Supplied by Linda Boiling
old town
Boating Lake Old Town Hastings – late 50s
Alan Esdaile… Me and my sister Susan and Dad, early 60’s.
Jane Hartley… My dad used to take me on those boats too
Harry Randall… Spent many a day Patrolling lake with my brothers who worked there ! Number 36 come in your time is up! Also towing them
Jenny Power… The boating lake was so much bigger then as well
Jane Collins… I remember those days! My dad took me all the time
Jacqueline Marsh… Lovely memories playing there and if I remember rightly it was very shallow. In the very big shed at the end I remember seeing a huge whale that was on tour being displayed. Wonders of the deep.
Lloyd Johnson… just how I remember it!…
Sheila Maile… Never see those swans being used
Colin Bell… Reminds me of being on there with my Dad too, very happy days
Nicola Dobson… I’ve got one of my dad and me on one too
Dennis Torrance… The boating lake was huge then I remember with my mates early sixties walking on the ice and It cracking it broke and felt the freezing water lol
Pauline Sims… Good times!
Pete Brazier… Come in number 36 your time is up!”
Mick O’Dowd… Great stuff. Remember it well. Only one speed. SLOW!
Harry Randall… Mick, we used to tweek the patrol boats to go faster
Mick O’Dowd… What to! 2mph!
Ian Robertson… Harry, I worked on the control boat some summers. Great fun
Pete Houghton… Good times!
Graham Sherrington… I can smell the fumes from here what great memories!!
The Lord Nelson pub – 1950’s
shared from https://www.facebook.com/LordNelsonPubHastings
photo © Judy Baddeley
Lord Nelson… This is a photo from the 1950’s of landlord and landlady Jack and Ann Baddeley. Their daughter Judy sent it to me earlier and posted the following words: “I used to live in the Lord Nelson when I was a little girl in the 1950’s. My mum and Dad were landlord and landlady. Shirley Smith looked after us three children and that is where she met her future husband Wilfy Adams and that is where the famous Adams family of the Old Town was born. Shirley is my wonderful friend and we talk about the old days in the Old Town.” Pretty cool, huh?
Hilary James… I’m sure I had a school friend called Judy Dawson who lived in the Nelson during the 60s
Andy Coleman… Hilary, I think she was in my class in junior school
Jacqueline Marsh… Wonderful old photo, thanks for sharing it, I bet they knew my gran and Grandad Bill and Liz Shirley, They had the pub by the old bathhouses, I think it was called locally The Silver Dollar, but I think its real name was the Duke of Cornwall, it was at the end of Post Office Passage at the back of Hastings Wall. I remember sitting on the stairs in the pub whilst my mum worked downstairs in the bars. Grandad also owned the Blue Saloon fish and chip shop at the end of Hastings wall bottom of the High Street. Wonderful memories of my childhood in Hastings.
Lynda Whatley… Jacqueline, Grandad also ran the Lifeboat pub on the seafront some time I believe – also our cousins Val Teddy and Phillip White ( children of Nell and Harry White ) lived next door to Grace Adams and Bernard and June Adams in -Hastings Wall- ( East Street) – I think they too were cousins – my child hood memories !!
Dudley Mendenhall… Then the Shipleys took over not long after but didn’t know when.
Hi Fi Discotheque High Street Hastings – 23rd December 1967
John Gale… Hard to believe that existed when you see the size of the gap left there after the fire
Alan Esdaile… used to be packed in like sardines!
John Gale… so I hear, just a bit before my time
Jon McCallion… It’s where it all started Alan as you would remember, I remember Fiona she invited me for the band.
Linda McGregor… It was nothing like a discotheque when I used to go ’76-’79
Buses High Street Hastings 20s/30s
original photographer: unknown. supplied by Lloyd Johnson
Lloyd Johnson… High Street Hastings Old Town….in the 20s/30s….
Marcus de Mowbray… It looks like if the road had been flat the buses would not have been able to pass each other without damaging their bodywork!
