Piddock And Smiths

A Memory of Deal.

My gt. grandfathers married sisters named Brothers. The three familes have been in and around Deal for centuries Gt. grandfather Maxwell was a Royal Marine, as was grandfather Piddock.  My father 'Phys' Pidddock was welterweight boxing champ RM in 1925. Smiths were in the fish trade. Ted Smith had the first Fish and Shop in Deal [North side of Alfred Square] well before WW1. Grandfather Piddock had sweet shop in London Road opp. the Parochial School. I worked at Lamberts Laundries and left Deal 1964 to enter legal profession. I recall the summer days swimming, the boatmen, the outbreak of war, evacuation to South Wales, our return to the damaged town we loved, the decline of the laundry trade [we once served hundreds of houses, hotels, the Royal Marine depot etc.]. In 1945 I worked at Swaffields Laundry, College Road with Bert Penn, Bill Spicer. On home visits I always look up old friends and quietly walk the streets  in reverie.