Elizabeth II - I had to say something...

I've been thinking about what I want to say, and whether I should say anything or not, but the satirical site, NewsThump, published a piece that says much, and probably the only non-humorous piece I've ever read of their's (copied & pasted below), but pointedly, it reminds us of the gap left in our lives, whether monarchist or republican.

I remembered that she was the only remaining head of state who had served in World War II, when she volunteered, then Princess Elizabeth, to join the Auxiliary Territorial Service as a mechanic and driver (above). I also remember, again before I was born, that my Grandad had danced with Queen Elizabeth II when my Grandma used to work as a cleaner at Buckingham Palace, and they used to have Staff Christmas Parties. In addition, Thursday was my birthday and it was a sad ending to the day, so I shall never forget the day that Elizabeth died...

Indeed, she was a constant in life and will be missed, R.I.P. 😔

From NewsThump: 

"Few things in life are constants; there in the background, always, your entire life, creating a sense of continuity.

Even if you don’t really pay attention, figures in public life give a sense of time and place. As established norms and realities fracture and change and become new and different, or are burned in war and rebuilt, a durable figure’s presence acts as a reassurance – a lodestone against which change can be measured and a reassurance that the future need not be uncertain as you fear.

And then one day they’re gone and it’s only then you see the gap in their place.

Without the constants, the changes seem so much bigger and the challenges all the greater. It’s a moment of mental dislocation, a moment when certainties become uncertain.

From those early photos of an uncertain but hopeful mechanic fixing up lorries to carry troops and weapons to punch Hitler in the face, to sharing a cuppa with Paddington, the Queen was there, her face on banknotes with a slightly quizzical smile as if surprised to actually be there.

And it was there for your entire life. It’s easy to lose sight of how valuable that stability is, not just to individuals but to a sense of identity.

Of course, people will make jokes. That’s what they do when they’re saddened and afraid. If they upset you, forgive them and move on."

Indeed...

Sad Distraction...

After the wonderful distractions of the excellent Hastings Fat Tuesday Music Festival, I am now distracted by events in Ukraine, and in Russia! Whilst the news of the escalation of violence in Ukraine, not to forget the deliberate assault on a nuclear power station with Russian rockets/bombs is so very scary (BBC), the news coming out of the violent prevention of protest against the war by Russian police adds anger to the mix, notably when an older woman, Yelena Osipova, who survived the siege of Leningrad by the Nazis during WWII, is arrested for protesting against the war (Guardian with video).

My thoughts and best wishes are with the people of Ukraine... 

Fairlight Sand Quarries

The relatively recent history of the 2 Fairlight quarries, and their inclusion in Hastings Country Park Nature Reserve, goes back to just 1939 and the outbreak of World War II, as silica sand, an important purer sand for industrial use, had been previously imported from Belgium, which is still a major player supplying industrial silica sand around the world, but it was then hampered by the invasion of the Nazis.

A new company, Fairlight Mining Company, had been set up in 1939, as the sand here was found to be a suitable replacement for what we were missing from Belgium, and the then owner, Major Alfred Carlisle Sayer, leased them the land the 2 quarries would be dug from. The larger quarry (recent image above) is the first you reach when walking from Hastings and along Barley Lane and its pathway extension, just after passing Little Warren Cottage and up to your left. The smaller quarry (recent image below) is to the north east and close to Fairlight Church and had become the larger car park there, and now with a path leading to the new Country Park Visitors Centre, not yet open, but close to completion.

The quarries were in use into the 1950s, being worked for nearly 15 years, and were sold together with other land and property, including Fairlight Place Farm, to Hastings Borough Council in the 1960s (National Archives). Major Sayer had previously sold and donated other land in the area to the Council, and much of this land is now included in Hastings Country Park Nature Reserve, which was originally formed in 1974 (website).

Whilst the smaller quarry provides a more 'functional' use, the larger quarry has been left to return to nature and, indeed, birdsong I heard within the quarry in the early weeks of the first COVID-19 crisis lockdown was part of my inspiration to re-find my love of birds, and my subsequent Bird Blogs (YouTube); please excuse my heavy breathing, which tends to be the result of me walking far and/or concentrating! 😉

So, this part of history was definitely the result of war, who'd have thought?!?

