Childhood Memories In The 1950s And 1960s

A Memory of Westgate on Sea.

I was born in Dartford and at the age of three I was adopted and brought up in Westgate. I can recall the good old days of the steam trains running through Westgate from London and I can remember running down to the main road running through to Margate by the Walmer Castle pub on a Saturday and Sunday morning around lunch time, to watch the London buses bringing the day-trippers from London in the summer for their day out. I can also remember the great floods of Margate in the 1950s which were to change the once historical sights of Westgate, Westbrook, and Margate along the seafront. One of my many memories was to watch the sea planes comming on to the promenade at St Mildred's Bay. The shops in Westgate also bring back memories. I can remember the Southgate family owning two sweetshops one either side of town, then there was Jacksons garage, and the Singing Kettle next door where they did a lovely cup of tea. Some other shops I can remember were the dairy, International Stores, Churchills clothes shop, and the ironmongers. Westgate also had three paper shops, plus a lot of other shops - I wonder how many people can recall them. I left Westgate in 1962 to join the Services and I revisited in 2001 for a holiday - how shocked I was to see the changes. I was very grateful to see that the Frith books had printed some books on and around the area in which one could still savour the memories of a once quite and beautiful part of the Kent coast.

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