To be a farmer's boy '“ at the tender age of 11

(Continued from last week)

HARRY was four then and could always remember the thrill of being hauled up by his big brother to stand on the deck of the Peruvian.

It became known locally as 'the ivory nut ship' from its stranded cargo intended for button-making. Instead, many of the 'nuts' were carved into bird shapes or painted with sea views and may still be seen as souvenirs.

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In very old age Harry could clearly recall happy childhood adventures. He wrote to me in 1989: 'Where did all the old groynes go? They are buried deep below, where I used to swim and dive off the beach east of the Martello Tower, where for many years after the Gannet was lost (1882) bits of the wreckage were being brought ashore.' (Author's note: this continued to some extent till the beach re-charging of 1987 effectively smothered all earlier shingle; at specially low tides each year, some lads knew where to dive to see surviving wreckage, almost a century on].

Harry also recalled the first motor car he ever saw: it belonged to Mr Hartong of Claremont Road and was number AP 47. His own early transport was a 'penny farthing' bicycle he tried (without permission) in Blatchington Road near the pond'¦he got on all right but no one showed him how to stop. He solved the problem by grabbing an overhanging tree branch and letting the bicycle take its chance.

Bertie, who was born in 1876, also talked about the Gannet. He came to Seaford at the age of four with his family after his father failed to find work elsewhere as a stonemason. He remembered being woken by distress rockets being fired. When the boys got to school next morning their teacher said, 'Clear out, there won't be anyone come here today after such a sight as that', so they all went to see the great ship stuck on the beach. As we heard from Harry, they never got her off again, but many people had tea, biscuits and so on from her, and all sorts of things were stored in their cottage that came from there.

Bertie was no scholar but a great reader, consequently he was always in trouble for getting too far ahead of the class, being thrashed and playing truant. He was only 11 when he heard of a boy wanted at Chyngton Farm. When the farmer saw him he asked, 'How old are you, sonny?' and Bertie said, 'Thirteen sir, but small for my age'! So he started off helping with the cows, then he was a carter boy and helped with the threshing. One day the farmer said, 'You're going to earn sixpence this morning - we're shifting the machines to Exceat by road. Take this flag, you walk in front and when you see cattle coming or horses or sheep, stop the machine till they go by.' Farmer Gorringe at one time had 18 horses '“ four teams plus two spare, and carters and other boys.

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Later, Bertie caddied at the new golf course started on the Downs ('just a few holes'). He recalled, 'We used to collect the flags and keep them in a coal shed. Later we each wore a badge buckled on our sleeve with a brass number; I was Number 3, Class 1. You got ninepence a round and most did two rounds a day, but I liked to carry for a gentleman like Captain Leggatt who could go three rounds. One or two others were miseries and we dodged and hid from them but it got known and we were in trouble.'

Like Fred, Bertie deserves a whole chapter to himself, there are so many tales to tell; the difference is that along with one or two of the others, I had the privilege of acquaintance with Bertie and could thus add the authentic touches of dialect and turn of phrase that bring my old friends back to life.

Both Seaford and Newhaven folk had to use a system of nicknames to distinguish between members of the same large families, for example the Burgesses, the Earls etc. One of the Lower family, for instance, was known as 'Noble' after his father's vessel The Little Noble. Strange turns of phrase occurred locally, 'the frets are open' being one; after particularly rough seas, say, the top shingle might be all scoured away and the clay below exposed, revealing all manner of treasure. Small pieces of lost jewellery and similar might come to light, but much more likely were small coins. Even among these were finds of 'bun pennies' in near-mint condition, rather than those worn down ones that had been rattling round in pockets and purses for ages!

(To be continued)

PAT BERRY

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