Milford On Sea, High Street 2003

The Church

I have lots of memories of Milford, where I was born in 1962 and lived for 12 years, next to this church, in Orchard Cottage. I saw many weddings, christenings and funerals. There was always something going on. I went to the Sunday school and have fond memories of Miss Berry, the Sunday school mistress. Such a lovely lady. I was in the choir. My Mother, brother and I used to carry the bread and wine in, for Holy Communion. I used to collect the pretty ribbons and half dead flowers, from the grave decorations, when they were discarded by the gardener. I remember being taught, by my Mother, to always walk at the foot end of graves and never to walk over them. I still do that now. I also remember the lovely, old stone font, unfortunately, now replaced with a hideous wooden one. Hearing the bells every Sunday morning, and the chimes of the hour.
One thing I do remember doing with my friend Sarah, was climbing up into the roof area of the lytch gate, where we were hidden from view, and trying to drop bits of paper onto people's heads, as they passed underneath. Good job my parents never found out!
Other general memories of Milford are, the huge Fuschia plant in the window of "Pinks" fish and chip shop, when it was in Keyhaven road. Buying squid in the fish shop and going crabbing, with my friend Lucy, at Sturt pond, on the old bridge, where we'd tip out the crabs, onto the bridge, to scare the holiday makers! Going into "Knight's" sweet shop to buy penny sweets, Black Jacks and Cough Candy Twists.
I think Milford was a great place to spend your childhood in the 1960's.

The Bakery

Who else remembers the smell of that freshly baked bread coming from the bakery here, on the very left of the photo (where the chimneys are)? As I child in the 1960s I would volunteer to go to the bakers and rush home with that hot, freshly baked loaf and devour both crusts.

First love

Having lived at Downton from 1958, I grew up opposite Downton Holiday Camp.
My father owned the builders next to the pub and I bought my first car at the garage 2 doors to the right. Somewhen in the mid 1960s  I met the new landlady's daughter, Diane! Well, despite the age gap (I was about 7 and she was 15-ish) we fell madly in love. Seeing as there were only 3 kids living in the hamlet and only one other girl, this was hardly surprising.  

The hamlet was 1 pub, 1 garage, a Post Office/store and 2 camp sites in what had been gravel extraction yards. In years to come Shorefield Camp was added between Downton and Seabreeze, and we used to be able to drive through Blackbush to Milford-on-Sea, the next biggest village.

Our house was built about 1925 in Shorefield Road, and my mother of 89 still lives there. As I gaze at these photos all the memories of a brilliant childhood, living and growing up there come back to me, and time stands still for a while.