Cliftonville, Kent

The Lido.. the best place on Earth!

Two of my aunts had guest houses in Cliftonville and every year we ventured from Berkshire by train or by coach via Victoria coach station for our annual holiday in Margate.

My memories are simple and straightforward, to me it was the happiest place on earth.

From the time I saw the noticeboard in Birchington advertising 'What's On' at... [more]

The town of my birth

This is one of my endearing images of Margate. I was born at 5 Market Place, which lies just behind the lower white buildings to the centre rear of the photo. It was 1952 and my father was a bus inspector on the East Kent Road Car Co. He loved Margate and the sea air, he was born in Tottenham and... [more]

70s Thoughts

I came from the north to work in Margate from 70 to 72--at what was then called the Isle of Thanet District Hospital, Margate Wing. For my first 2 months I lived in staff accommodation at the Royal Sea Bathing Hospital. I'm sure that people in far more upmarket accomodation would have killed for the sea view from my... [more]

FAMILY HOME IN THE CHURCHYARD

My grandmother was born in the churchyard - as was my mother and her siblings- well actually in a cottage which abutted the church wall - the family lived in the cottage for almost 100 years until it was condemned and pulled down in the 1920's - they built an air-raid shelter on the site during WWII and now they... [more]

The Post in the Centre of the Bay

I am not sure which grandfather it was (how many greats do you want?) but the old part of my family, the Strevens, have lived in Broadstairs for the last five hundred years, and have the honour of having erected the post in the middle of the bay. This was one of five snubbing posts that allowed the barges to warp... [more]

Broadstairs and St Mary's Home 1957

I was 6 years old and had had bronchitis and asthma and so I was sent away from smoggy London to St Mary's Home in Broadstairs. I was taken with other young children on a train by a nurse in a brown uniform. We all slept in dormitories and every Wednesday we had early morning exercises. Sometimes we were taken down... [more]

WERE YOU AT PORT REGIS Convent for delicate girls DURING 1950''''S

I was at Port Regis between 1954 and 1956. I was 8 when I got there and left just before my 10th birthday. Was anyone else at Port Regis, Broadstairs when it was a convent for delicate girls?
I did read one input here, but it was from 1946 I think. The nuns, thinking about it now, resembled Roman Catholic ladies... [more]