My Childhood

A Memory of Lepe.

I was very fortunate to spend my childhood in Lepe. My mother and father worked at the big house as housemaid and chauffeur to Lady Dilke, we lived on the grounds in the bungalow. We had 8 happy years there. I went to Exbury infant and junior school next to the church (now a private house). I still remember some of my friends names like Gwen Abrahams from Beulieu, Douglas Mansfield from Blackfield, Stewart Harding from Hardley, Rosemary Richards from Blackfield, Arthur Savage from Blackfield, Andrew Welton from the coastguard cottages in Lepe and Jeffrey Spedding, would love to hear from any of these people. I was known as Hilary Gardener then, I now live in South Africa a long way from Lepe. I have visited Lepe since I left and was very sorry to find the big house and bungalow had been knocked down, along with the army huts which now is the park. There also used to be a nissan hut on the beach which was the cafe and my mother also worked there. I also remember walking along the beach towards Calshot on many occasion and learnt to swim at Lepe.
I hope this has given people some insight into life at Lepe in the early 50's.

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