You are here:
Ham
Ham maps
Historic maps of Ham and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Ham maps
Ham photos
We have no photos of Ham, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Selsey| Church Norton| Sidlesham| Earnley| Bracklesham Bay| East Wittering| Birdham| Pagham| West Wittering| Rose Green| Itchenor| Aldwick| Dell Quay| Bosham| Chichester| Bognor Regis| Shripney
Ham area books
Displaying 1 of 24 books about Ham and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Ham
No memories of Ham have been shared yet - be the first!
Add your memory of Ham
or of a photo of Ham.
West Sussex memories
SELSEY
I spent several holidays in a chalet with long verandah which was one of the first on the right just after a burnt out house and just before the caravans started in Mill Lane during the late 1940s and early 1950s. I remember getting off the bus from Chichester with all our luggage and there were an assortment of men with bicycles with various trailers attached and for a small fee cases and bags were loaded on and all the holiday makers followed on foot till each was taken to their holiday 'home'. We were always the first to be offloaded and I remember seeing the man cycling furiously back to the bus stop a bit later to try and catch the next load of holiday makers as they disembarked. In the 1960s when I had children of my own and we all had cars, the walk along Mill Lane was not so enjoyable as cars seemed to dash each way with scant regard to pedestrians. Both bus... Read more
The Caravan Shop
I can remember the shop well, both my grandparants had caravans on Mr Wakley's old site (the first gate on the left past the windmill). If the Greenaways shop (that was an old bus parked by the windmill) was shut it meant walking the extra bit to the caravan shop. I still have a photo taken by Selsey Photographic, Millfield Road (phone SELSEY 2604) of myself aged 13 with a shopping bag walking to the shop taken in 1960, when the our caravans were moved up to Ramparts, a beach-side site, further along West Beach, from about 1953. My Auntie Lou used to live in Mill Cottage for about 10 years, before moving to 115 High Street, Selsey.
West Sands Caravan Park
I spent many happy holidays at West Sands. The Embassy club - I can still smell the polished floor. I remember two of the singers. One was JIm (Murphy, I think) and another one the following year called Peter. Somewhere I have the photographs of them, taken next to my sister and myself! It also had a little TV room with about 8 chairs where you could watch Crossroads or whatever happened to be on. The fair was a short distance away with the bumper cars! You could hire out bikes and cycle all round the camp. We had to go over to a block for the toilet and shower. I met some good friends there, one of them I am still in touch with after all these years!!
Atkins Charity Football Match at Sidlesham FC
Driving through Sidlesham , I noticed the village football club had floodlights. My son Steven was looking for a ground for a Charity Football Match, as we were staying at our chalet at Church Farm Holiday Village. I suggested that we should look at the ground, having ruled out Selsey in the meantime. Being impressed at what we saw, we asked if the chairman was at the match. It turned out that he came from Dartford, our home town! Small world isn't it! We all got well after that and Company Charity Day raise over 2000 for The Treehouse Charity . Some of the directors stayed at the Crab & Lobster and were very impressed, and wanted to know when the next charity day would be, and it must be in Sidlesham!
Bracklesham Lane, Bracklesham Bay
I lived and worked in the area for 20 years from 1966 and this was a time of slow change starting for Bracklesham. The lane is now called Sea Lane, the flowing tamarisk bushes have gone and both side of the road are lined with housing or shops with a pay car park on the seafront. In the early days there was a Pontins holiday camp in Farm Road (now a large housing estate) and Gibson's holiday camp half a mile back from the sea in Bracklesham Lane. Gibsons had the old fashioned wooden family chalets until it was burned down in a massive fire in the late 60's and was rebuilt as South Downs Holiday Village.
Pontin's Holiday Camp
I had a holiday job for 8 weeks at Pontin's in the summer of 1967 before going up to Oxford University. I worked in the staff canteen with Philipe, a young Frenchman; and then also part-time as a barman. The camp deputy manager (Mr. Brown?) was reputed to have been Prince Charles' protection officer until the cherry brandy incident led to his resignation. Some of the chalet maids came over each summer from Dublin, including the enchanting and high-spirited Helen Maher, whom I have never forgotten.
Pontins
I worked in Pontins as a waitress, the best job I ever had. I remember going to the beach after work with jam n' yorkshire puddings and having a blast with the holidaymakers. Chalet parties....!! I remember the closeness of the staff, like family. Long John (say no more!) June and Linda, Diane from Nottingham, Dave from Bletchley - my first boyfriend! John Hatch and his mates, wot a laff!
