MEMORIES OF NEWHAVEN
Family connections to Newhaven
By David Sweatman
My earliest memories of Newhaven go back to the summer of 1947, when I was 5 years old. My father, Arthur John Sweatman, mother Winifred (nee Wilson), elder sisters Irene & Isobel, myself and younger sister Catherine (always known as Pat) travelled from Wellingborough, Northants by train. I remember being reluctant to board the train and was threatened with being left behind, which worked like magic. On arrival we were billeted with relatives, Pat & I with our Aunt Mabel & Uncle Bert in Kammond Avenue, Seaford, Irene & Isobel with an aunt & uncle in Newhaven, and my father staying with his widowed mother Emily (nee Simmons) at her bungalow in Second Avenue. Our side of the family had been evacuated at the beginning of WW2, due to the threat of invasion, as had many others, but most found their way back as the threat of invasion receded. For some unknown reason my father & mother stayed, initially in Bedford, then moving to Wellingborough in 1941, the year before I was born. So began my association with Newhaven & Seaford which has never faded. This web site brings back many happy memories, I am so pleased that I found it, albeit by accident.