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Malcolm Simpson was born and bred in Worthing. Having entered this life in 1940 during the Second World War he began his education at Whitemead Infants at the end of the war in 1945.
From Whitemead he went on to Downsbrook Junior, and then to Worthing High School for Boys, before completing his education at Worthing College of Further Education.
Malcolm started his electrical engineering career by working for GPO Telephone Engineering (now BT) from 1962 to 1969. Then he went on to Plessey, GPT, and GEC between 1970 and 1992. Today he works for Ricardo Consulting Engineers, and has done since 1995.
He lived at 108 Congreve Road, Worthing and then 21 The Drive, West Worthing, before moving to East Preston where he resided firstly at 12 Roundstone Crescent, and later at 12 Hailsham Close.
Many people from his past come to mind, including: Len Baker, Mike Welch, Neil Slaughter, Robin Munn, Richard Greet, Pam Hobden, Mike Charles, Charlie Hunt, Bob Funnel, Andrew & Sally Bishop, Annette Jones, Christine Mansell, Bob Smith, Christine Tye? Colin Poland, as well as Pete, Les & Jackie Hartfield.
The episodes of Worthing's past that stick mostly in my mind are the three big fires: Hubbard's, now Dagenham's, where there were a number of fire appliances from all over the county; the Rivoli Cinema on the corner of North Street and Chapel Road -- what a disaster, the best cinema in the town, such a pity it was not rebuilt; and the other cinema, the Plaza in Rowlands Road.
My mother used to work in Potter Baileys in Montague Street. I can remember in the years soon after the war, being sent there to get broken biscuits and cracked eggs.
My Saturday chore as a lad in the winter was to push my cart down to the gas works in Park Road to buy coke; in the summer it was to go to the tomato nursery in Ham Road (what was it called?) for frying (squashed) tomatoes. You could help yourself to as many as you wanted, and leave what you could afford in the box.
Another memory is of buying herrings from the fishermen on the beach --10 for a shilling.
My wife and I have been having differences of opinion with others of our generation. Does anyone else remember the visit(s) to Worthing in the early 1950's by the Viking ship?
Malcolm Simpson, 2002
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