Living In Rye

A Memory of Hastings.

Hi,
I lived in Rye until I went into the army in 1955. I went to the Primary School in Ferry Road, then to the Rye Secondary Modern. When the Seond World War was on we were living at Cadborough, then we moved to Military Road, a family of eleven children, and our parents. We would walk from Military Road to the train station with a pram and get a sack of coal. We would walk for miles and miles, when the mushrooms were in season we would pick them and sell them round the houses, also when the horses went by we would have to go and pick up their droppings for the allotment. Three of my sisters worked at the bedding factory, two worked at the Rye Model Laundry. We all went hop picking at Reeves Farm at Peasmarsh, we travelled from Rye to Peasmarsh in a lorry with a tilt for cover. Most of the family had hand-me-down clothes, I even started work on the Kent River Board with short trousers on. I went there as a tea boy. I worked six days a week. One of us had to walk in to the bakers near Land Gate to get scones for the cat, most of us had to do a paper round, I had to walk from Military Road, to the end of Wichelsea Road in Rye, and for the people that know Rye, that is a long way. Anyone that lived in Rye in our era would have heard of the Wilson family. Even on the way to school from Military Road, we would have to cross over the railway lines, no level crossing then, imagine it now, health and safety? We never ever went out as a family, so never met our aunts and uncles, that is why I am doing our family ancestry and trying to piece together our lives from when our parents lived at Winchelsea beach, from there to Cadborough, and then to Military Road. I was born in 1937, but until I went into the army in 1955, spent all my time in and around Rye, so if any one remembers us please get in touch.
With kind thanks
S. Wilson.

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