Bessie c 1920's

Peggy began reading

“My parents met at the newsagents on the corner of Church Street, Shoreham by Sea known as Rowe & Sons Stationers. My mother was keeping her sister company during the war. My mother’s brother-in-law, Frank Rowe, owned the shop: he was Shoreham’s official photographer."

Peggy told me she was born at Ferngarth, a bungalow on the Medway, in Kent, the home of her aunt, as her parents Bessie and Frederick Bailey were living on a houseboat moored on the river Adur, by Shoreham Beach for the first few years they were married. It was not considered convenient to have babies there.

Speedwell Houseboat

“The houseboat, was a converted ocean sailing yacht with a sharp keel. If it was windy after a big tide, she didn’t settle back in her berth, and crockery was broken and you lived lopsided until the next big tide. Mother used to have to cook on a paraffin stove and heat water for washing clothes. She enjoyed the life in spite of this, as it didn’t involve housework".

“My father built a bungalow called Melbourne when I was five and my sister was two. Both my parents were in Australia during the First World War. Hence the bungalow was called Melbourne. My mother travelled home on a passenger boat, which was torpedoed off Land’s End. Passengers lowered into a lifeboat and later picked up by a naval destroyer”

“ The bungalow was alongside the houseboat, he made the roof tiles by hand and flew a Union Jack when the roof went on. The bungalow was very near the river’s edge, high tides we had to walk to the front door on stilts – great fun.”

"We rolled hard-boiled on eggs on Good Friday, down Good Friday Hill, taking the battery to be charged for the radio, our only form of recreation, apart from card games. I remember my father’s having headphones, no telephones, lots of letter writing, lager with chestnuts, crumpets and pomegranates in the winter were a treat, and first Worthing tomatoes in May were considered a great luxury and outdoor cucumbers and sooty celery.”

Regatta Day, Adur River, Shoreham by Sea c 1912

“Sailing on the Regatta Day was a great excitement, with our father competing in the greasy pole competition. The prize was a joint of beef – a great treat”

“In 1936, lots of talking of war, listening to the news broadcast, a lady lived in the Beach Road, who was a German. When we would go past on our way to church, we could hear Hitler on the radio, making one of his speeches, which was frightening, as she left the windows open. She was married to an Englishman and was interned when the war started. 1939, more talk of war. People started filling their larders with tinned foods and sugar and tea. Mother was very frightened – being a widow as our father had died – it was quite a great responsibility having two young girls to protect”

“In 1940 our mother had a small rowing boat, and if a German invasion had happened, she was going to row us across the river. We had our suitcases already packed. She also had a gun and intended to shoot us if the Germans landed. We didn’t know this until much later in life. “

“About this time the footbridge closed at dusk with a curfew at 9.00 o’clock the next morning. All the residents had 24 hours notice to leave their homes on Shoreham Beach. Removal vans were unobtainable, so the army had to move us. Mum managed to rent a house in the town, as lots of people were fleeing, frightened of an invasion. Soldiers moved our furniture into lorries, the piano got stuck in the doorway and the sergeant came along and said, nothing of amusement to be taken. The soldier said, ‘we’ve got it half out, we can’t get it back in’, that’s how mum got her piano. The town people didn’t really care for us, they were thinking of night clubs and a faster way of living on the beach”

Bessie lived to over 100 and was lively enough to be interviewed on tape by her daughter, Peggy, about some of her memories.

Bessie with her great grandchildren on her 100th Birthday