Old Eastbourne

A Memory of Eastbourne.

This memory is about the 1960s. Eastbourne was always my favourite seaside resort and I never wanted to go home to Croydon at the end of the day. I told my mum that I lived there a long time ago. Of course I got told "Don't be silly". It was only when I was doing my family history in the 1990s that I found that my ancestors came from the old town in Eastbourne. In fact I had a famous one, the artist John Hamilton Mortimer (my grandad also had this name) through Mr Wtevens (local historian) talking about JHM on Sussex Radio. My mum was also listening to him and suggested that I write to Mr Stevens to see if there was a connection, and wow, did he open up a lot of news about the Mortimers. Through him we traced my Mortimer line back to 1650, and he also put me in touch with my great- grandfather's first marriage descendants in Australia. My Australian relatives visited here in 1994 and met Mr Stevens and saw all the Mortimers buried in the churchyard. It was a day to be proud of. Now I know why I never wanted to go home to Croydon. Eastbourne old town is still my favourite place to go, to sit in the churchyard under the trees and remember my ancestors. I go to Beachy Head as it's where JHM based his art work on, and feel like I really belong. "Be still and know that I am God" springs to mind when I am up there. Eastbourne is a lovely place, full of history (and my family of Mortimers).

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