Stuart Moir… Enough room for buses to pass each other but I think it was a bit too close for comfort
Peter Houghton… When I lived in Bexhill the Buses used to Drive up from Sidley to the old Town and that is a very narrow road
Stewart Randell… Remember when the No11 & 2 Trolley Buses used to pass in the same spot 1950s
Autumn , Fusion Orchestra, Steve Maxted – Aquarius 27th Oct/3rd Nov 1973
supplied by Sarah Harvey
Alan Pepper… Fond memories dancing to the latest sounds in the early seventies on a Thursday night and DJ Steve madman Maxted at the decks . Was a big influence !
Jan Warren… Oh yes, Fusion Orchestra!! – I LOVED that band – I saw them many times, first at the Aquarius in Hastings, then I moved to London and saw them many times at The Marquee Club, Wardor Street, London – I still have my original copy of their (one and only) album “Skeleton in Armour”, plus I still have several posters and newspaper cuttings!! – brilliant band, still play their album!! 🙂
Alan Esdaile… Great band Fusion Orchestra. Saw them loads of times and the album does still sound good.
Talkies HiFi Club High Street Old Town Hastings around 1966
photos: Sue Colebrook-Gentry supplied by Lloyd Johnson
Strand Cafe supplied by Leigh Kennedy – year unknown
Sue Colebrook Gentry… Found this old picture of Lloyd Johnson, Sebastion Keep, Chris & Sid, must be from the sixties outside the old Hi Fi Club, good times.
Lloyd Johnson… I think this was when Alain a French guy had the Hi-Fi in the basement, very early on. he sold the club to Guy a Londoner that moved to Hastings. 1966/67 we’d just finished painting the front of Sid’s Cafe’Talkies’ in the OldTown High St, think the ‘High-Fi’ was in the basement. I think it is 66 as I was in Sweden in 65 and I’m wearing my bottle green corduroy jacket from CUE at Austin Reed where I work at the time. So this was probably a weekend activity, the painting of the Cafe front that is!.. Sadly Sebastian passed away some months back….he was a good friend in my youth . We both moved to London around the same time and Sebastian seemed to know everyone. I remember going to ‘BagOnails’ in Kingly street behind Carnaby st. with him in 67ish to see Jimi Hendrix, Hey! Joe! period…to say we were blown away is an up statement!….
Alan Esdaile… Great photos. Possibly a chemist shop next door?
John Gale… Excellent photos
Linda Day… I remember Sebastian Keep
Mike Waghorne… What was it called in the early 70’s ? I remember going there
Alan Esdaile… It was called Jooks cafe disco
The Lord Nelson Old Town Hastings and baths wash houses in background
Heather Sidery… Love this!
Brigitte Lee… Any idea of the year?
Alan Esdaile… not sure Brigitte, perhaps someone else can help?
Keith Veness… Remember the bath and wash house
Jacqueline Marsh… My grandad had the Duke of Wellington opposite the wash house behind the old Hastings Wall. He was Bill Shirley
Lynda Whatley… Jacqueline, back in the day I believe it was known as The Silver Dollar locally when gran and grandad ran it .
Pauline Lindsay… Jacqueline, later it was called The Duke of Cornwall.
Cyndy Hogbin… Grandad and grandma, and my mom and dad, all landlords at the Nelson, from about 1947. Grandma was the secretary for the lady licencee association. Henry and Dora Coates and Fred and Peggy Coates. When my mom died they where at the pub, thats when dad met my other mom Barbara.l was 2 then so that was 1952, we had the Queens coronation there.
Lyn Farkley Appleyard… Just imagine having wash and bath houses today! Might become a thing with the looming economic situation!
Dennis Torrance… I reckon before they demolished the houses in old town before they put in the road we have now before 1959
Alan Esdaile… Dennis, I was thinking early 50’s but maybe wrong?
