Pat Harper

A Memory of Bradwell on Sea.

We moved to Bradwell in 1961, my dad worked for Stan Fowler, we had moved nearly every two years, but we stayed in Bradwell. I've lovely memories of times and people I met at Bradwell, even now I have to go to Bradwell as I put it to charge my batteries up. Bradwell you love or hate, but I loved it - the dances we had at the village hall and at Tillingham, we had live bands, it was great, the times. I walked home with my high heeled shoes in my hand as my feet were killing me from all the dancing. We played badminton in the hall, also Michael Head used to run a youth club, we didn't have much going on there, but Michael used to get things done and we used to have a good time. Many nights we would sit on the church wall talking and having a laugh.
I left school and worked at Bacons, that was a wondrful grounding for the rest of my life and I look back on those days as the best thing that could have happened to me, it was hard work, but I met people and went places with Mrs Watts that I wouldn't have done. I had a few romances and I keep in touch with lots of people even now. Bradwell was a great place to live. I remember the power station being opened, it brought a lot of work and people to Bradwell. We were sitting on the church wall when someone came and told us John Kennedy had been shot and how shocked we all were. I found in an old second hand book shop a book that Tom Driberge wrote, that was a eye opener but  I remember him with great fondness and his wife. I wonder what happened to blind David, he used to come down at weekends, he was amazing, he used to know who everyone was as soon as you spoke to him. The King's Head and the Cricketer were the pubs we used to use. Bradwell United was the football club. My life at Bradwell was a wonderful time and the jukebox in the King's Head had 'From a Jack to a King' on, probably the most played record on it.
I now live in Maldon which is nice but my heart will always be in Bradwell.xx

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