Worthing fares well after years

THE good news is that Worthing has fared remarkably well down the decades. In fact, in some respects, it has improved.

Sally White remembers it as a rather fuddy duddy place when she was a girl growing up there in the 1950s.

Since then, it has livened up considerably '“ one of the changes she draws out in her new book, Worthing Through Time (Amberley Publishing; ISBN-10: 1848681240; ISBN-13: 978-1848681248; 12.99).

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"In the mid-80s when I thought about working there, I just thought that I didn't know whether I could face going back there. But when I went back to look, the town had been transformed."

Sally lived in the town for the next 20 years. She left Worthing four years ago moving to Seaford because of work. Now she feels rather nostalgic towards her time in the town.

"When I came back to Worthing, it was lively and had a good mixture of age groups '“ and it was a fantastic place to work. I think, like a lot of places, it had had to change. I was remembering it when it was still touched by the war, and there was austerity there, like there was in so many places.

So much of the country was rebuilding and there was not a lot of money around. At the time, it just seemed to me as a child a rather dull place. But it certainly doesn't any more.

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"Like anywhere, it goes up and down with the economy, and like anywhere, there are now shops that are empty and some of the shops aren't as busy. But I think Worthing has benefitted over the years from very steady local government, steady in the sense that radical ideas never really took hold of Worthing. It seems to me to keep its distance from central government as far as it can. It missed the worst extremes of Thatcherism."

Even so, it still suffers from a fair number of hideous buildings, mainly the sad replacements for beautiful Victorian buildings which were pulled down: "And you have still got Teville Gate which is an eyesore. And the awful car park by Marks & Spencer's is really ugly.

"But I think that the new building beside St Paul's is very attractive. And one or two of the blocks of flats built in the past ten to 15 years are not bad at all."

Just as importantly, something of the spirit of Worthing has survived.

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"There was an early 19th century writer who said that Worthing is supremely happy, and I think that there is still quite a strong feeling of satisfaction around the town. If you go to Worthing, there is still a nice buzz. Some places have a rather negative atmosphere, but I don't think Worthing has.

"If you are walking along the seafront, no matter what time of year, no matter what the weather, there will always be people who grin at you and smile and say hello."

Worthing Through Time contains 180 photographs of Worthing. 90 are archive images. Each is printed alongside a contemporary full colour photograph which illustrates the same scene as it is today.

The contrasting illustrations show how the area has changed and developed over the past 100 years. The photographs illustrate shops, schools, garages, churches, houses and street scenes.

Each photograph is captioned and the book has an introduction which gives a brief overview of the history of the town.