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Hastings Wartime Memories and Photographs About the book:
Hastings Wartime Memories and Photographs weaves the personal stories of seventy-five people who endured life in Hastings during the turbulent war years, with more than 140 photos, the majority of which have never been published before. The book tells the interesting and varied story of how Hastings quickly moved from a peaceful seaside resort to a town in grave danger from enemy attack, where residents needed to cope with the many problems of the Second World War. The book delves into the lives of ordinary men and women, children, soldiers, and evacuees who made the town their home during this arduous time under the constant fear of invasion; a detailed account of life on the frontline.
A review of Hastings Wartime Memories and Photographs by John Brasier
"If, like me, you
were one of tens of thousands of schoolchildren
evacuated from Hastings to Hertfordshire, and elsewhere,
during the summer of 1940, then this book will be of
great interest to you and your family. Written by
local author Nathan Dylan Goodwin, and published in
November 2008, this excellent book is of great interest
on two fronts. Firstly, it contains the personal and
still vivid reminiscences of a large number of Hastings
schoolchildren and their differing experiences of
billets and billeting - some good, others less so - in
World War II. Secondly, the book portrays very
effectively what life was like for those, like my
mother, who chose to remain in Hastings for the duration
of the war.
The county
borough of Hastings and St. Leonards, as it was then,
suffered considerable damage through enemy bombing -
domestic housing, hotels, shops, public houses and a
church - and, during the last eleven months of the war,
further damage caused by the terrifying V1 rockets
('Doodlebugs') and, of course, the accompanying loss of
life and injuries to the civilian population.
This very readable book also contains a large number of
relevant photographs which illustrate the text and
paints a clear picture of the very considerable stresses
and strains under which the people of Hastings had to
exist, day and night, for the greater part of six years.
I warmly commend
this book to all those who have, or had, family links to
Hastings. I read it cover to cover within a very short
time of receiving it and have since purchased copies for
my two sons
younger brother,
Michael.
I was evacuated from Mount Pleasant
Junior and Infants School together with my younger
brother, Michael
on 21st July 1940,to the village of Aston, near
Stevenage, Hertfordshire. In all I had four billets in
three years!)"
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At
2.10pm on Thursday 12 September 1940 a lone raider swept in
unannounced and dropped fifteen bombs in Moscow Road, Edmund
Road, Berlin Road and Alfred Road. Added to this, 150
incendiary bombs were also released. This attack was
witnessed by John Turner, who wrote about the incident in
1946: ‘I heard a plane and looked out of the back door. A
great, black aircraft was going overhead. It looked very
like a Blenheim. ‘Is it a Spitfire?’ Mum asked. ‘No,’ I
said, ‘It’s a twin-engine bomber.’ Hardly had I spoken then
came the shrill sound of the whistling bomb. We cowered
back against the hall wall. Then came the shuddering shock
of the explosion. We ran along the garden path to Mr
Parson’s shelter, and saw thick black smoke hanging in a
pall over the village [Ore] toward Clive Vale’.