Rotherfield Crescent
Sandra, Jonathan and Bruce the dog
From the private collection of Sandra Bohtlingk
Rotherfield Crescent, Hollingbury
Happy childhood Summer memories
By Sandra Bohtlingk
As a child I grew up in 59 Rotherfield Crescent, Hollingbury. We moved there when I was three in 1949 and I left in 1966 aged 20 when I got married. This picture is taken by my mother with her back to our house and the view directly opposite us of Hurst Hill. You can vaguely see the street name on the side of the house behind me. My name was Sandra Baldwin at that time. I am proudly showing off my new bike.
Hill after hill in Hollingbury
Hurst Hill was mainly flat and therefore seems strange to call it Hurst Hill although it did curve upwards towards Cuckmere Way at the end. Speaking of it as having an end is also funny as the whole road was only having perhaps five houses on each side. Being flat made it a fortunate place for me to practice riding my bike. Of course most people, who know Hollingbury, realise it is hill after hill in one direction or the other.
My friend Jonathan
By my side is a friend, Jonathan Hall, who lived two doors up from me. Jonathan was just slightly older than me and, even at that young age, was a wizard at the piano. At my birthday parties we spent most of it in the garden, being in early July. Being the only boy there he probably felt a little out of place, until musical chairs was mentioned. Jonathan would hurtle off to the living room where the piano was and mum would open all the doors and windows so we could hear the music from the garden. Jonathan had a certain enthusiasm for playing classical music that made it possible to hear it wherever you stood, and had we been indoors we may well also have needed to open the doors and windows to let some of that sound out.
Our dog Bruce
Next in the picture is our dog, Bruce. He and I were the same age. He was a cross between Labrador and Red Setter and I remember Mum always talked of her disappointment, when she went to collect her new puppy, that he was just black. Bruce was king of the road in those days and back then we could open the door and let him venture out to explore the countryside alone. His favourite patch, after a long roam, was to lie stretched out in the centre of the road, Rotherfield or Hurst Hill, and the few cars that travelled that way in those days were obliged to drive round him.
This page was added on 17/10/2010.