Old Shoreham Road

Carlisle Laundry:the Finch family

By Roger Bateman

The Finch family

I posted a photo of the Carlisle Laundry house at 31 Old Shoreham Road, Portslade some time ago and have now found the family photos of the Finch family who ran the laundry from the 1920's to about the 1950s. The first photograph is of the laundry staff in the 1920s with my grandmother Bella Finch in the centre and her husband Norman on the right in the back row. There are a couple of pages from laundry bills. These were in light blue coloured card covers and tucked under the string holding the shiny brown paper parcels containing the cleaned laundry items ready for delivery to the customers.

Special photographs for me

The wedding group is of my Aunt Dora Finch's marriage in 1926 that was taken in the laundry yard - the reception was held in the laundry. This is a special picture for me as it shows my mother, Marie Georgina Finch, as a very young girl (second from the left seated on the ground). Norman and Bella are to be seen proudly seated in their new Austin (or was it an Alvis?) outside number 31. Behind them can be seen the other houses of the Old Shoreham Road looking east towards the Southern Cross - all demolished in the 1970's road widening. The last photograph shows my two cousins Derek and Alan Martin, Dora's children in the 1930s but is interesting in that it shows the old gas lamp light cowl at the bus stop outside the gate at the entrance to the laundry yard.