smallest and worst-supported in memory. This was reflected in the charity collection made on the day - £1,430 compared with last year’s £2,000. Yet despite having made a £73.67 loss on the rest of the year’s operations, the Carnival committee maintained its tradition and on Monday evening gave the entire street procession collection to charity.

BEXHILL’S Christmas Festival will probably be the largest yuletide celebration that day in the region, say organisers. Day-long festivities are set to attract hundreds of residents and visitors from afar into Bexhill town centre tomorrow week.