BSA 3 WHEELER AT BEACH

Remember that car well.
Actually got to ride in once

Ah...... Yesterday leave me alone..... Some very poignant photos on this brilliant website. Yep! I also remember that BSA three wheeler. The front where the photo was taken used to get all sorts of interesting cars amd motor cycles parked on it. I remember seeing others also parked up there including some of the Bond three wheelers as well as motorised invalid carriages. I recall one of the invalid carriages being turned over and its driver ending up with a broken wrist. There used used to be an old Bradford three wheeler van visit from time to time and there were always some really interesting cars parked there including Morris eights, Standards, Fords, Austins etc. Most were old bangers from before the second world war - people in those days would do anything to get away to the coast for a few hours. My old Dad had a 1936 Hillman which he used to cart my mother and three kids down to Newhaven and we seemed to go every weekend. We also used to camp below the cliffs there and I remember spending five weeks of the summer holidays in 1952 under canvas at the same spot. What with rationing and so on, things were pretty tight for everybody and I can remember my father walking all the way to Seaford to buy an inner tube after a tyre blew out whilst we were driving onto the front. Thread bare tyres? Cor, the cops of today would have got promotion for nicking the number of vehicles being driven with illegal tyres. People even used to use gaiters to cover wear holes in the tyre! Newhaven was, however, a kid's paradise due to that spit of sand which became exposed at low tide. The fortifications were still extant from the war. All were signed 'WD Land Keep out'. There was a search light still in situ in the defence tower on the access to the sea wall. Although screened by a blackout curtains and covered over, I remember on one memorable day the protection had been taken down, probably for maintenance and the searchlight equipment was open to scrutiny from the top wall. The top wall used to be quite scary to walk along as it seemed so narrow. Access in those days was via a wooden staircase and people would think nothing of fishing and casting from it! Also on the front were a number of old ruined railway carriages of wooden construction which had a facination for young kids. There was also a tea hut where people could buy tea, coffee, and soft drinks etc. The ice cream sold there tasted out of this world. I believe the lady who ran the establishment also had a cafe near to a large public house and hotel. There was a great mural on one of the walls depicting a three masted sailing ship entering the harbour with the west arm and arches depicted in the background. The fortress was still under military care in the late forties and early fifties and unaccessible to the public. I remember the west arm being extensively renovated and seeing some of the defences around the lighthouse being demolished and equipment being cut out with oxy-cutting equipment. Does anybody remember the bell buoy moored on the approaches to the harbour? Geeze... they were unforgetable days. However, the sun didn't always shine and the weather could be grim, particularly when the channel gales were doing their best to demolish the sea wall and shipped it green over the top. The old place holds some wonderful and unforgettable memories and perhaps, if readers care, I might take the liberty of reiterating some more at a later date. All the best ;)