High Street c1950, Robertsbridge
High Street c1950, Robertsbridge Ref: R332002
Memories of High Street c1950, Robertsbridge
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Robertsbridge & local memories
Read and share memories of Robertsbridge and East Sussex inspired by Frith photos.
Childhood Spent in Robertsbridge
I was born in St Helen's Hospital at Hastings and lived in the village from 1955-1965 and then again from 1969- 1972. I remember the River Rother flooding and then freezing over, which was great fun as people made the most of it and went skating. Many of the tiny cottages were flooded regularly every year, until they dug out the riverbed. My mum used to feel very sorry for the people having to clear away all of the muddy mess. I used to look forward to the summer fete held at Darvel Hall, which was a TB hospital in those days. The sight of the patients in striped pyjamas in their iron beds, arranged in a line along the verandahs, used to fascinate me. I used to play in the river, although I wasn't meant to, and we used to try to catch a fish or two but mostly ended up with minnows. There were still steam trains running when I was very small and there was a line from Bodiam, which... Read more
Happy Days
My dad Fred Brown, estate carpenter at Mountfield, was a good singer and actor and was a member of Robertsbridge amateur theatre group, and I remember going to shows at the hall several times, only one I remember, 'Changing of the Guard'. I remember him playing the piano at home and singing words I remember went something like 'Willo Willo Waley, will you marry me' and as kids didn't go much on that. Mum (Doris) worked at the Grey and Nickols (?) factory during the war, making table tennis tables. As teenagers we went to the dances at the hall on Saturday nights, walking back to Mountfield in the early morning absolutely shattered. In 1947 when I was in the RAF it took ages to get home with phone wires, branches broken off the trees to negotiate and freezing cold. My RAF greatcoat stood up in the bakehouse where Mum had put it to thaw out for several days for about the first 20 weeks in the RAF, I must... Read more
Christmas in The Snow
My maternal grandparents owned "Old Timbers", the 15th century cottages in the High Street (numbers 55-59, I think) from the early 1950s to around 1970 or 1971. They actually lived in one of the cottages from 1960 to around 1966 or 1967. My family spent many happy summer holidays with my grandparents during the mid 1960s, but my favourite memory was the Christmas of 1964 when we travelled by train to spend that holiday with them.
It started to snow as we journeyed and I remember the train journey was long drawn-out. We had to change several times - I particularly remember sitting in the waiting room at Tunbridge Wells - in order to get there in the evening. It was dark when we finally arrived and the snow was on the ground. It was wonderful to get to the cottage with a fire blazing in the hearth. My sister and I slept in a small bedroom at the top of the cottage which you had to reach by... Read more
Visits to my Uncle at Robertsbridge
As a small child I would travel down by train with my nan and stay at my Uncle George Bowen who lived in Langham Road,
Most important thing before boarding the train in London was to get in the right section for Robertsbridge, the platform was too short for the train - get in the wrong place and you would be outside the actual station.
His sister Ethel got on the wrong section on one occasion and found no platform so tried to get out and ended up falling out onto the railway line - she was always doing silly things like that.
We would walk along from the station and along a stony road, soon knew if my shoes were a bit thin by the pain of the stones through them.
My uncle lived next door to his neice and strange as it would seem the lady on the other side of him had the same surname though no relative.
Nan and I would... Read more
