52. Keith Lenham sent this memory

Keith Lenham keithlenham123@btinternet.com

Hear Keith's Story

Introduction

A friend suggested that I look at all the reminiscences posted on your blog.

Early Life

My name is Keith Lenham born in Lancing in 1945, my parents died when I was very young and my brother and I were brought up by an aunt and uncle in Grand Avenue.
I was educated at North Lancing Primary School and then on to Worthing Technical High School. My brother Les being older than me was educated at Worthing High School.

Fond Memories of Lancing

So much has already been written, a significant amount of which is very familiar to me, names, places shops etc with much of my youth spent in the Little Park, Lancing Manor and up on the Downs in the first and second clumps, the chalk pit and also the beach in summer.

Apprenticeship and Career

Upon leaving school I took up an apprenticeship with F G Miles who at that time was located at River Bank works in Shoreham, Much fun was had working on the design of the Bristol Boxkite which Miles made for the film The Magnificent Men and Their Flying Machines. Bob Bushby was also an apprentice at that time. I subsequently worked for several other companies based in the UK.

Family and Cricket

My brother Les went on to play cricket for Sussex as a professional, he is now of course retired and living in Eastbourne but I’m sure that he will remember Mike Reynolds and Ron Kerridge. His son Neil also played for Sussex and likewise, he lives in Eastbourne.

Local Character

Horace Duke was mentioned in an article, this character I remember well, in his latter but still active years he was often seen on his Frances Barnet motorcycle around the area.

Just a snippet but hopefully informative


Regards
Keith

51. Mike Reynolds sends this great memory of happy times

A Glimpse into a Lancing Childhood

NEW Experimental AI-generated podcast from Mike's Story

In these times of coronavirus lockdowns, I found myself with time to browse the internet and found your website. I thought I would send you some of my memories of a Lancing childhood


My name is Michael (Mike) Reynolds, and I was born in Lancing in June 1937. My parents, Eric and Dorothy Reynolds,(I think a year or so before I was born), bought a new bungalow at 14 The Drive, South Lancing, and it was here that I lived with my family for the whole of my childhood. The family consisted of Mum and Dad, my Dad’s father, Frank Reynolds (Pop), and my brother Geoff, four years older than me.

The Family Business and Wartime Lancing

Before the war, Dad and Pop had set up in business with a bicycle shop in South Street (number 111 I think),- W.F. and E.F.Reynolds- but when WWII started, Dad was called up into the RAF, and my earliest memories of the shop have Pop in the workshop at the back mending the punctures, and Mum running the shop at the front. The other shops I can recall nearby were the World Stores, a grocery where the front of the counter was lined with glass-topped biscuit boxes, Surfleets Chemist on the corner of Penhill Road, Colbourns Haberdashers, Potter Bailies Grocers, Isteads Hardware shop, and on the other side of South Street was the Co-op, where the money was sent on overhead wires from the counter to the cashier.

School Days and Steam Trains

I walked each day to South Lancing Primary School, just over the Southern Railway line. I suppose I would have started there in 1943, but I can’t remember the names of my teachers. I remember that afternoon school finished at about the same time that the “Steyning Flier”, one of the last steam trains to run through Lancing, would come puffing through. We boys would run quickly up and onto the footbridge over the railway line and wait for the Flier to pass underneath, shrouding us in a cloud of smoke and steam – we also tried to spit down the funnel!

Playtime and Wartime Memories

As others of your correspondents have told, the war years made the beach a no-go zone, but with very little traffic on the roads, The Drive and Chester Avenue were our playgrounds. The horse-drawn cart of Mr Souter, the milkman, Lisher’s coal cart, or the rag and bone man’s cart were about all the traffic there was!


I don’t have any clear memories of the air raid on April 25, 1941, in which two houses in The Drive were bombed, but the bombed sites became makeshift (and not very safe) playgrounds.