Dennis Torrance… it could be early 50s have you looked to the left of photo a gap between the back of Lord nelson pub it looks to me before they knocked down the houses to put the road there
David Daish… I lived in the flats next to it in the 80s and my parents were great friends with Tony and Tracy Shipley . Dad used to fall asleep in the bar often after a drink and was a moody so n so if he got woken up . So Tony kept a long stick behind the bar specifically to prod dad from a safe distance 
. Some fantastic characters back then . I miss that time down there .
David Kent… Hard to tell whether or not they are Horatio’s clothes. Looking closely at the sleeves.
David Martin… I remember going in there with my mum the fella that ran it was Jack Clasper
Kings Head The Bourne playlist 23rd August 1978 for Roger Carey and Friends
supplied by Roger Carey
The band was Steve Demetri, Tony Qunta, Roger Carey, Tich Turner and guest guitarist Andy Smith (From The Roaring 80’s). Put together for one night only by Roger Carey.
Geoff Peckham… I’ll bet that was a good night! x
Pete Fisher… What a great memento – I recognise Roger’s writing. Detailed setlist can be a great help, if you have time to look at it. Remember having around 30 songs/new arrangements at the beginning of a tour once, and sellotaping 3 sheets of A4 together to accomodate them…
Barry French… Last night my good friend Len Benton & myself went to see Tich performing with his band Hi Fi Sneakers, at Sidley Working Men’s Club (Great must see soul band ). Tich remembers the Kings Head Gig, & was amazed that Roger has held onto the set list all this time & that the gig is still being talked about (The Power Of SMART)
Tich Turner… Blimey! Was playing in Sidley last night with HiFi Sneakers and Barry told me, the last time he saw me performing was at The Kings Head. I thought he was talking about a gig I did there with about 11 of us, we were doing a bunch of new songs I’d written and Ray Fenwick wanted to invite some guys down from London to see it. I think it was leading into The Roaring 8o’s. The Place was packed, [mainly by the band], but a great night. I don’t recall this gig at all. I’m wondering why we did it. Perhaps Roger can recall. And….hello to all of you.
John Wilde… Hi Tich. Best wishes and keep on keeping on!
Pete Davis… Used to see you down the York Bexhill with Steppin Out, I think you was called, with Del McCoogan…..
Pete Prescott… There was a gig at the kings head with Steppin Out that Ray invited some record company guys to. It was Nov/Dec 77. They didn’t show up.
Mike Waghorne… Must be 30+ years since I last saw you Tich hope you are well ?
Wendy Weaver… Fascinating
Hole In The Wall pub Hill Street Old Town Hastings.
Ray Barry… Remember it well,a Merrydown cider and bottle Brown Ale 2/10d. Circa 1963/4
Patricia Burgess… Ray, OMG haven’t heard the name Merrydown for at least 45 years loved that cider. Is it still made.
Ray Barry… Patricia, No the brewery closed some few years ago and is now a housing estate in Horam
Tony Court-holmes… Ray, my mum june used to drink that in The Anchor back in the 60s
Paul Reed… Is that street still there today or did it disappear if thats st Clements church in photo.Did I hear that area suffered bomb damage as well.?
Lynda Whatley… yes that is St Clements Church and the area was suffered bomb damage – and the church suffered too . My mother and myself posed for the local artist – when the church window over the alter was commissioned .
Ray Barry… The street is still there but the pub has long gone and is now a house. A pub round the corner called The Swan got bombed during the Second World War.
Graham Mccallion… I remember those days
John Wilde… I lived in Hill street during the late 70s and it was long gone
Jacqueline Marsh… I went to school just behind this pub
Monica Bane… My Wedding breakfast there In 1960!
Tony Court-holmes… drank in that pub
Tony Collins… Whether true or not but I did hear that at one side of the top window of the Church is a cannonball fired from an enemy ship and the other one is made or stone to balance it up. If you look carefully one is rusted and the other is grey. Can anyone confirm this?
Roger Simmonds… Tony, Yes there is a cannon ball in the wall!
Roger Simmonds… I also used to drink in there in 1964!
Janet Mournard Russell… Used to go there often.
Mick Barrow… The Kicking Donkey kicked the hole in the wall, i think Ron French was the landlord