This article was first published in the West Sussex Gazette on 9th June 1994

This is an episode of an ordinary working-class man's early years, 68 year-old Worthing reader Peter Longhurst, starting with his upbringing which began some 14 miles north of the town. Born on a farm at West Grinstead in 1926, in a farmhouse called 'Bassels' which was to remain his home for about five years, he recalls the idyllic setting with ease.

'A ditch ran in front of Bassels, bridged by a plank to gain access to the house, its banks were covered with primroses in spring. Nearby a cowshed stood next to a pond.

'The house had no electricity, no gas, no main drainage, and not even any running water. Drinking water was drawn from a well in the back yard. Lighting was by means of oil lamps.'

The women of the family made butter down in a semi-basement cool room Peter recalls, 'by rotating milk in a butter churn, then cutting the butter produced into blocks on a table which were finally shaped with butter pats carved with a swan design leaving an attractive impression on each individual portion.'

His five uncles were tenant farmers working on the family farm, while his father George Longhurst worked close by for Sir Merrick Burrell, who lived in a large house known as Knepp Castle. George's wife Queenie, who originated from Horsham, worked as a maid there.

Peter recollects how a grand view of the countryside from his bedroom at 'Bassels' instilled vivid memories from as early as the age of two or three when he was fascinated by the sight of travelling fairs wending their way along a narrow road which is now the A24. In those pre-war days there was very little traffic using the 'trunk road' and the sight of steam puffing from hefty traction engines trundling along left a deep and lasting impression upon Peter. In fact it could be said that it sowed the seeds of his lifelong interest in anything steam-powered.

That stretch of narrow road upon which Peter saw those traction engines runs past a small ancient ruin on a mound, the remains of the original Knepp Castle. Upon this same length of road, which has now been dualled, traction engines can still be spotted today, when an annual steam rally is held nearby.

The next episode concerns the demise of the farm and the Longhurst's move to Worthing.