Pagham Beach

A Memory of Pagham.

I lived at No 92 Harbour Road, Pagham Beach from 1955 to 1967 when I moved to Nyetimber. Our bathroom was the railway carriage and the only access was by carefully dropping the window using the leather strap with holes and opening the door from the outside. My childhood friend from those days, Elizabeth Paula-Beale, visited recently from Australia and we thought we would make a joint effort to add names and memories to this wonderfully nostalgic page. We remember: Mr and Mrs Colquhoun (daughter Jean-m- Elwin) who had the PO and newsagents on the old parade, then John Tricket the butcher (died in approx 1969), (his wife Alisa then married Major Birch and lived in Pagham Road), with her daughter Zoe. The Leamans took over this butchers in approx 1969. Then came the hardwareshop, then the hairdressers, run by Mrs Wiggins from the early 70s, with a daughter,June. Grace Blackman had the wool shop, she and husband John are both buried in nearby St. Thomas a Becket Church. Barry somebody?? had the greengrocers and there was a general store at the end. It would be good if anybody could make any corrections and/or fill in the missing details, also identify a girl who used a wheelchair and possibly lived in Sea Lane?
Other Memories, Miss Potter (later Mrs Reed)had the stables at the end of Sea Lane, one horse was called Christmas. The vicar of St.Thomas a Becket's was Rev Leece and he had a son, Simon. Miss Bunning, the Clarke family and Mr and Mrs Ide lived in Pagham Road. Vic and Ruth Beddall, Mrs Hutchinson and my parents William and Muriel Julius all of Harbour Road. John Dack ran the pedaloes and sailing craft on The Lagoon. During severe winter of 1963 when The Lagoon froze over completely. (I also remember my father trying to catch eels through the sluice on the harbour side during particularily high tides.) Living in Lagoon Road, Mrs Smart, Mrs Harrington, Ray Kew and Jessie Booth (and husband) who lived in a house called Waverley, opposite the sunken tennis courts. This house remains relatively unchanged.
We both remember a very large bell positioned on the roundabout opposite The Kings Beach, possibly a fire bell? Also, in answer to a previous question, the skipper of The Pagham Queen, the pleasure boat operating from Bognor pier was Eric Howard. His 3 sons - Micheal, Allan and Adrian and their families still live locally, and the last I heard Eric Howard was also still living locally.
Liz's Mum is Pat and she has a younger sister Sara and a brother Adam, although they would have been very young when the family moved to London in 1963.
Does anyone remember a gentleman riding a large white horse along Harbour Road on Christmas Day, year unknown, approx 1960?