Remember it well. Those were the days of going for a Sunday afternoon walk, always dressed in our "best clothes"! I loved the boating pool and somehow, in my rush to get into the boat, fell in! The embarrasment of walking home a sodden mess of wet blue silk with pink smocking, hoping not to meet any school friends on the way! No shorts and T-shirts for the beach in those days especialy on the Sabbath.

I remember this fun place from the fifties. We lived in Bennett Road in Whitehawk but in the summers of the 1950s on Sundays my mum would lay the tea table with all sorts of goodies ready for when we would come home starving from a hot day on the beach that was immediatly to the westward of West Pier. My mum and dad and sister and brother would get on a number four bus from Arundel road to Preston Street in Western Road and walk to the beach. On the way we kids would cajole my dad into getting some sweets at a little shop halfway down Preston Street. My dad always took a methylated stove for having a brew on the beach with our sandwiches. We loved this beach and the surrounding area. We would sit and watch the boats for hours not being able to afford a ride in them. There was plenty to do. For instance at the end of a hot day I would collect deckchairs that were left on the beach and get some money for that, and also collecting empty lemonade bottles was another way to earn some pocket money. If the tide was in, diving off of the groyne was good fun, and when the tide was out you could walk almost to the end of the pier. There were toilets right near the pier and an ice cream and sweet shop and a cafe. There was also a little paddling pool in the area and the water was always warm on a hot day and the pool was crowded. I am disgusted and very sad at the way the poor old West Pier met it's end over the years. But the memories will remain in my mind forever.