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From a family of 5 siblings, Harold Taylor came into this world as the sixth and final child in Arundel on 13th February 1926. He went on to attend the St. Pancras and St. Richard's Catholic schools after moving to Chichester and in the war, served with the Merchant Navy. Harold recalls some famous sightings in his local area.
Early in 1940, I was working with my brother, Bill on a farm overlooking Tangmere. The fall of France was imminent. I recall seeing this pale blue aircraft land and amongst much performance, people were welcomed from the aircraft. I think it was a three-engined plane, but my recall was that it was distinctive in some way. That night on the news it stated that General De Gaulle had arrived. Eventually on the cinema newsreels, his arrival was displayed and I realised that I had seen his arrival that earlier afternoon.
Shortly after, the farm we were working on was absorbed into Tangmere and the lower road closed to traffic as the runway was enlarged to cross it. After the war, to compensate for the loss of this road to Aldingbourne, a new road was constructed to come down through Oving to Drayton.
The naming of this location again reminds me of the past. Approximately where the gravel pits are in Oving Road, was the Downer Lupin Farm, which as child, I can remember frequently visiting in season with my mother. I believe this was the site of the first aircraft landing in Chichester. In later years Cobham used to regularly have his circus at Peckham's Copse.
Another venue on a winter's evening with Mother was Shopwyke Hall. This would be to attend a whist drive, not that I played; I was her escort for the walk that evening. I recall that especially around Christmas time she and my father would attend a number of drives, although not necessarily together. The object I suppose was to win a bird for the festive meal, and I rarely recall them coming home without one. In fact, one year they had two. A butcher kindly cared for one until we were ready for it.
Another famous sighting was when my two brothers and I were coming home from church one Sunday morning. We had been to the Catholic Church in South Gate, which was where Rumbelow's now is. As we arrived at the entrance to Canon's Close we stood back to allow a car access, then followed it. We were outside the Chantry when Mahatma Ghandi emerged and entered the building.
Another time, I think we were coming back from a walk across the Westgate fields and were again walking in South Street, when our attention was directed to a vehicle going into Canon's Close. We were at the Chantry when Halai Selassi got out of a car and entered. I suppose this was around 1937. We were already familiar with having deposed heads of state around, for Alfonso 13th of Spain visited our church and lived at Selsey.
Are there any other districts where so many famous people have had connections?
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