Introducing our 'This Week in Eastbourne' Series

by Victoria & Kasey

One of the best things about working for Heritage Eastbourne is getting to sort through the collections. Lately, we've been looking at old Eastbourne newspapers. Some of the stories are poignant. Others are amusing. All are quite memorable, so we thought we'd share some of them with you on our blog during the corresponding week in 2017.

Here is a selection of stories from the week of February 5-13 in the 1948 Eastbourne Gazette, and the 1955 Eastbourne Herald Chronicle. 

The ‘mad parson’ was sighted by taxi drivers outside of Eastbourne station (1948)
The ‘mad parson’ was John Edward Allen, a criminally insane and convicted murderer who gained notoriety for escaping Broadmoor prison in 1947, dressed as a cleric.

A lonely swan at Motcombe Gardens was found a mate after the death of its previous one (1955)
The young bird seems to have provided a welcome companion for the old swan.

Brighton Rock, starring Richard Attenborough, showed at the Luxor Cinema (1948)

 

An Eastbourne councillor’s car was stolen, returned, and the culprit brought to justice (1948)
Charles Ernest Punyer, a soldier, was accused and charged with breaking and entering the garage of Councillor Frederick Taylor on Feb 8, and stealing a car, padlock and key, a torch, and 66 safety razor blades, a total value of £401 pounds. He was found driving the car in Worthing.

The process of building groynes on Eastbourne beach as part of the sea defence programme was in full swing (1955)

The photo shows one going out from the wall of the Bandstand.

Dentists defended themselves against the accusation of being ‘politically poisonous’ (1948)

Having witnessed, in the visitor’s gallery of the House of Commons, the sour attitude towards accredited practitioners for opposing the new Health Services Act, Mr. J.E.H Duckworth (chairman of the coordinating committee for local dental committees of S.E. England) advised all Eastbourne dentists to stay united. Dentists disagreed with the Act because it proposed extensive paper work (or a ‘full clinical picture of the state of the mouth’), it excluded adolescents from the priority classes for treatment, and it directed loyalty away from patients towards the local executive council and the minister, whom they felt had too much power already.

Whitworth’s asked how many woman owed their baking success to flour (1948)

A beauty demonstration for women was held in Longstone Road (1955)

It explained the necessity of cleaning ones skin at night, and demonstrated how make-up powder, lipstick, and rouge could be applied to give a lady the “natural look.”

The Redoubt bowling club failed to achieve as many points as expected in the bowling league and were given a talking to in their annual dinner (1955)
They were accused of not doing themselves justice, not pulling together and not upholding the club's reputation and great tradition. Although they had some players missing, it was stressed that “you must have club members and not just members of a club.”

'Aunt Mary' prescribed ‘Yeast-vite’ (1948)
People in the 1940s swore by the energy-boosting tablets!

Preachers from overseas visited Eastbourne (1948)

With a ‘cup of tea in one hand, and a cake in the other’ the Rev. J. Maung Pe from Rangoon – one of 5 overseas nationals visiting on behalf of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel –  spoke to Eastbourne clerics about what life was like in ‘other lands’ due in part to Christianity’s presence.







Children were, ‘for the first time, [being] recognized as whole human beings' (1948)

So declared Mr. M.L. Jacks, director of Oxford U's Department of Education, at the farewell gathering of Eastbourne Training College students. The current systemic shift in educational practice involved a new-humanist approach. It was recognized that students needed intellectual, physical, moral, and spiritual guidance, and in Mr. Jack’s estimation, the newly qualified teachers were essential in meeting those needs, elevating the profession to one of high esteem.

Potato rationing became easier with the Fordwell electric peeler (1948)

A plan for the Wish Tower was proposed (1955)

Plans for the construction of a new site at the Wish Tower were discussed, with the desire for a building housing an entertainment hall, conference rooms, dance floor and all the required facilities. The plans had already been downscaled in order to be approved principally, from the desire to be able to hold 2040 people to 1650, and more meetings were to be held by the council regarding funding and the likelihood of it going forward.

We hope this will be our first of many 'This Week in Eastbourne' posts. Stay tuned for more!