Published 4 April 2002

Family
THIS interesting old photograph of Folkestone revives memories of fascinating pictures I have seen of the sailing ships which used to discharge cargoes at Folkestone harbour. A row of these vessels, lining up with their long bowsprits over the quayside made a grand sight.

Some of the vessels brought cargoes of sawn timber from Scandinavia, others were often coastal vessels laden with coal.

The coal cart picture was shown to me by Eric Hart, of Chart Road, Folkestone, who has a fund of memories of the town and is a popular speaker on the subject of Old Folkestone.

Standing by the horse is Eric's grandfather Richard Cullen Hart, who operated his business from a yard in Park Street, now called Jesmond Street, which was behind the cameraman. Eric's grandmother and a roundsman stand by the cart.

Richard built up a big business in the town and raised a large family, with 12 children, all brought up in the old family home, which was at 43 Blackbull Road.

Eric's father Eddie was one of the 12 children. He worked for 38 years for the furniture removal firm of Thompsons.

"My father used to have to miss school sometimes when the colliers came in. That was when he was around 10 or 11, and he used to help in the work of bagging up the loose coal from the ships.

"His job was to hold the sacks while men shovelled the coal into them. It was hard work for a lad and he had the scars on his hands for years afterwards to prove it!" said Eric.

A sad incident he recalls in connection with the
colliers unloading at the harbour concerns a horse and cart which was backed up to the quayside just in board of the Swingbridge, when suddenly there was a loud noise from the ship that was discharging its cargo.

“The horse reared up, went backwards and both the horse and cart plunged into the water. Sadly, of course, the horse was dragged down and drowned."

Eric believes the steam vessel could have been the Hove, bringing coking coal for the Folkestone Gas Company.

By a strange coincidence I was recently shown two old pictures taken in Folkestone harbour, possibly around 1900, showing local seamen who worked on the sailing colliers bringing coal to the port. Both of the deck scene photos, shown to me by Ray Bryson, of Clarendon Road, Dover, feature among the seamen Ray's favourite Uncle Ted Andrews, who married his father's sister.

Ted is thought to have been the first or second mate of the boat. Ted later worked on local tugs and, in the last few years before retiring, became foreman flagman working with the seafront coal and oil tanker trains which steamed along Dover seafront. His task - to walk in front holding a red flag to warn of the locomotive's approach.

A much earlier photograph Eric brought in to show me, of around 1902, is the picture, bottom right, of class three, with a teacher, at Sidney Street girls school - now George Spurgen School. The youngsters are pictured outside the Head's study.

"My mother, Alice Jane Hart, is first on the left in the front row. She was about ten years old. The only other name I have is Sally Quaife, mother of Bob Quaife, the well known hairdresser. She is third from the left in the second row from the front."
IT IS always satisfying to hear a Memories feature has created a lot of interest, particularly when an article has helped find information a reader was seeking or, as in the case of Yvette Fassbender, of Stade Street, Hythe, has put her in touch with an old friend. Yvette tells me she has got in touch with Betty, the daughter of Betty Dugdale who was one of the people with the helmeted diver pictured recently in Memories. Yvette and young Betty went to the same school in Exeter 63 years ago!
 

Open tennis tournament planned for Folkestone <* QAQCORPORAL Morris Carpenter, son of JLS/U& Councillor Carpenter, was welcomed back In town after 13 months arduous service with the 42nd Company Imperial Yeomanry in Africa, during which he was Involved In the fighting when Colonel Benson was killed. With the assistance of the Lawn Tennis Association of England an open tennis tournament was planned by manager Mr H.W. Rowland, for mid-summer, on the well tended lawn tennis courts of the Pleasure Gardens Theatre. The Herald published a news photograph, rare in a weekly newspaper a century ago, of one of the old Romney Marsh “Lookers” of the hunting fraternity mounted on horseback. The framed picture was presented at a Lookers dinner at the Ship at Dymchurch, to John Jones, of Dymchurch, to mark his 40 years Involvement with hare coursing, hunting and shooting, of which he was the accepted leader. The long report Included a list of names of those who subscribed to the cost of the portrait. Felix noted the passing of Mr Marsh, aged 92, the former "travelling shoemaker of the then fishing village of Folkestone, of 70 or more years ago," as well as Newington, Cherlton and Sandgate.

