Inside Hammonds toy shop – Marine Court, St Leonards-on-Sea

photo © Heidi Millett

Heidi Millett… My auntie when she used to work at Hammonds toy shop, Marine Court, St Leonards.. oh the memories.

Colin Bell… Wonderful, a huge part of my childhood in the 50’s & 60’s

Lloyd Johnson… was that the one with the working train in the window that would run if you put money in the slot in the window frame?

Colin Bell… Yes Lloyd it was, I lived just a few hundred yards from it as a kid.

Lloyd Johnson, Colin, what fun that was…My Mum and I would walk all the way up there from the Memorial just so I could put a penny in the slot and watch the train….this has just made me remember at Christmas back in the 1950s lots of the shops hid threepenny pieces in their window displays and you had to find them and I think you’d win something if you got them alright. ..can anyone else remember any details of that?

Sophie Ash… The slot is still there. Got a tanner?

Nicola Dobson… I loved that train

Tracy Birrell… I remember the train in the window and putting a penny in the slot to make it go round.

Marilyn Spence… Shame I wasn’t a child in Hastings. Moved there when I was 13