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About Findon
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The Findon Valley Residents' Association is a charity registered in England and Wales: 267009
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Anecdotes from The Worthing Sentinel April 2010 28/4/2010 In 1950 there was talk about scrapping the traditional annual fixture between Worthing and Broadwater cricket clubs because the former side kept winning "with ridiculous ease." In 1916 some of the choicest grapes grown in Worthing were presented to the Mayor of London at the Mansion House by the Court of Fruiterers. 1899 was the year when Worthing was the sunniest resort in Britain, recording 2206 hours of sunshine. Next came Hastings with 2129, followed by Eastbourne, Brighton, Torquay and Southport. Egg-ceptional Easter holidays in 1927. Reflecting on this a commentator said, "The leading hotels were never so full. everyone without exception having to turn people away. What was the magnet that drew all these thousands of visitors here by train and road? There is only one answer to that question, and it is to be found in the fact that we have the goods to offer to visitors." The Pier Pavilion had recently opened and the new Lido was packed with hundreds of people in deckchairs for a concert by the Band of the 2nd Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment. In 1817 there were two coaches a day from Worthing to London. with a third put on at the height of the holiday season. The horses were changed five times during the journey. which sometimes took more than six hours. In 1916 London playwright and journalist G R Sims visited Worthing and after lunching on lobster fresh from the sea, he eloquently noted, "The front was a sea of winsome, white-robed womanhood. with gauze and gossamer garbings fluttering in the briny breeze. The beach was a beehive of happy humanity worshipping at the shrine of Hygeia." in 1963 Frank Wakeham, 74, celebrated 41 years' pulling pints at The Gun Inn, Findon, where he worked under eight successive landlords. He drank five pints every day and never had a day off sick in his life. 21/4/2010 In 1968 the local police received an urgent call to assist a distressed female motorist in Findon Valley. On arrival, the intrepid boys in blue discovered she had been petrified by a large stag beetle inside the vehicle. It was captured in a bottle, taken to the Union Place station and released without charge on nearby grassland. The year 1925 was a big one for Worthing - on many different levels. Cissbury Ring was saved from possible development by the National Trust, the Offington Park Estate was broken up for housing and the Lido bandstand was unveiled. But the £25,000 seafront structure was roundly condemned as "unsightly, a washout, most inartistic, a dog's kennel, ugly, hideous, eyesore and uncomfortable." Many felt that the stage should have been in the middle of the Lido, surrounded by seats and they could not understand why the seating had been left open to the elements. With regards to Cissbury Ring, historians estimate that in ancient times it would have taken about 5000 warriors to properly defend the ramparts. In the early 20th century, when machine guns ruled the battlefield, the number was revised down to 500. Click here to Sentinel Anecdotes Index Click here to top of page.
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