Grain Fort

A Memory of Isle of Grain.

After the war in 1946 my father, a sergeant in the MPSC, was transfered to Darland camp in Gillingham but as there were no married quarters available there we, as a family, were billeted in the Coastguards quarters on the Isle of Grain.
These were a row of houses with a bedroom in the attic from which we could see across the Medway to the Isle of Sheppy.
I went to the village school briefly for a year, and was also in the church choir but the best fun we had as children was playing in the deserted fort and wading out to the Tower when the tide was out, our parents would have died if they knew what we got up to!
One of the great pleasures for me was watching the Thames barges sailing up the Medway - those barges have always held a fascination for me ever since.
Another memory of Grain for me was crossing over to Sheerness by Navy launch from Port Victoria, then a small oil refinery.
I have been back to Grain in recent years and was sadly dissapointed to see it had become a huge industrial estate so I will cling to my memories of a very brief but very happy time on the Isle of Grain.