Elham-born Test cricket star honoured by fans <|QCO MAYORS and mayoresses of four .L90^Cinque Ports towns were guests of Munstereifel's Burgomaster Herr A Frlnz In Germany over Easter, visiting Cologne, Bonn, Coblenz and Dusseldorf. Munsterelfel, their base, was about the same size as Hythe, said Speaker of the Cinque Ports, Alderman J.A. Wiles, of New Romney who was instrumental in getting the invitation to Munstereifel. Promising Kent and England cricketer Les Ames, a native of Elham, was prosented by MP Brigadier H.R. Mackeson with a handsome silver fruit dish from people of the village and local sportsmen, to mark his cricket achievements, particularly In India. The event was attended by his father Harold Ames, himself no mean player. Harold, a left arm spinner, had a proud record in cricket, Including the remarkable achievement of performing a hat-trick twice In one innings. Four lofty radar station pylons made an unusual backdrop for a Romney Marsh Hunt point-to-point meeting near Brookland attended by thousands of racing fans. The Herald marked the anniversary of the death of William Harvey, a Harvey Grammar old boy. with a lengthy article about him. extending to several columns of a broadsheet newspaper.

Top firms to submit plans to furnish the Leas Cliff Hall «< 00*7 VICAR of Whitstable for 14 years the Revd I Hyla Holden was inducted as the new Vicar of Folkestone by the Bishop of Dover and the Archdeacon of Canterbury. Among those there to wish him well was the retiring minister Canon P. Tindall. A new Saltwood Cricket Club wjs formed at a meeting at the Lad's Club, with the prospcct of the support of lower brewer Alfred Leney of the old Phoenix Brewery, in Dover and the haniis-on voluntary expertise in preparing and maintaining the wicket of Mr A Pegram. The Council decided to seek proposals for the decoration of the newly completed Leas Cliff Hall from Libertys, Waring & Gillow, and Hamptons Ltd. ail of London, as well as local firms. A sub-committee was to meet those interested to show them round and indicate what each room was to be used for. No limit on expenditure had so far been fixed. There were some dissenting voices when the time came to approve a tender of £6,000 for a chapel foi building a new town cemetery. One councillor protested it would be like a cathedral compared with the one In Cheriton Road cemetery which cost about £1.000. A Sandgate resident warned against use of shingle from the beach to build otherwise welcome new homes, pointing out the danger of further urosion.

Town must watch its image warns the Herald’s editor •f Q77THE EDITOR was warning that although X? I I Folkestone had some great assets there were neglected areas which harmed the fashionable resort Image of the town. He pointed to old narrow streets, which appeared to have been forgotten, of crumbling cliffs and seafront, which threatened property, of a confusing one-way traffic system which might encourage shoppers to go elsewhere, and of the dog dirt menace. The message was, pay more attention to detail! One of Folkestone's oldest hotels celebrated its Golden Jubilee, with the original family still at the helm, said the Herald. When the late Herbert Rutherford loft his job as a chef at the Metropole Hotel and took over a boarding house In Langhorne Gardens, which became the Windsor Hotel, the town was still ranked as a highly fashionable resort. In 1926 when the hotel opened on Christmas Day there were more titles than credit card holders among crowds thronging the Leas. Owner by 1977 was Herbert's son Graham. Herbert's widow Dorothy recalled how, back in the early days friends had warned about the extravagance of installing phones and vacuum cleaners, let alone a lift and an intercom systeml She also told how, after the hotel had been used In wartime by the Army it was left without doors or windows! Another hotel the family owned was destroyed In a cross-Channel shelling attack.