silverhill

The Silver Shamrock Cafe – Silverhill St Leonards-On-Sea

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Photo: Mary Hocus Pocus https://www.facebook.com/groups/1557806877879659

Mary Hocus Pocus… My parents cafe back in the early 1970’s,was a great place..

Eric Harmer… All the gas engineers used this cafe in the 70 s

Paul Phillips… Eric, And the Dugout.Seaside Road

Eric Harmer… oh yes and there too Paul

Colin Bell… Where was this located Eric? I remember the name but can’t place it in my mind, used to go to the Dugout with my dear old Dad.

Eric Harmer… it’s where the old bathing pool was in Seaside Road St Leonards Colin. It’s still good, they do steaks as well and breakfasts .

 

Apps clothing store Silverhill

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shared from Chris Perrior https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551815343503

Chris Perrior… Apps stores opened 1878 and closed 111 years later in 1989, top of Clarence road, the Clarence public house is adjacent, The house that we originally bought in Paynton road once belonged to one of the Apps brothers, he was said to have grown his own tobacco and would hang the stems to dry around the house, local gossip tells me that one could smell him long before you saw him, another tale recounts that the family had the rights to sell pigeon food in Trafalgar sq, after many years the practice became a health hazard and that little business wound up also, They certainly were an enterprising family

Roger Simmonds… Wow I remember it well happy times !

Jacqueline Marsh… My headmaster at Christ Church School was a Mr Apps, wonder if he was from that family. He was a big strapping man and always had his spaniel with him.

Lynda Whatley…. Jacqueline, remember him well

Colin Bell… Was this the same family who had a shoe shop in Bohemia Road when i was a kid in the 50’s & 60’s? I remember getting shoes there for school etc.

Alan Esdaile… Colin, I’m sure there were a couple of shoe shops in Bohemia Road but can’t remember if one was called ‘Apps’

Fiona Evans… The good ol’ days.

Nigel Ford… there was a bicycle repair shop in Ore, Ken Apps,- any connection?

 

The Hastings Tramways Company 1899 – 1959 by Cliff Mewett

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Supplied by Peter Ellingworth

Peter Ellingworth… The last trolley bus photo is in Beaufort Road Silverhill, coming into the depot. Photo by Lyndon Rowe.

Jim Breeds… RIP Cliff. He was the Man from the Pru for my parents insurance policies when I was young.

Peter Ellingworth… This was taken around noon-early afternoon on Monday 1st June 1959, after the ceremonial last run along with ‘Happy Harold’ for the great and the good of Hastings Council, M&D, and invited others. I think ‘H H’ returned either shortly before or afterwards. The last public service t- bus was I believe a no.8 from Bexhill which turned from Beaufort Rd. into the depot around 11pm the night before. Shortly after the photo was taken the power was switched off, and so ended a much liked by the locals and highly regarded within the bus industry undertaking. M&D having taken complete control of the system in Sept-Oct 1957 wanted rid of the t-buses by Oct 1958 latest, but issues with the then novel Atlantean diesel bus replacements gave a stay of execution until May 31st 1959. The former single decker trolleybus seen in use as a ticket office by the Town Hall needs no further introduction! Hastings HGS educated Cliff Mewett’s book which Alan took a photo of is an excellent and well researched read.

Nigel Livermore… I remember going to the depot to take a photo of them before they were scrapped, and being asked if I wanted to buy one (jokingly, as I was 14, and didn’t think that my pocket money would stretch far enough……)

Peter Ellingworth… Nigel, I well remember as a small kid tearfully walking past the yard at Silverhill, seeing all the redundant t-buses stacked up either for disposal (1940 batch), or to be sold on for service (1946 batch) with other undertakings (Maidstone, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Bradford ) where they gave excellent service until those systems closed between 1967-72. No 34 in the photo, now superbly restored to running order at the East Anglia Transport Museum near Lowestoft, ran in Maidstone until 1967. Interesting to speculate given different circumstances how long the Hastings system would have gone on for : certainly until the mid to mid sixties I would have thought, although some re routing such as one way working in the likes of the High St. or the then soon to be made Bourne would have been done.

Bernard Jeffery & Charlie Tumahai from Be Bop Deluxe late 70’s

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bernard jeffreyscharlie tumahai

supplied by Bernard Jeffery

Bernard Jeffery…..late seventies rehearsals with Charlie Tumahai From Be Bop Deluxe in The Box Hastings. The Hollywood Killers.

charlietumahai

© milesago

http://www.milesago.com/Features/tumahai.htm

Bernard Jeffery… Above, great piece about a great musician and a great bloke.Mentions the time I played with him in the Hollywood Killers back in the late seventies.

