Whitstable Railway Station And St. John's Church Swalecliffe

A Memory of Whitstable.

I first visited whitstable with my parents when I was 8 in 1952 we came for a weeks holiday and stayed in a bed and breakfast in castle road whitstable. My parents were so impressed with whitstable that we moved their permanently in 1965. We moved to a fairly new house in Seymour avenue right opposite the railway station where my dad George Creane became a porter until his retirement. You could hear him calling 'Whitstable' at the top of his voice from our house! Dad became a popular man in and around whitstable, not only as a porter but a handyman. He had also been stationed on one of the forts off whitstable during the war and had many a tale to tell.

I joined St. John's church swalecliffe when The Rev and Mrs Paget ran the church and youth club. St. John's was a lovely little church right in the middle of fields with nothing else surrounding it. To day it is in the middle of a housing estate! I was married in St. John's in 1968 and moved back to london but visited my parents regularly spending many holidays in whitstable. I remember the old fishermans huts near the harbour which have now been turned Into houses and holiday lets. Opposite the harbour was a large area which was filled with sea water which acted as an overflow at high tide. In 1968 coupled with high tides and continuous heavy rain for a whole weekend, whitstable was flooded in the harbour area. We walked down to see the floods. Today the area opposite the harbour has been filled in, cemented over and is now a large car park.

I still visit whitstable regularly and would love to hear from anyone who was with me at the youth club at St. John's.

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