Birchington memories
Here are memories of Birchington and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Birchington or a Birchington photo.
Birchington in The 50s !
Many happy memories of Birchington - my sister (born 1933) often used to take me to the Ice Cream Parlour which until about 5 years ago still had the rattan chairs and tables and distinctive smell of vanilla. Most family links through Mill Row and Mill Lane (off Canterbury Road and near Court Mount) with aunt and uncle moving into Shamrock Villas in 1911 when first built. Lots of connections through Stringers (mother's sister Edith) Kings (mother's sister Lillian) and Dennes. Recent checks have traced Dennes back many generations including marrying Crispe of Quex about 1433 ! Also to local Hoodeners troup in 1920s. Happy New Year to al.l
Ice-Cream Parlour
I can also remember the ice-cream parlour from when I was little, we used to stop here on the way back from the beach, we lived in Broadstairs. In fact at present (2011) the parlour still kind of exists, but is closed! Most of the original decor was changed in 2005 when the owners retired, but it remained an ice-cream parlour and is currently up for lease.
Birchington & Minnis Bay
I was partly raised in Birchington during the 1950's, my Nan & Grandad and Aunts & Uncles also lived there, I would spend all my summer holidays there at my Nan's house in Park Avenue ...happy days, I still think about them even today we would spend much time in Minnis Bay, Beresford etc, Birchington was a lovely place & still sometimes visit it
Birchington, Epple Bay And Minnis Bay
Birchington with two bays and a village atmosphere 'in town'. A rail station with the most wonderful ice cream parlour opposite - wicker chairs on those old fashioned curved steel bases and circular wicker tables with glass tops - and ice cream to die for! Mr Whippy was barely born when ice cream in glass or metal dishes on stems with tasty wafers (unlike those of the 21st century) were the treat of all time! Models of knickerbocker glories and banana splits at 5 times the price of ice cream in dishes lined glass shelves behind the counter, always aspired to - disappointing when actually had one at what used to be Pelosi, Ramsgate in 1993! Birchington High Street full of little shops with interesting windows leading to the church, square and war memorial, a junction of roads leading out into Kent sea and countryside - and to the Thanet Way to London. Easterly from the High Street through attractive residential areas is Epple Bay.... Read more
Summer Days at Minnis Bay
In the early 1960s my dad would drive us down to Birchington in his Morris Oxford to visit my grandparents who lived in Lancaster Gardens. We would visit on a Sunday about twice a month and in the summer we would sometimes walk across the cabbage fields, cross the railway line and paddle in the sea at Minnis Bay. On some occations we would all go for a drive and I can remember going to Sandwich past the firework factory, the hooverport and lots of other places that looked so interesting to me. I remember going down the Thanet Way one Christmas Day and only seeing about half a dozen cars on the whole trip. Happy days.
4th Bexleyheath Cub Scouts Camp at Birchington
In the 1950s we called ourselves "Wolf Cubs" and I remember being taken in the back of a removal lorry with all our camping gear for a week long camp with the 4th Bexleyheath Cubs at Birchington.
Although it was supposed to be a "camp" in fact we all stayed in a hut but spent most of our time on happy outdoor activities. The highlight was a day's outing to Margate. I remember buying a souvenir plastic salt and pepper pot to take home to my Mum and Dad!
I had a great time with the cub pack for more than two years until I moved to Bournemouth in 1954. This camp at Birchington was the event I remember most. Now I am in my mid-sixties but I still have the handful of badges I earned as a cub!
Memories of Kent
Seaside Holiday at Westgate-On-Sea
My earliest memories of the seaside are from the 1950's. We lived in Bexleyheath and - like most people - did not own a car in those far off austerity years after the war. For this reason our summer holidays were always on the nearby north Kent coast and we would travel by train!
Our family had two summer holidays in Westgate-On-Sea - each of them a fortnight staying in a hotel. I remember playing on the sand in St Mildrid's Bay and West Bay, a ride on an open-top bus, an evening in "Dreamland" at nearby Margate, and seeing Reculver Tower which vividly brought to life the history lesson I had at Pelham Road School in Bexleyheath! Happy Days !!
Scout Camp
As a member of the 6th Brockley Scout Group, I visited Westgate 3 or 4 times during the early 1950s for the annual 2-week camp in August, our tents being pitched in the grounds of the then Catholic Church on the London Road.
I remember that we loved buying jam-doughnuts from the Devonshire Bakers, often burning our mouths on the hot jam, as the doughnuts were usualy just made!
I saw the film, "Reach for the Sky" at the Carlton Cinema on one visit to Westgate.
Sometimes we placed penny coins on the rails at the level-crossing to be flattened by passing steam trains!
Wonderful times!
Ken Cook
Millies
St Mildred's Hotel, commonly known as Millies, was a hive of activity in the 1950s/60s when I was a teenager. Joe used to play there for crowds of dance-mad youngsters, sometimes he used his own material which was a bit saucy. We would travel over by train on a Saturday and spend all evening there meeting our friends and then go off to Cliftonville for a curry before going home. Life was fun!
Susan Robinson
Pav's Tea Gardens, Westgate
Pav's Tea Gardens in St Mildred's Bay was a place where I spent my youth, owned by Herbert Smith the famous film producer, the cafe was full of stills from the films he had worked on, there must have been over three hundred photos covering all the walls. Great music coming from the Rock-ola juke box.
Westgate on Sea Holidays in The 1960s
My parents took myself and my late brother to Westgate on Sea almost every Easter from 1959 to 1971. Living in west London we caught the 2.40pm train from Victoria, arriving at Westgate on Sea about 4.10pm, a short walk along Station Road, St Mildred's Road then a left turn in to Rowena Road. At the Sea Road end on the right hand side of Rowena Road stood a building called Ledge Point (now the site is McCarthy and Stone retirement flats) which in the above picture is the large building in the middle with the mock Tudor style front. It was a Holiday Centre of the P.O.F.R. (the Post Office Fellowship of Rememberance). We would normally arrive on Maundy Thursday (the day before Good Friday) and leave on the Saturday following Easter Monday. We spent a lot of the time walking along the front by St Mildred's Bay and along towards Westbrook via the Sunken Gardens and onwards into Margate. I remember that Westgate had a nice selection of... Read more
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