Peoples Stories - Bevendean History Project
Local Amenities in Bevendean
David Ide:
“I often wondered why the Barn Church was allowed to be knocked down, as it was a typical, old Sussex farm building, which was made into a church, with its own little bell-tower. You had to walk over the muddy grass to get to it and there must have been a lot of history attached to it. I think maybe the congregation in the Barn Church had dropped right off, but I don’t know really know. It’s good that they kept the space as a play area anyway, as they could have built on that. The Becca building is still there”.
Note: The lease on the Barn Church was only for ten years. It was always the intention of Brighton Council to clear the buildings from the site to make an open space. (Editor)
Mick Short:
“Bevendean primary had a very good reputation for lots of reasons, not only because the head-teacher and main teachers all had good reputations, but because they took on hard cases and had a special unit for teaching deaf children. In later life I became interested as I used to sponsor another school, Hamilton Lodge and they used to collaborate. My children all had a good time and did well and went on to Stanmer and spread their wings except for the youngest who was the only one to follow in my footsteps. He became an engineer”.
Violet Bradford:
“The first doctor we had was Dr. Mary Roberts. The surgery was where the big flats are now where the pub was pulled down. She had the first house, number one Leybourne Road, and that was her surgery for years before The Willows was built. Dr. Robert was really nice and a spade was a spade with her. Oh yes, she was lovely. She had a little Scottish dog and she used to walk everywhere. She had no car, or bike, just little Angus, her Scotty dog”.
Sheila Lemon:
“We used to have mass sometimes down in the Bevendean School. A special priest would come up from St. Josephs and ladies in Plymouth Avenue, used to take turns in having the priest for dinner. We used to have the dinner sometimes and one of my boys would say, ’Oh, I always have to sit next to the priest!’ ‘Yes’, I said, that's to make you behave yourself.’ And I can remember once when they were mucking about so much that the priest came down to the kitchen I said, ‘It's gonna be lumpy gravy today, Father.’ He said, ‘Sheila, I love lumpy gravy.’ Lovely priests they were, really lovely priests”,
Margaret Gorringe:
“I remember Croucher’s, the wool shop. They used to sell plimsolls, knitting wool, and school uniform, they had quite a little business going there. There was Schofield’s, newsagent and sweet shop I remember, as I ended up working there when Mr. Clifford took it over, and my sister worked there doing a Saturday job when she was about thirteen. The butcher was Stan Baldwin I think, and I can see Mrs. Skinner’s face, when she worked there. There was a chemist, they used to have all the old brown wood shelving and big glass bottles, and it was quite sad when they got rid of all that”.
Doris Hill:
“I was used to a Baptist Church, and so I didn’t go, to the church it was too high for me if you know what I mean. When I found out about the Salvation Army hall, I used to go round there. It used to be nice, very friendly, and it used to have good clubs and good entertainment. When I came back my husband used to say, ‘Well what’s the latest the gossip’, but there was no gossip, it was just a friendly chat.’
Robert Brown:
“The school was shaped like a letter H because it was designed so that it could be used as a hospital as well as a school. The classroom doors were extra wide compared to normal doors so they could get the old hospital beds in and there was hot and cold running water in each room which is unusual for a school. There was an air raid shelter underneath the school in case nuclear war should happen. It was thought that Bevendean would not be too badly affected because it is in a valley surrounded by hills and it was felt that radiation-poisoning would not be so bad in the valley. Every term they would test the air raid shelter and alarm. You would hear it grinding up and winding down again. I was told it was all done from Ferrydale in Yorkshire. In the 1950’s it was anticipated that Russia would invade England and drop bombs on us.’
“I often wondered why the Barn Church was allowed to be knocked down, as it was a typical, old Sussex farm building, which was made into a church, with its own little bell-tower. You had to walk over the muddy grass to get to it and there must have been a lot of history attached to it. I think maybe the congregation in the Barn Church had dropped right off, but I don’t know really know. It’s good that they kept the space as a play area anyway, as they could have built on that. The Becca building is still there”.
Note: The lease on the Barn Church was only for ten years. It was always the intention of Brighton Council to clear the buildings from the site to make an open space. (Editor)
Mick Short:
“Bevendean primary had a very good reputation for lots of reasons, not only because the head-teacher and main teachers all had good reputations, but because they took on hard cases and had a special unit for teaching deaf children. In later life I became interested as I used to sponsor another school, Hamilton Lodge and they used to collaborate. My children all had a good time and did well and went on to Stanmer and spread their wings except for the youngest who was the only one to follow in my footsteps. He became an engineer”.
Violet Bradford:
“The first doctor we had was Dr. Mary Roberts. The surgery was where the big flats are now where the pub was pulled down. She had the first house, number one Leybourne Road, and that was her surgery for years before The Willows was built. Dr. Robert was really nice and a spade was a spade with her. Oh yes, she was lovely. She had a little Scottish dog and she used to walk everywhere. She had no car, or bike, just little Angus, her Scotty dog”.
Sheila Lemon:
“We used to have mass sometimes down in the Bevendean School. A special priest would come up from St. Josephs and ladies in Plymouth Avenue, used to take turns in having the priest for dinner. We used to have the dinner sometimes and one of my boys would say, ’Oh, I always have to sit next to the priest!’ ‘Yes’, I said, that's to make you behave yourself.’ And I can remember once when they were mucking about so much that the priest came down to the kitchen I said, ‘It's gonna be lumpy gravy today, Father.’ He said, ‘Sheila, I love lumpy gravy.’ Lovely priests they were, really lovely priests”,
Margaret Gorringe:
“I remember Croucher’s, the wool shop. They used to sell plimsolls, knitting wool, and school uniform, they had quite a little business going there. There was Schofield’s, newsagent and sweet shop I remember, as I ended up working there when Mr. Clifford took it over, and my sister worked there doing a Saturday job when she was about thirteen. The butcher was Stan Baldwin I think, and I can see Mrs. Skinner’s face, when she worked there. There was a chemist, they used to have all the old brown wood shelving and big glass bottles, and it was quite sad when they got rid of all that”.
Doris Hill:
“I was used to a Baptist Church, and so I didn’t go, to the church it was too high for me if you know what I mean. When I found out about the Salvation Army hall, I used to go round there. It used to be nice, very friendly, and it used to have good clubs and good entertainment. When I came back my husband used to say, ‘Well what’s the latest the gossip’, but there was no gossip, it was just a friendly chat.’
Robert Brown:
“The school was shaped like a letter H because it was designed so that it could be used as a hospital as well as a school. The classroom doors were extra wide compared to normal doors so they could get the old hospital beds in and there was hot and cold running water in each room which is unusual for a school. There was an air raid shelter underneath the school in case nuclear war should happen. It was thought that Bevendean would not be too badly affected because it is in a valley surrounded by hills and it was felt that radiation-poisoning would not be so bad in the valley. Every term they would test the air raid shelter and alarm. You would hear it grinding up and winding down again. I was told it was all done from Ferrydale in Yorkshire. In the 1950’s it was anticipated that Russia would invade England and drop bombs on us.’
24 May 2013
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