Marine Court St Leonards-on-Sea photo

photo : Historic England https://www.facebook.com/HistoricEngland

Colin Bell… Great photo. We lived a few hundred yards away, when I was growing up. Dad remembered watching it being built as a 8/9 year old in the mid 1930’s. It’s got quite a history, Two workmen died during construction from falls, & the Luftwaffe machine gunned & bombed it during WW2.

Peter Ellingworth… Didn’t the Luftwaffe catch some Canadian Air Force guys having a muster parade in front of Marine Court one day in WW2 with resultant loss of life ?

Wendy Henry Wilson…in late 1950’s and early 1960’s my Mum worked in Grooms, an old fashioned grocers shop – sometimes my older sister and I would play under marina opposite. I remember the wind tunnel effect by the doors of the car showroom on the ground floor of this picture. Then I remember in the mid to late 1960’s, going to the Witchdoctor Disco on the first floor area in this picture too.

Peter Ellingworth… Following on, regarding the two workman mentioned who so sadly lost their lives during its construction. We rant about H&S and at times it does seem there is overkill (I had to write risk assessments at work so at least have some idea), but there is no denying that H&S has been a force for the good : how many people realise that as recently as the 1970’s one or so people were killed a week in the construction industry ? My own father narrowly escaped serious injury or death when working of the construction of the Post Office (around 1960) at the corner of London and Norman Road which was built on the the bombsite there.
A scaffolding clip fell from about twenty plus feet only just missing his head, so even with a safety helmet which didn’t really come into being until the mid-late sixties, he would have been badly hurt, and without one certain death. He didn’t seem too fazed about it if I remember ; like most of his generation he had lived through WW2, so after some of his experiences in Italy and elsewhere then no doubt saw it differently to how we would today.

Colin Bell… Hi Peter, i wrote the earlier comments about the death of the workmen & the Luftwaffe. It had a pretty profound effect on my Dad who actually witnessed one of the deaths whilst watching the building work with his older brother, he was only 8 or 9 at the time. It was sadly somewhat ironic, because all my family have been in the building industry for literally 100’s of years (I am the first one to not follow that path). Dad didn’t go overboard with H & S during his working life, but i can always remember his mantra of telling me ‘three limbs on a ladder at all times’. Thanks for sharing your memories

Richard Burks… Again really interesting local knowledge

 

 

 

 

Marine Court St Leonards-on-Sea 1960’s

Supplied by Leigh Kennedy Historical Hastings

Leigh Kennedy… Leigh says… An late 1960s photo of Marine Court, showing signage for the Grenadier Club ( opened 1963) and the Dolphin. Nice selection of cars including what looks like a 1967 Hillman Husky, Mark 3 Ford Zephyr, Mark 1 Escort and a Jaguar 420..

Mike Waghorne… J W Davis motors in the showroom at the east end of the building a Hillman car agent !

Tony Rivers and The Castaways – The Dolphin Ballroom 6th January 1968

 

John Warner… Tony Rivers, met him in later life when his wife Tina came to work for me. That really is a blast from the past.

Tony Rivers… Yeah I was wondering just where I was that day!

Mick Knights… I still remember them playing Good Vibrations at The Witch Doctor, they were one of my favourite giging bands at the time, saw them on a quite a few occasions, one of them was most probably at the Dolphin Ballroom which was used while the Witch Doctor morphed into The Cobweb. My favourite live band at time, most probably there as it was the only place to go in the limbo between the Witch Doctor closing and the Cobweb opening.

 

A Band Of Angels, The Defiants & The Victors – The Dolphin 18th March 1966

Supplied by Andre Martin

L-R:John Gaydon, John Baker, Andrew Petre, David Wilkinson, Mike d’Abo

Andre Martin… That was a great night at the Witch Doctor on our College events that always drew in the crowds. Noels band The Defiants were one of the supporting acts.

Jim Breeds… Love the alterations on the ticket.

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