Tim Phillips… Interesting article. Be Bop Deluxe was one of my favourite bands in the mid 70s. I can remember riding my motorbike to Eastbourne to see one of their gigs with my then girlfriend (who went on to be lead singer of The Mobiles). I think the gig was at The Congress. The ride back to Hastings to take Anna home was one of the coldest motorbike rides I can remember smile emoticon

Bernard Jeffery…  I loved all of their albums and saw them live many times so it was a real buzz to play with Charlie and meet the rest of the band at Hollywood Killers gigs

Dave Nattress… Be Bop Deluxe were fabulous – I have all their stuff on Vinyl and CD and love Sunburst Finish and Modern Music.  Samisen – where’s Sarah H, do you remember we did “Ships in the Night”.  Indeed Tim, it was the Congress as I was there.  I do remember they were really, really loud.  RIP Charles, your contribution holding the bass down whilst Bill Nelson went off on his space-missions was vital.  I stumbled across a great Bio of Bill Nelson and Be Bop Deluxe, published in 2008, written by Paul Sutton Reeves – “Music In Dreamland”  “Bill Nelson and Be Bop Deluxe”.  A long read but worth it.

Tim Phillips… Yes, I agree that Be Bop Deluxe were really loud at The Congress. I had a motorbike with straight through exhaust pipes which sounded incredibly loud (probably made me quite unpopular in Bexhill). On the ride home I couldn’t hear my bike because my ears were still ringing from the concert lol.

 

Roxy Cinema – Silverhill St Leonards-on-Sea

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supplied by Matt Thomas

Hilary James… Remember going there as a small child

Pat Turner… And I worked in one of the other flee pits the Curzon not really a flea pit though nice times

Stuart Moir… Where was that, I don’t think it was around when I moved down from London

Hilary James… at silverhill, carpet store

Roger Simmonds… Happy memories it was in Silverhill affectionately known as the flea pit !

Tony Court-holmes… I remember my nan taking me there, I went to see little white bull with Tommy Steele happy days

Jim Penfold & The Hollywood Killers – TV Photo at The Box 1978

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A great picture from Jim Penfold & The Hollywood Killers from the website

www.hollywoodkillers.com

I remember doing some dates with them including Guildford Civic Hall. Should have been chart stars ‘The Arrows’ headlining but they cancelled and were replaced by new boy band ‘Stevenson’s Rocket’.

Jim wrote: “Great memory!! Yes I remember it well…..

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Jim Penfold…..The tv photo was taken at the Box in 1978…..we (the Hollywood Killers) are all posing behind a TV set with no screen! Me, Neil ‘Chilli Willi’ Aplin,Berni Schmirnoff, Alexander Moylegrove lll and Pete Poodle…..we first rehearsed and recorded demos Goodbye Suicide….here’s the original 7″ single remastered

Yvonne Cleland…. Min x

Chris Baker…Min… Simon P Medhurst! Lovely bloke, excellent musician. Genius gold and silversmith, wonderfully creative electronics engineer. Much missed.

Yvonne Cleland…. Quite hard being in a band with him though. He’d often turn up 2 hours late or not at all, depending on what he was doing at the time and who with! 😀 Enjoyed playing with him and had fantastic fun making weird and wonderful sounds. Happy days.

Conan Howard… Bernie you look so young there. Conan (Len)…Samisen

Bernard Goffredo… I loved Min knew him since I was fourteen and me and Pete Fisher would go and jam at his country cottage. Playing with him in the Hollywood Killers was fun but challenging as you never knew what he would do especially when he would use his homemade electronics on his miked up sax.

Pete Fisher… I’ve been trying to remember where and when that was Bernard – your memory’s better than mine in this case! I remembered spending a weekend at a country cottage and as well as jamming, attempting to record something. I seem to remember us being upstairs while Min was downstairs manning the tape deck. There were no headphones as I recall and Min had rigged up a monitor speaker that he also used as a foldback to talk to us. I don’t think anything came of it due to technical challenges…

Meaux Meaux Polymorphous… Very fond memories of Min! Is that Robin Heggie?

Bernard Goffredo… Yes that’s Robin

Geoff Peckham… Min’s cottage was at the top of a field near Rolvenden. I used to spend weekends with him there during the winter of ’69/’70. We played a lot of ‘free jazz’, indulged in Bob Luck cider and others and planned to form a band. We did actually do a handful of gigs, but they were rather loose affairs! I really liked Min. After a quite ‘closed’ upbringing, meeting him when I was 17 really opened my eyes/mind!

Tony Qunta… Great character! I remember some very long free jams at Min’s place. One which Min recorded had at the time we were playing seemed to sound the best thing I had ever heard! Listening back a few days later with ‘things back to normal’ 😁 it didn’t sound anything like we remembered it!

Geoff Peckham… Tony, are you referring to those jams we had during all night gatherings at Vaughan’s place in Burwash? I remember Min recording some. Would love to hear them now but, as you say, I’m sure they’re not as thrilling as they were at the time!

