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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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Curtis and Son – a family business that’s had strong links with Findon Valley’s residents since the 1930s and the first estate agents in King’s Parade. By Alex Clouter Terry and Pat Curtis, founders of Findon Valley’s first ‘modern’ estate agent Curtis and Son in 1976 were keen to meet up with me and talk about the growth of homes in the Valley from the 1930s. It all started when Pat’s grandfather, Edward Rackett, started his own estate agency on Findon Road (west side) in the early 1930s. “ Granddad was living in High Salvington at the time. His office was located in the small parade of shops within a few minutes’ walk north from Vale Drive,” says Pat Curtis. “It was near the petrol station, where the BP is now sited, with – I think – a baker and another shop next door.” She continues, “ It was at the time when the bungalows were being built on the west side of the Valley, to overlook the beautiful South Downs and of course Cissbury Ring.” Edward Rackett soon found how busy he was going to be, helping people keen to retire from the ‘busy feel’ of London into Sussex and be within an affordable proximity of the sea front at Worthing. At that time, Worthing was gaining a sense of notoriety in growing fruit and vegetables, with regular train deliveries of produce to London. So in its infancy, Findon Valley was seeing some of its residents actively involved in playing their part of ‘living off the land’. “There were already some allotments on The Gallops,” Pat continues, “where people grew tomatoes… combined with other people’s efforts Worthing became quite famous for their tomatoes.” The range of bungalows and houses soon grew on both sides of Findon Valley, with an evolving network of roads feeding from Findon Road and some ‘twittens’, a Sussex word describing narrow pathways between some of the roads. King’s Parade began to emerge as the main shopping area for the valley with numerous stores. Over time there were both older retired couples and young families coming to the Valley, the latter more so when Vale School started in 1951. It was sad that Edward did not live to see his granddaughter’s wedding to Terry Curtis. They settled down in Offington, with the children going to Vale School. Terry worked for Bernard Tucker Estate Agents in Worthing. In 1976 he decided to set up his own estate business, Curtis and Son, in King’s Parade… thus continuing the family estate agency ‘legacy’. They soon built a strong reputation with local residents, as the first estate agents in King’s Parade. “ Now that we have retired,” says Terry Curtis, “Barry Parker, who has been with us for 25 years and is a real credit to us, now manages the office supported by my daughter Jane who has taken over the reins from us, together with the rest of the team Vanessa Roebuck and Denise Harris.” “To help the FVRA we are pleased to provide some beautiful photographs of Findon Valley for their website, which we find to be very interesting and informative, as well as give a little bit of ‘history’ to our community.” These can be seen in the FVRA Photo Archive. Click here to see the transformation of Curtis & Son in the mid 1970s. Click here to return to 'Did you know?' index. Click here to top of page.
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