Marine Court

The image of Marine Court coming out of the mist like a majestic liner in the Atlantic Ocean is what its architects, Kenneth Dalgleish and Roger K Pullen, would have been very proud of, because it was designed very much with the Cunard Liner, the Queen Mary, in mind! The Queen Mary entered commercial transatlantic service in 1936 (Modernist Britain website), the same year that Marine Court was designed and building commenced; construction was completed in 1938.  Marine Court is situated at the seafront at St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings TN38 0DZ.

*Image thanks to Modernist Britain

Further to my recent blogs about The Sandcastle in Pevensey Bay (blog) and the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill on Sea (blog), regular readers were very likely wondering when I would get to the third, even more local, building that pioneered the age when Art Deco architecture coalesced with the Modern, using Art Deco design and Modernist materials, a steel frame construction and concrete and glass, indeed Postmodernity before its time! Marine Court is 14 storeys and 170 feet high, and was the tallest apartment block in the country when it was built in the 1930s. 

Recent Image

As we know from history, soon after in 1939, World War II was declared, and the building was requisitioned by the Government, servicemen and women were billeted in Marine Court, guns were emplaced on the balcony, and the basement was used as an air raid shelter, it had had insufficient time to develop as the promised 'holiday retreat' by the coast. During the war Marine Court was damaged by bombing at the eastern end (the prominent end in the images here), and restoration of the building commenced in the late 1940s. The building has since incorporated the obvious accommodation purposes, restaurants, galleries and shops, and even a nightclub, and on the 9th of November 1999 it was eventually Grade II Listed (Historic England website).

We are very lucky to have not just this wonderful local monument to Modernist Art Deco architecture, but 2 other glorious monuments nearby in Bexhill and Pevensey.

*The second image is with thanks to Modernist Britain, edited by me for this blog, both of the other images are mine, thank you very much, copyright me! 

St Leonards Pier...

I have long been considering writing about the absent St Leonards Pier (1891-1951), thanks to regularly seeing the above when I walk along the promenade, and, I'd imagine, many people have been like me and stood below this plaque, realising you are standing under where the Pier used to be; though not so much when the beach huts are there... As the Pier was demolished in 1951, following bomb and fire damage during World War II, and storm damage earlier that year, I wasn't yet born, consequently I couldn't take any photographs of the pier, so the two below are borrowed, and suitably acknowledged, no plagiarism here!

Promenading along St Leonards Parade (image2)

The building of the 960 feet long (292.6 metres) St Leonards Pier was a response to the growing popularity of Hastings Pier, and no doubt rivalry with Hastings soon after the two had merged as a single entity in 1885. Work on building the pier began in 1888 virtually opposite the Royal Victoria Hotel, and the pier was opened by Lord and Lady Brassey on the 28th of October 1891 at a cost of £30,000. 

Looking down at St Leonards Pier (image3)

St Leonards Pier had a few owners before it was requisitioned under Defence Regulation 51 in June 1940 because of fears that a German invasion may mean enemy troops and supplies could be disembarked alongside all the piers in Sussex. They all had had demolition charges previously placed, removed and replaced in May, but now sections were cut out of the piers to hinder any German plans. St Leonards Pier had charges removed finally once an 18 foot gap had been cut using oxy-acetylene equipment between July and August 1940. Then, sadly, on the 4th of October 1940 three high explosive bombs were dropped on the beach end of the pier, 3 members of the Devonshire Regiment were wounded, and another, Private Stanley Beer, was killed.

The missing section of the pier, the bomb damage, a fire late in the war, and the previously mentioned storm damage in 1951 meant the pier never re-opened...

Acknowledgements: The first image is my own; image2 is circa 1905 and thanks to East Sussex Libraries; image3 is about 100 years old, I guess, looking at the military uniforms, and thanks to Jack Vanderwyck's website, though I have no idea who took the photograph; and information is from all over the place, many thanks to all!