Updated Steppin’ Out Recordings. supplied by Martyn Baker

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Martyn Baker… Here’s an updated link to the songs of Hastings band Steppin’ Out recorded by Paul Dengate at The Box Studio, Silverhill Hastings. Listen to Pete Prescott sing on the final song “Hurt Again”. He had only just joined the band. Great singer!

Pete Prescott… Wow ! This brought back memories. I was very a young and inexperienced 20 year old. Never sang harmonies. Very much out of my depth. Amazing band. Shame it ended just as it was getting good. I’m moved to Hastings in Christmas eve 77. the band ended in new years eve ! There was a photo session in the old town of the band. Have you got any of the photos ?

David Edwards… There was certainly some talent in this band but what went wrong to cause it to split can’t believe Pete’s one appearance was the kiss of death?

Pete Prescott… Long story. One guy, I think should have left the band alone. I was clueless about events till after it was over. So many bands have the same story. It was a great band. Roger Hubbard, Wes, Tich, Martin and Kevin. Really good live. I felt I was a pointless link. Very young and inexperienced. Pretty crap on stage. Tich was the star. I wondered why they had me in to be honest.

Kay Green… Oh wow!

Tony Qunta… Love this!

Pete Fisher… Nice slide guitar…

Chris Wood… Love it, it’s been a long time since I’ve heard this. Cheers

Leisure Music – Silverhill St Leonards-on-Sea 1973

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supplied by Nick Prince

Flyer supplied by Barry French

Robert Searle… Bought a Fender Mustang bass there ,you know the one with the white stripe on it.

Colin Fox… Am I correct in saying that Bonners owned it. I remember Eddie Sargent, (Eastbourne guitarist), worked there for a while and I bought a Yamaha SG in there.

Paul Dengate… Bonners at Silverhill was a different building/business, opposite side of the road to Leisure Music.

Mick O’Dowd… They had a practice room downstairs.

Robert Searle… Did Rev have,or had use of a studio there somewhere ?

Paul Dengate… Leisure Music had three adjacent shops. At the back of one was a small workshop accessed by a path from the road at the side. I understand Rev did have a studio there but I never saw it. I went to work at Leisure Music after leaving Mullett Smith Music in Robertson Street. While I worked at Leisure Music, I rented the building at the back which could be used by bands for rehearsing or I’d use it for recording (The Box). I believe that when I left Leisure Music, it was still used for rehearsals but not looked after.

Andy Qunta… Spent many happy hours, & quite a few pounds, at Leisure Music! Rehearsed with Factory at the studio in the back a few times too!

Andy Caine… Loved leisure music! Spent so much time there! Bought my first serious guitar from Paul Dengate, “wish I’d kept it!” Gibson S G with bigsby for £220. Where is John English these days? Stepping out, roaring 80’s…. Great days! I rehearsed in Denmark Street a couple of weeks ago, out the back. Reminded me of the box! Sadly looks as though those studios will be history soon too!

Andy Qunta… I think the first gig with Jim Jim & The Jims was at Leisure Music, & Mick Abrahams, ex-Jethro Tull was a guest player. Pete Prescott, Pete Shaw, Ray Fenwick, Dermot Murphy & maybe Andy Caine & others were the Jims that day!

Martyn Baker… I always loved the Jims sets. Proper music played properly! I also loved The Teenbeats taking the piss too!

Pete Fisher… have to dig out the receipt for my Vox AC15 – I think that came from Leisure Music in 73?

Pete Millington… Spent quite a bit of money there

Ken Copsey… Leisure Music was the centre of my musical world from the age of 16-18. Played for the first time with the Teenbeats in The Box. Huggy jumping through a plasterboard partition, resting a certain part of his anatomy on Dave Blackman’s floor tom mid song! John English was always such a lovely bloke. I still have my Musicman RD 1×12 combo I bought from there. Wish I’d bought the late 60’s paisley Telecaster I saw hanging there once. Think this had belonged to Paul Dengate?

Pete Fisher… Pretty sure that’s where my very first (Vox AC15) amp came from…still have the receipt somewhere…

Alan Esdaile… Remember John English, yes he was a nice guy.

Roy Penfold… Pete,  I wish I still had the AC15 I inherited from an uncle….beautiful sound!

Pete Fisher… also sold mine about four years after I’d bought it in 1972, which I regretted later, just like all the other amps I sold over the years…this is what mine sounded like back in the day in Hastings with Pueblo…very lo-fi recording, but gives you an idea! This and all the other tracks here on my live page are downloadable as high quality wav files, just click on the More icon below the track…

https://soundcloud.com/pete-fisher-live-and-direct/pueblo

Roy Penfold… That sounds good Pete- mind you with such a line up could it fail to sound good?  It never ceased to amaze me how a ‘small’ (if you can describe it as such with the weight of it) nominally 15W amplifier could get so loud!