Sam The Peanut Man And My Holidays In The 60s

A Memory of Leysdown-on-Sea.

I love Leysdown. In fact when our boys were little we used to take them there. They in turn go there now. My dad couldn't drive so our uncle used to have a caravan on Harts Farm and we used to stay there. They were wonderful times. I've just remembered a boy from Stroods family had two caravans on Harts Farm. They were called Pixie and Dixie after the mice in 'Yogi Bear'. I remember playing Bingo with metal bottle tops in a hut. The caravan was actually situated next to the men's toilets which was quite strange. Mum and Dad used to tell me and my sister to keep the curtains drawn on that side. Me and my sister used to play on the machines in the Golden Horseshoe. They had Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Diana Dors photos on the machines. We used to go on the beach all the time and on Sundays there would be a Sunday school singalong. I recall singing "Wise man builds his house upon the rock". It was great fun. Sam was a lovely man who used to sit on the bench at the top of the High Street in his hat selling peanuts. On the green at the top of the High Street there were trees and my sister and I would have rides on the horses Dolly and Blackie. You had to pay to go on them and we loved it. There was a roller skating rink down from the Post Office as I recall. There was no trouble, no worrying about us being abducted. Just fun all the time. When I was older I had fun going into the Seahorse watching the drag acts. I've always loved Leysdown and I always will. Long may it live. Oh and Mr Pastry (Richard Herne) was supposed to be coming down to the Clubhouse but alas it was not to be. He was taken ill at the last moment. All us kids were really disappointed.

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