Pagham Reviewed Opinion

A Memory of Pagham.

I spent my teen years during the late 1970s and early 1980s at Church Farm Caravan Site. We spent our days wandering the site or walking to the Crab and Lobster Pub at Sidlesham. That was before the harbour wall was put in, and you would have to check the tide times or risk a very long return journey. My brother Robert spent far more time at Pagham than I did, thinking it was a pretty uncool place to be until I met Tony Hadley, who was to become the lead singer of Spandau Ballet. His parents had a caravan on the site. My brother was very good friends with the Fox brothers, Will, Joe and Jim, who resided at Millstone Cottage with their parents, Shirley and Frank, and my mum used to caretake their house and sons! when Shirley and Frank went to Spain. My mum used to rent a bungalow on the beach during the winter months and eventually moved to Pagham permanently.
Robert my brother also decided to make Pagham his home for a while and spent many a night in the owners bar at Church Farm.
I didn't return to Pagham for a long time but have recently spent some wonderful times at my friend's bungalow on West Front Road, especially during the winter when you have the place to yourselves, and can go for walks over the harbour and on the beach and enjoy a glass or two in the Lamb to warm up. We  have made friends with visitors from Holland and also with the locals we see on a regular basis when we visit. Pagham holds a very dear place in my heart. I know we don't get great weather and people prefer to go abroad, but I have some very happy memories of sitting on the wall at the harbour, 'crabbing' with my brother and his friends with our improvised fishing equipment, and nights in the Church Farm Club House.
Walking to the Crab and Lobster recently was an eyeopener, it has now changed beyond recognition and become a 'GastroPub'. I wonder what they will think of all those walkers and their muddy boots! I will be returning to Pagham soon as I now love the place I used to find so boring as a teenager.