Date
| Visitor
| Location
| Comment
|
| 25 Jun | Carol | Hi Steve, Just been looking at your photos and have two things to say:
Underdown House is in Underdown Lane, just off Canterbury Road, near the new Thanet Way roundabout. I presume Underdown Villa is in Underdown Road in the town. | |
| 8 May | Will Buckley | Herne Bay | I moved to Studd Hill in Herne Bay 18 months ago from
West Wickham in Kent. I took early retirement from a computer company and knew Herne Bay from holidaying there with my parents way back in 1955. I have some old black and white photos of the boating pool near Hampton Pier (where the kids playground is now - as far as I can see from the photos). Anyway, I love Studd Hill. I like the slightly American frontier outpost feel to it. Yes - the roads are a bit dire with potholes but that does work in its favour - no joy-riding, and driving over 20 miles an hour anywhere on the estate is frowned upon! Good job too!
A lot of new bungalows are being built here - and the sea views just a short distance away(literally) are beautiful, as are the walks nearby. Yes, it's cold in winter but where isn't? And it's (relatively) cheap to live here too!
There you go, people; an unprompted recommendation. Time was that Studd Hill was a place to be avoided, as most of the properties were single skin, thin-bricked places which would not be eligible for a mortgage (apologies and no offence intended if there are still such places). Today, however, a lot of these places have been replaced with bigger houses of standard construction. Thanks Will. |
| 8 May | Mike Wignall | Dear Steve, I discovered your site as the result of a Google search. You mention the Whitstable barge race - which is what I'm trying to track down. I'm writing a book on sailing barge matches and I'm trying to discover the history of the barge & smack race. The sort of thing I'm searching for is when it first started and has it run every year since? As you've been connected with the town since childhood I'm wondering if you would be able to suggest who I might contact to find out more about the race history. Hi Mike. I'll consider my bluff called. I've not got information on the barge races but will put the question to anyone out there. If you have any information, please contact me via the I'll pass your information on to Mike. | |
| 3 May | Ros Farquhar | I stumbled upon your web pages showing St Mary’s Church and felt I should correct some minor inaccuracies in the text. The present building is the second one built on this site as the first church was so poorly constructed that it started to fall down almost as soon as it had been built in the early 1800's. The present church is smaller than that first building and isn't built from the remains of the old church – although some original gravestones etc were incorporated and there are a few old monuments from the original church at the towers on the north side of the churchyard. I have more information available concerning the Rev Robert Blakey, who arranged for the funding and construction of the present building in the 1870’s and incidentally was also responsible for setting up the first school on the site next to the church. The church is open every weekday from 9am to about 4pm and can be visited. In fact, we warmly welcome visitors to the church – both at services and 'out of hours'. We are launching a major fund raising effort in June 2006 to extend the present building and provide a Chapter House; a hall that can be used by the community as a meeting place, providing sports & leisure facilities and much more. This will extend the life of St Mary's and move the present building into the 21st Century, providing disabled access etc. The growing community that is now bordering the church needs suitable facilities on their doorstep and we envisage St Mary's growing to meet the needs of the community it serves. If you would like any more information, please do feel free to contact me.
Hello, Ros. Thanks for that; I am always happy to have correct information sent to me. I'll modify the St Mary's page accordingly. | |
| 19 Apr | Catherine Prew | Thanks for the pictures of Whitstable. Very good. Used your site to help make up our minds of where to stay at the weekend. Cheers.
Hi Catherine. You're more than welcome. I hope you got enough information. Thanks for visiting. | |
| 12 Apr | Dave Carter
| Lancing, West Sussex | Hi Steve, I have just stumbled across your great site.
Congratulations it’s brilliant. Have been reading all the comments and viewing the pictures; it certainly has taken me back to my youth. I have even seen a report from Roger Warner who I used to play football with at school in 1955. I would be grateful for his e-mail addy if he doesn't mind. (I was his football and cricket captain!) I started School in Kings Road in 1946 and then onto the 'new' secondary school at Greenhill when it first opened. (When was that, C1953?). The first headmaster was Mr Reynolds and I still have a copy of the annual School Magazine (The Heron) dated 1956. This was the second edition to be issued. I have attached a photo Mr Reynolds and the House Captains and Prefects. I have also attached a photo of the school football and cricket teams for 1955/6. I wonder if any of your site visitors can add any missing names. My memory for names is bad enough today without going back 50 years! My first address was 70 Grand Drive and then I moved to 63 Station Road about 1949, this being a brand new Police house, my father being Nick Carter, a Detective Sergeant at the local cop shop. I was a member of the local scout troop, 1st Herne Bay, (was that Arkley Road?) which was run by Colin Chisold. Fond memories of going camping pulling a hand cart with all the camping equipment on it up to Hicks Forstal Farm which is on the road to Canterbury. Can't see that happening these days. We had a brass band and used to play in the carnival and other local events. Another highlight of the Scouts was to perform each year at the Kings Hall, putting on our own version of the London Gang Show. Other memories of that time were hanging out at Macari’s coffee house and at the "glass house" which was on the west side of the amusements. I haven't seen any photos of the glass house (what was its proper name?) on the site. Does anyone have one? I also recall that the pier was used as the finishing line for aeroplane races and one year the Bristol Brabazon, the world’s largest aeroplane at the time, was there. I used to do a bit of boxing and trained at an old wooden gymnasium near the station. My memories of that was it was almost derelict so I suspect it’s now a house or a block of flats. When did the sea freeze? I remember walking on the ice one year, 1947-ish. I could rabbit on and on but won't bore you anymore. Just to say that I loved life there until I left in 1957 to take on the world and earn my crust of bread. Best wishes. Great stuff, Dave. Rabbit away - this is the sort of feedback I love to get. I've posted your photos on the "Old Views" page. Thanks for sharing. |
| 8 Apr | Claire | Eastbourne | A great site. I stumbled upon Herne Bay the other week - what a great friendly place. Thought I'd like to find out more about it and have enjoyed all your info.
Well, that's kind of you to say,Claire. Thank you. |
| 4 Apr | Sue Parker
| London | I thought your web site was great. I'm about to move to Herne Bay and you've given me so much information. Great photos as well. I'll keep watching for further updates. I would like to have seen photos of local shops as well.
Hi Sue. I've not considered taking photos of the shops, to be honest, as most town centres, Herne Bay included, are much of a muchness. I'll give it some consideration, though. Hope the move goes well. |
| 3 Apr | Chris Guiver | Dear Steve, I came across your excellent site quite by chance, and was staggered to read a post you received last year. It was in Feedback, Oct-Dec 05, dated 15 Oct, from Neil Hetherington, now living in S Africa. He referred to me, Chris Guiver, and the band we were in together, the Nightwalkers, which as you can imagine, brought back many memories! I would very much like to e-mail him, but the address on his posting is coming back, and I am wondering if this is correct. Could you please clarify for me? Also, did you get the picture of the group he said he would send ? I would love to have a copy. Very many thanks for your help, and hope to hear from you. Regards, Chris Hello, Chris. Thanks for that. I too tried the address Neil provided and got the same error message as you. I didn't get a phot, either. So Neil, if you're out there, please |
