Grain Fort
After the war in 1946 my father, a sergeant in the MPSC, was transfered to Darland camp in Gillingham but as there were no married quarters available there we, as a family, were billeted in the Coastguards quarters on the Isle of Grain.
These were a row of houses with a bedroom in the attic from which we could see across the Medway to the Isle of Sheppy.
I went to the village school briefly for a year, and was also in the church choir but the best fun we had as children was playing in the deserted fort and wading out to the Tower when the tide was out, our parents would have died if they knew what we got up to!
One of the great pleasures for me was watching the Thames barges sailing up the Medway - those barges have always held a fascination for me ever since.
Another memory of Grain for me was crossing over to Sheerness by Navy launch from Port Victoria, then a small oil refinery.
I have been back to Grain in recent years and was sadly dissapointed to see it had become a huge industrial estate so I will cling to my memories of a very brief but very happy time on the Isle of Grain.
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RE: RE: Grain Fort
Hello John, my 97 year old mother is the youngest and last member of the Hills family who lived at Port Victoria from 1901 to 1955. Her father, my grandfather ran the small railway there. Port Victoria was one station, one hotel and one cottage.
As children my cousins and I spent most of the war years there, Cockleshell beach was 'ours'. We spent summer days on the beach and knew when it was time to come home when the tide turned about 5pm and the warships turned about.
My mother worked at the RNAD as a crane driver loading ammunition on the small boats taking it to the ships anchored in the estuary.
My father was in the army and we joined him in Germany 1949. Coming back to Port Victoria early 1953 at the time of the floods was sorrowful. The oil company had bought the railway land to build another refinery, everything was derelect and my grandparents moved to nearby Gravesend.
Wonderful memories for us both.
Comment from Ellen Bignell on Friday, 15th August 2008.