Return to Brighton ? As most of you probably know, I like returning, with my partner of 64 years, to the scenes of my younger, ww2 days. With that in mind, I have already posted here Return to Cassino, Return to Siicily & even a Return to Trieste. I have now finally got around to this Return to Brighton, which is a lovely Sussex coastal resort with which I first became acquainted in September 1939 and where, as a 16 year old, I was actually swimming in the sea when the first air-raid sirens sounded although this proved to be a false alarm. In August 1940 the younger family members moved back to London, and in 1942 I was called up. I was not to return to nearby Hove until March '43 when my then unit, the 112th LAA Rgt, was sent there to provide AA cover against the Luftwaffe Tip & Run Raiders. Coming back to 2013, as a pair of oldies, my wife and I had reluctantly come to the realisation that airport travel and overseas trips had got too much for us and so we decided that a week in Brighton might be fun and also give me an opportunity to look up old haunts. For our week's break we stayed at the Grand Hotel, scene of the IRA bombing in October 1984, and purely by chance I had earlier spotted a cracking photo of a Bofor crew sited on the sea front in front of the hotel. The picture and story appeared in the Brighton & Hove Argus, the pity is I hav'nt yet established that the men were from my unit although the date, March '43 is exactly right. The article (to which I added a comment) was printed under "Wartime Memories" http://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/page.aspx?id=8737#commentsform George, the friendly and very helpful Grand Hotel concierge, helped me re-create the scene by taking the attached photo. I particularly wanted to re-visit the site where one of our guns was posted and where I had my own clash with a Tip & Run Raider. I knew it was sited in the Kid's Paddling Pool in Hove and I knew that this still existed so all it required was getting a cab to take us there, wait while we took some snaps and then return us to the comfort of the hotel. When we arrived on scene I pointed out to Nita that, no big surprise, it had changed over the years. The 1943 paddling pool was then sited nearer the main road and though obviously drained it had become a perfect platform for the Bofor. Here in 2013 it had become an organised playground which was busy with families enjoying the heatwave and certainly giving no thoughts to wartime Britain or to wondering why that elderly couple were having their picture taken with the paddling pool as the background.
This wasn't last weekend was it Ron? If so, I took my nipper to Hove Lagoon last Saturday, right behind where you are standing with the lovely Mrs Goldstein. Was the white cafe there in 1943? Lee
Lee i didn't know you were a Brighton man ! In answer to your queries, we went there mid week and in wartime, if my memory serves me right, in WW2 there was just the paddling pool without any of the play centre that we saw the other day. What I do remember is that we were billeted in the houses opposite, six men to a room. Regards Ron
Yes Ron, we live just along the coast, half a dozen miles east of Brighton. But last weekend was the first time I'd been to that paddling pool. The play area and pool is fairly new but thought perhaps the cafe might have been around in the 1920' or 30's. Probably more like 1950's or 60's then. If you ever make it back to Brighton, I'll happily treat you to afternoon tea at the Grand.
Hello Ron thank you for the then and now ,very interesting and glad you had a great week regards Clive
How did I miss this thread? As another Brighton man, I found it fascinating. Glad you enjoyed your week down here, Ron, too. My dad was 11 when war broke out and has many memories of Brighton at war - when I was younger he often used to recall the terrific noise of the Bofors guns along the seafront when tip-and-run raiders came in low over the sea; he said that the kids loved the exciting racket, and that though adults found it all a bit unsettling he thought they took comfort from feeling defended. And they were, of course - not all the raiders got home, by any means. Thanks for the link (in another thread), Ron, really glad to have read this one however late! Cheers, Pat