Exploring Beyond Childhood

When I got a bit older, I had my own bicycle, and I was able to range further. First, the Cubs, and then the 1st South Lancing Troop of the Boy Scouts kept me out of (most) mischief, and at age 11 in 1948, I started at Worthing High School for Boys in Broadwater.


If any of the above jogs other memories, I can be contacted by email at reymor@bigpond.com

50. Hilary sends an article about Horace Duke

I was so pleased to find your website on “Memories of Lancing”. Indeed it did bring back a lot of memories and I am so glad you set it up.

I wonder if you remember Horace Duke, a flamboyant and eccentric character, who donned Edwardian dress and who used to cycle along the Lower Brighton Road in the 1960s? I found an old newspaper cutting of him, in a collection of photographs belonging to my late aunt. Unfortunately, I do not have an actual date on the newspaper cutting, but there is mention of “Mods and Rockers” in the article, and having looked up the Lancing Rep productions mentioned in the article alongside, I deduce the date to be around June 1967.
I understand from searching on the internet that he sadly died in 1995. But I have discovered no photographs of him online, which is a shame.

I wonder if anyone knows anything about him? The article mentions he lived in Brighton Road, Lancing. He certainly was an enigma!
I wondered if the article about him might be of interest to you for your website.

Our extended family moved to the Sompting/Lancing area between 1958 and 1965, but I now live in Norfolk, although my mother is still in Sompting.

49. Bill Lindfield

A new site that pays tribute to the late Bill Lindfield's life has been created by members of Lancing & Sompting Pastfinders

William Lindfield 23.3.1927 - 28.11.2011

http://www.somptingestate.com/bill-lindfield

48. Bill Lindfield Audio History

Coming soon, more from Bill Lindfield

Bill Lindfield

46. Marion Dolemore-Bushby sends information

Marion Dolamore-Bushby wrote to me and wished to share the following..

Dear Ray,

My father's family were Bushbys. My grandfather was born at Church Farmhouse opposite St James church N Lancing. His father William and grandfather were millers and his uncle was Charles Bushby who owned South House,
The first picture is supposedly Lancing Mill.

The second is South House c 1860.

The third is from George Shaw's book and a picture of Bushby homestead with fig trees.

Mr Shaw told me this was South House (presumably the barns), but I am unsure that he was certain of this.
 The next picture is of Lancing Mill. I do not know who the people are.

 

The last picture is of Charles's 3 spinster daughters living in South House in all those rooms! When families of 6 or more children lived in two or three rooms.

Hope this is of interest. I do have more on the family, and maybe you know of people who have other info of interest to me as well?
I spent a long time searching for a picture of South House and only found the one here recently. I am unaware of any others.
 I have a painting of the mill that a distant relative sent me, so will send that on to you if you wish. Marion .....

And so she did...

This is the painting I was sent by a distant Bushby cousin, which is of Lancing Mill.

I don't know the authenticity of that. Maybe you do or can work it out from the view. I have been to Lancing on many
occasions, however, I received this picture since moving to Australia, so cannot visit to see for myself.
Hope it's of interest. Marion [dolamore-bushby]

Marion wrote again...
I am enclosing two photos of William Bushby, the miller's daughters. I only have one other picture of his children, and that is my grandfather Edward Dolamore-Bushby, who was a baker.
George William, as you probably know,w was a butcher.
These pictures are of Clara, with the two Challen girls holding kittens, and Emily.

I have done my family tree, so might be of use at some time. 

Many thanks to Marion for these  words and marvellous pictures

Comments

Graham Funnel writes a comment to George Forrest

On the subject of the Lisher cart-horses, I well remember, as a child, seeing them in their flint stable and out on their rounds, in the late 1950s. I recall both Unigate and Co-op dairies finished using horses at about the same time as Lishers, around 1962. "Joey" the milk-horse, was a favourite with the children, and he reputedly knew exactly which houses to stop outside of. Joey was always given a carrot or some other treat when he got to our house, in Annweir Avenue, which probably jogged his memory of where to stop !

That's probably where my life-long affection for horses started, and why my family and I currently
look after so many elderly rescued ones !