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Preston Park

Photo:Image shows a 'Garden of Greeting'.

Image shows a 'Garden of Greeting'.

From the original My Brighton exhibit

Memories of the 1950s
By Martin Nimmo, ex-resident, born in Hove

"When I was a child in the 1950's, Preston Park was surrounded by huge trees, most of which were blown down in the October 1987 storm. Sometimes we went out for a walk from school - walking in pairs in a crocodile - up Harrington Road, along Harrington Villas, round beside the cycle track and into the Park near the churchyard.

Seas of fallen leaves
We might return along the road at the top of the Park.  It was well-rutted and, in autumn, covered in "seas" of fallen leaves which we would kick along (and be told off for it). On summer afternoons, we would go to the Park with mum and meet friends (with their mums) by the Chalet to play.

Fizzy drinks at The Chalet
The Chalet would sell fizzy drinks (7-Up was my favourite) and the more daring among us would ask for an ice-cream soda. You could watch the red and green buses processing slowly along the London Road past the "Gardens of Greeting" competition flowerbeds.There wasn't very much other traffic on the main road in those days!"

Submitted to the website by e-mail August 29, 2002
This page was added on 22/03/2006.

Comments:

I was very upset once when someone described Preston Park to me as a bit of green land. In fact it is a beautiful park full of history and wildlife. My favorite trees are the twin elms which have withstood major storms and Dutch elm disease. They are magnificent veteran trees with massive trunks which have hollowed out over the centuries. I never get bored of looking at them.
By Roni (24/02/2003)
Preston Park is where I remember that many tanks were parked in readiness for D-Day and where I first learned to ride a bike, as at that time I was a boarder at Preston College right opposite.
By Terence Mills (22/06/2003)
I used to go to the Park with my grandmother who lived in Florence Road. One sunny afternoon when I was 4 or 5 years old or so, I was happily playing by the Clocktower when some black children appeared, I found them fascinating and my granny quickly took me away for fear that I would catch some illness! I was born in Preston Park Avenue, although I was too young to remember living there. My parents had a dog called Paddy, a sheep dog I believe.When my parents went to work the dog used to walk along to my grand parents' house in Florence Road where he spent the day, returning home in the evening!Imagine doing that with today's traffic.
By Bernardo (10/02/2005)

In the 1960s my mother and father would take me on sunny days, to a park with a small boating lake to play with my model boat. In later life she told me it was Preston Park, but I have never found it since.

By Steve Potts (22/09/2006)

I lived in Brighton in 1965 to 1966 and have fantastic childhood memories.  I too remember a boating lake and a fountain decorated with dolphins or some kind of fish. Happy days!

By Kim (01/10/2006)

I grew up in Springfield Road (1958 -1968) and Preston Park was "my garden." From dawn to dusk we played in the park. l learnt to ride a bike leaning on the green painted railings on the bottom road. l did not realise at that time how lucky l was to have such a playground.

By Chris Cook (16/10/2006)

Oddly enough, I lived in Springfield Road too - at number 50. We would all turn up there to play football on a Saturday morning near the tennis courts. My parents have some old 8mm film of the park and my sister, brother and I playing - very nostalgic!

By Martin Scrace (23/10/2006)

Well I'm going to make it three in a row because I lived in Springfield Road too for the first ten years of my life (1956-1966). Happy memories of Preston Park, where apparently I learned to walk. Many local children would fall in to the pond at the end of the Rose Garden, as far as I'm aware with little lasting damage done. The two cafes were the Rotunda (which had a unique but not unpleasant smell) and the Chalet. I understand cycle racing on the oval track at the top of the park was popular at one point.

By Bish Bosh (14/08/2007)

I was born in Brighton in 1942 and lived there until 1956, then came the sudden move to London.  Preston Park was my play area from a very young age being an old Fawcett Boy.  It also holds happy memories of weekly football matches and other organised games.

By John Wignall (22/03/2008)

I now live in Scotland but Preston Park holds a very dear place in my memories. From about 1950 to 1956 I lived in Rugby Road, then Ditchling Rise and my mother often took me to the park. Even now, when I come across a piece of curved stone anywhere that reminds me of the stepping stones on the pond, I am filled with nostalgia. And, yes, I fell in, too. I visited the park on a trip south a couple of years ago and was puzzled by how the streets and traffic surrounding the park seemed so much more visible than I remembered - of course, it must be because of the trees blown down in the hurricane - I hadn't thought of that. As for a pond where model boats were sailed - my memories of this were from The Lagoon, by the seafront in Hove, towards the Portslade end. (The Lagoon was very pleasant then, not seedy as it was last time I saw it.) Another possibility is Queen's Park, although I never went there much. I don't think there is a boating pond in Preston Park, is there?

By Honor Wimlett (24/10/2008)

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