DROVE

I thought 'The Drove' seemed longer also. I remember there were 2 lovely cottages on the left-hand side.

We always attended the annual Fairground at The Drove when we were children.

I remember the fairground well. Weren't we brave if we went on the "dive bomber?" It cost about 6d in the old money. I used to secretly feel really sick on some of those rides but put on a brave face for appearance sake!

Nice to see these pictures of Mount Pleasant as it used to be.  As a former resident of Arundel Road (Northside) I remember lots of open plots, before they were all sold and built on over the years.  As kids we loved going off to play on all these open spaces; this was in the late 1950's and 1960's. If you went up Station Road you could see the old Nissan houses which had accommodated Canadian troops before the Dieppe raid. Some had been demolished, again giving open spaces .

I remember Arundel Road north side. I used to live at no 58 next door to Mrs Young who had a son called Graham Young and maybe you Chris were related or maybe even brothers. It is a long time ago, 1963 - 1965, but my mother lived there longer and moved to Seaford. I remember the Flying Fish as it used to be and my house is still the same as I passed by there last week as I was in UK researching my family history. My grand father and father owned a bakery on Chapel Street until 1962. Photos will follow but just got back home in Portugal.

Hello John, as I seemed to recall you were in the RAF and as you say it was a while ago now. Graham and I are brothers, he is in Dubai where he has lived and worked for over 25 years, while I am still local carrying out yacht and boat repairs. I'm sure you have will have noted a lot of changes since you left the area, but nice to hear you are researching your family history etc
Regards Chris Young.

The drove was very long when you were cycling up it to work in the rain. Always went to the fairs which used to be on the large grass area on the Denton side of the road. I remember there was a large building at the corner with New Road but can't think what it was, but I do recall that lots of people used to leave their bikes there when catching the train. I know I did when I used to go to Lewes Tech. I don't think anyone lost one from there.

The large building on the corner of New Road and the Drove was something to do with electricity supply I believe. I remember the fairs. A gang of us boys from The Mount used to go to them.

Hi, In the early 1960's I worked with a Ben Young, he was a bricklayer with Oxley and Bennett and lived on the Mount. I think it was Beresford Road. He built a house next to his. I remember him as a witty and comical man. At the same time I can recall a man who we knew as "Doughie" Hills at the bakery in Chapel Street, lovely doughnut maker. We were always given some of these when we went there to work. He was another good man.

Hi Colin, I used to deliver papers along Chapel Street. I would always stop and buy a doughnut from doughie Hill's. They were the best, something you miss when you live down-under!

Just stumbled on this page and it brought back fond memories. It must have been in the mid forties when my Dad having forgotten to give me my pocket money for some weeks suddenly gave me a 2 shilling piece. Never having had one before, I took off to Hill's Bakery in Chapel Street and spent the lot on Jam Doughnuts! I hadn't learned about change then, but oh my! I can just taste them now though my mum wouldn't let me eat them all, can't think why!!

I remember going to the fun fair on Drove field in the evening having watched England win the World Cup that afternoon. As I remember the field was always a bit on the boggy side. 

I used to work for Austin Clarke at the back of the what was then Champions Radio Factory, where we made a lot of things for the MOD. Champions moved to Newhaven after fire burnt out the factory they had on the Causeway in Seaford. Very convenient when the new factory was under construction on the Drove. Does anyone know where I can get a photgraph of this factory?. Can anyone remember who lived in the 2 houses that were between the garage and the factory on the drove?.

I remember that two brothers used to run the garage in the sixties, and when we started a darts team in the Railway Hotel, they used to ferry us around in an old London taxi which  they had. Then also the Wheatley family who used to own one or perhaps 2 of the houses over on the left where the fun fair used to stop over, close to the large electricity sub-station, which is still in the same place as it was in the fifties and sixties.