Women's Union Group

A Memory of Portslade-By-Sea.

As I recall my mother was not a member of the local St. Nicholas Church Women's Union. She was a member of the Young Wives group. We lived in Mile Oak, I was born there in 1944. On occasion she would attend meetings in the basement of Easthill House. I remember playing with kids on the ivy covered ground under huge trees to the right of the house, when facing it. We were allowed into the basement room for a drink and biscuit, I remember a seemingly huge rather bare room. I loved playing outside.
When at the Mile Oak Girls School I met up with a girl Ann Pratt whose father was the caretaker at the house, and they lived there. I was amazed that anyone could live in that huge house.
In later years I returned to the park and found the sterile grounds had lost their romance of my young days.
I hate what has happened to Mile Oak. I would love to find a historical book on the older houses of that area. I love the old houses of Portslade and would love a tour of them, if one was available.