October - De Burgh School Reunion

De Burgh School was opened in 1957 and I joined in 1961 in the 3rd year. Sue joined in 1960.


The school closed its doors in the late eighties and was demolished in 1997.


On the left is Graham Lee. I cycled with him to Maldon Youth Hostel for a sailing course in the 60's. Sue's in the middle and then John Edmunds. I used to do gardening with him for 5 bob (25p) an hour. We haven't seen either of them for 39 years!




Group photo of the 1958 intake plus some of the teachers.

October - Brighton

Here we are in the North Laines, Brighton. As you can see it is a very colourful place with its street art and the bright shop frontages. In this photo spot the guy and his sofa.

Great graffitti!



One of the streets. I think it is just about possible to buy anything in the shops around here.



Here is Sue on the steps of a bathing machine in Hove Park. Not far away was a geocache which we did and also the Goldstone, which gave its name to Goldstone Ground where Brighton played football until 1997.

The Goldstone, lies in its southwest corner of the park. This huge rock, weighing about 20 tons, is commonly believed to have been used by the Druids for worship.
Legend has it that the devil threw it there while excavating Devils Dyke.

Brighton Marina was very close to the campsite so we found ourselves there on many occasions. On a sunny day there is a thriving cafe culture.



More boats!



This is Roedean School as seen from the marina breakwater.



Last, but not least is The Royal Pavilion. This looks good from the outside, but is a definite WOW on the inside. Unfortunately photography was not allowed inside. If you want to know more go to their website or better still go there in person, it's certainly worth it.

October - Out and About in Portsmouth

We were hoping for a trip to the IOW on the hovercraft, but time was rather short so this is the closest we got.

Eastney Beach next to the caravan site is almost a truly natural area, which is hard to come by, but this shingle beach is a close runner.
The straggly spread of plants here may look untidy, but form one of the few habitats that develop without the influence of man. Plant covered shingle beaches like Eastney are internationally rare and unusual habitats. They support a fantastic range of wildlife, some of which won’t live anywhere else.
Vegetated shingle has now become a priority habitat in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan and this beach is designated as a conservation area.
The shingle is made of flint, washed out of chalk, such as the cliffs in Dorset.
Vegetated shingle is only found in NW Europe, New Zealand and Japan.

We did a lot of cycling because it was very flat and with the car parking charges being astonomical it was the cheapest and most convenient way to get around. Here we are having a lunch break close to the sally port.

Sunday - Carol, David and I decided to take the ferry to do a couple of geocaches on Hayling Island. One was very easy and the other diabolical.

Found it!

We assembled for Sunday lunch at the club house. Here are the caravan group surveying the scene out to sea. Now for a drink - Bottoms Up!

October - Glyn's 60th

The birthday boy.
I am entitling this photo - Food for Thought.

Christine produced this magnificent birthday cake - guess what Glyn's favourite food is?



Sarah, second from the left, said she read my blog (that's 2 people I know of now) so I promised to include her.



The Wordsworths and Lady Bristow.

Geoff doing what he does best! Noch einmal!

October - Southsea

Sue and I set off for Portsmouth/Southsea, with the caravan, on the 4th October. We were going to Glyn's 60th birthday party in Southsea, then to Brighton, to have look around, and finally to Redhill/Banstead for the De Burgh School reunion.

Roy and Sybil, Joy and Geoff had offered to take the birthday group that was staying on the Southsea caravan site on Nelson's Last Walk along with a few asides. Here we all are assembled by Nelson's monument.

Nelson's Last Walk - On 14th September 1805, Lord Nelson took his final steps on land in Portsmouth as he prepared for his last voyage aboard HMS Victory. Here we see Roy setting the pace at the Sally Port - a narrow passage which leads through the Redoubt wall straight out onto the beach where Nelson's boats were waiting to row him to HMS Victory.




After the walk we assembled at Joy and Geoff's for lunch and a very good lunch too.

In the afternoon we went to Fort Nelson for a guided tour.

Fort Nelson was built between 1862 and 1871, the guns of the fort faced inland not towards the sea. The guns were manned by a garrison of 200 volunteers. The forts were never attacked and the French later became allies. High walls and towers were easy to knock down by siege guns and so Fort Nelson was built low with earth slopes facing the attacker, the slopes hiding guns and musketry positions.


Here I am outside Fort Nelson next to Mallet's Great Mortar.
The Crimean War of 1854 called for a mortar that could be easily transported but was of sufficient size, and therefore calibre, to lob a heavy projectile over the walls of the fortress of Sebastopol. This mortar could throw a 2400lbs projectile 1.5 miles!