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Woodingdean
Woodingdean photos
Displaying the first of 16 old photos of Woodingdean. View all Woodingdean photos
Woodingdean maps
Historic maps of Woodingdean and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Woodingdean maps
Woodingdean area books
Displaying 1 of 19 books about Woodingdean and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Woodingdean
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Woodingdean.
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Shops on Warran Way
The shops were built in 1959/60 and the Steele family took possession of the first 2 shops as soon as they were finished. The shop, on the corner of Falmer and Warran, opened as a hairdressers and was managed by my then fiance Lesley, the adjoining shop opened as a laundrette, run by Lesley's mother. The family lived in the maisonette above the shops and I have many happy memories of that era.
East Sussex memories
Brighton Teacher Training College.
The house on the far right of the terrace was no 9 which together with no 8 formed the premises of Brighton Teacher Training College, which I attended in 1956-58. The road on the left hand side of the picture (just visible) is Paston Place. This eastern area of Brighton is known as Kemp Town.
Teacher Training College
The building in the corner was Brighton Teacher Training College. The building at right angles in the distance was a hotel.
My mother Florence Starkey was studying in the Teacher Training College top floor and looked out of the window across the angle into the side window of the curved bay hotel window to see a woman hovering strangely in the shadow of the back of the room. Their eyes met.
She looked away and as she did so the woman threw herself from the window and was impaled on the area railings below, directly next to the College's entrance. All the students were confined to the College for hours whilst the 6 foot section of railing was sawn out. One can still see only the top rail was crudely welded back. This may also explain why the windows are blocked.
One small anonymous tragedy.
Brighton Jazz Club
Used to visit the Brighton Jazz Club - at the Aquarium, at about the time this photograph was taken
Days Out by The Seaside
We enjoyed summer holidays at Brighton by the sea.
Aquarium
The Aquarium was the venue for the 'Chinese Jazz Club' which was run by a man in a straw hat called 'Bonnie'. I was a regular as a student and despite the name all I recall was R&B music from a range of bands and singers including Muddy Waters, Blind Lemon Jefferson (I think) , Long John Baldry and Rod Stewart - then known as Rod the Mod.
Chinese Jazz Club
It was Uncle Bonnie's Chinese Jazz Club which ran all-night sessions on a Friday night, from 11pm to about 6am the next morning. All sorts of jazz was played, including trad jazz. There were singles and couples, I think drinks most of the night, and of course a smoky atmosphere from cigarettes. Great music and atmosphere, you all went home for breakfast unless you found an open cafe - what time did Joe Lyons tea house open at the bottom of St James Street? Who was Uncle Bonnie and what happened to him?
